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Published: August 13th 2009
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Warning this blog entry contains lots of Kangaroos!!!!
Our drive from Melbourne to the Grampians took around 4 hours and credit to Jody who did an excellent job of getting us there safe - considering we all had a few drink the night before!
We had pre booked a log cabin in a place called Halls Gap which is a village perched in a valley surrounded by huge mountains and vast green landscape. It's quite remote and only a handful people live here, most tourists come for a weekend break and the place has lots of holiday homes and log cabins scattered about.
Our cabin was classy. We had a living room with sofa, tv and a gas fire (our saving grace!), two bedrooms with ELECTRIC BLANKETS, a kitchen and a bathroom. The bathroom was a nightmare. It was clean and the shower very powerful but built into the wall was a large vent that let in cold air, which meant if you went for a pee you had to put on your thermals before venturing inside. When most Brits (including us) think of Australia usually we imagine white beaches, sipping vino in outdoor bars and bikini clad
women strutting there stuff on the beach (maybe that last one is just me!)... but we could not of visited at a colder time of year. Actually it was right in the middle of winter and the temperature in the Grampians averaged around 4 degrees at night. Which doesn't sound that bad. Back home 4 degrees in the winter is normal... however in the Grampians they don't have things like central heating or double glazing windows so you REALLY feel the cold!
Anyway we were very excited about seeing Kangaroo's for the very first time!!! so after dumping our bags we headed out to find some!. Immediately we caught a glimpse in the field opposite - Michelle found it difficult to contain herself. We tried to get over to them but couldn't find a path to the the field. As we
turned a corner out of nowhere we noticed a Kangaroo 5 feet away sitting staring at us - our first one yippeee - see the pic. This guy (we thinks its a boy) looked about 101 years old and homeless, his fur was rugged and he looked freezing. We edged closer and closer until Jody and Stuart warned
us to be careful as they are unpredictable and make great boxers (not the cardboard ones).
We found the field and discovered 30ish Kangaroos having lunch together (they eat grass mmmmmm!). As we moved in some of them frantically hopped away while others looked over at us and then carried on eating grass. We also spotted a 'Joey' (baby Kangaroo) in a mothers pouch!! but failed to get any photos. After a few hours and using up the whole memory card on the camera we headed into the village for a spot of wine shopping and then back to our warm cabin.
As we all cuddled around the small gas fire trying to keep warm and a couple freezing toilet visits later Stuart suggested going out for a night walk. We all looked at him like he had gone mad... 'it's baltic out there!!!' ... minutes later we all had our coats/hats/gloves on and armed with a 2 foot torch we headed out. It was late (11pm I think) and everyone was in bed asleep but like brave soldiers we marched down the road searching for animals of the night!
Apart from the huge torch beam (it
was a large torch) it was pitch black. We heard rustling from a bush....a quick flick of light revealed more Kangaroos feeding at the roadside. We also managed to find some cheeky possum's in the trees - which scared sh*t out of us!. After an hour of our night safari we headed back... but as we were walking along the road suddenly what seemed like a vicious guard dog came straight at us gnarling and barking - we all jumped out of our skin and ran as quick as we could toward safety!!! and we live to tell the tale.
The next day we were up early and had a busy day planned. We headed out in the car up the mountain, into the bush and onwards to McKenzie falls. It took us around 20 minutes to get there and set about walking down the many steps to the bottom. Half way down you can look over the top of the waterfall a bit of flat land sticks out before a 100 foot drop. There is a story that an Indian family came here at xmas a few years ago, the kids walked out onto the ridge slipped and
fell over the edge. The parents panicked and rushed after them resulting in all four plummeting to their death. We decided against climbing over any safety barriers and stuck to the designated path.
It took a while to get to the bottom and the surrounding views were amazing. At times huge trees and bushes surrounded our path, tropical birds flew past singing, the morning air cold but clean and refreshing, looking up - it was horrifying how that poor family had died. The waterfall was beautiful and it was nice to be at the base. We headed back up and it wasn't as easy as coming down! The stairs were quiet steep and we took a few breaks along the way to catch our breathe. Once at the top we however were rewarded with a warm veggie pasty with tomato sauce!!
Next stop was Reids lookout and the Balconies. From the various viewpoints scattered along cliff edges you can see for miles across huge valleys full of trees and ...well more trees (see pic). Some people venture out onto the ridges to get better photos... which is insane!!! Now we did climb out just a wee bit to
get a few snaps... but Michelle soon told us all off and like naughty school children we whimpered back to safe ground!
After a busy day we arrived back in Hall's gap, found a cosy pub with a huge log burning fire and ordered a few rounds of local brew to warm us all up. The following day we checked out and headed back to Melbourne. We all had a great time in the Grampians. We witnessed some of Australia's bush wildlife and filled Michelle's life long dream of meeting Skippy!
Lee and Michelle
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Jody
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How cold do we look on some of these shots!? It is getting a bit warmer now - we have even had some 20 degree days!