Day 7: To the Grampians
We woke up to a very grey sky, and found out it even drizzled with occasional showers. This was not what we had bargained for! As we had a trip planned for this morning, we decided to skip that, and just do everything at a snails pace. Therefore, we had a very long breakfast and even slept in a little!
Leaving Warrnambool for Halls Gap actually proved to be a great idea, as the weather got better and better as our journey progressed further inland. We eventually were tempted to pull out the shorts! Along the way, we have encountered a variety of animals, which all were nice enough to stop doing what they were to pose for our cameras. Among the nices ones were Ibis, various types of parrots in all sizes, a few different species of Cockatoo and even a fox!
After arriving at Halls Gap which lies smack dab in the middle of the Grampians National Park around 1, we went for lunch sitting in the delightful sun, getting our tan on. After filling our stomachs, we went out for a drive into the park to visit the places easily accessible by car. We have visited The Balconies and the Lookouts of both Reed and Boroka, all of which present wonderful vistas of the Gap and the surrounding plains. The Gap itself is a narrow valley in between two crests made of rock being pushed up to about 45 degrees. The town of Halls Gap lies in between these two crests. We have also visited the Mackenzie Falls, where we walked the trail to the base of the waterfall. This is 283 steps down a flight of stairs and quite a tough little walk, but the view of the falls is really rewarding. It however, did end our yearning for some exercise as going back up is strenuous after a long day driving.
The town of Halls Gap is quite famous for the abundance of Western Grey Kangaroos. A story we quickly dismissed as untrue, as we felt it would probably be a exaggerated to be a nice attraction for tourists. It most definitely is not exaggerated. We have encountered dozens of them, all carelessly browsing the green pastures of the town. And not only the publicly accessible greens, but also the lawns and garden of the residents of this town, as the Kangaroos easily scale an 8 foot fence. This is so cool! We even sat down in a field filled with Kangaroos and peacefully watched them feed.
Today is Sunday, and also the last day of the annual Wine Festival in this town. Apparently, it also means that all shops, restaurants and bars of the town are closed, because we had a really hard time getting some food. Luckily, we found a café still open for business, so all ended well tonight. Tomorrow, we have a full day of walking in the National Park planned, so I hope we’ll be able to get a good night of sleep!
