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Published: November 26th 2008
Balconies
Check the hair!We crossed the SA/Vic border without great fanfare and headed into
The Grampians via Horsham and Wartook Valley. We made camp at Smith Mill camp ground. It was a great site with a fire place (with a swivel hotplate) and picnic table and plenty of room for us to set up our full annex (awning with walls). We did this because it looked like rain was heading our way and the forecast was for wet and windy conditions during the weekend.
It was great having a fire place again and being able to use it. Cape Arid in WA was the last time we had a camp fire. We had plenty of wood as the only other group of campers there when we arrived decided to leave due to the expected bad weather, leaving us all the fire wood they had brought in. We utilised the fire and camp oven for our desserts on 3 out of 4 nights - damper on the first night, the second was a washout, the third we had scones while the last night we had bread and butter pudding. A few other campers did arrive later on, including a group of Melbournites up for the
weekend, so it was reasonably full for the first two nights (Friday and Saturday).
It began raining on Friday night, which turned into regular showers on Saturday, so we headed into Halls Gap to the Brambruk Cultural and Visitor Centre. At this stage, around 10am, the temperature was a chilly 3 degrees C. On the way we did stop at Reed lookout, but visibility was down to about 20m in heavy mist and light rain, so you couldn't see much of anything. After spending some time at Brambuk, we decided that the day was a bit of a write-off as far as sightseeing went, so we headed back towards camp. We did stop at MacKenzie Falls, near our camp site, and managed to walk to the lookout without getting too wet during a gap in the showers. We spent the rest of the day inside the camper trailer annexe, feeling sorry for people camping in tents and glad we had a bit more protection from the elements. The temperature never rose much above 10 degrees that day, even though the sun did manage to make a few brief appearances during the afternoon. We also had three brief showers of
hail, albeit small, during the afternoon.
On Sunday, the showers eased off fairly early so we headed out to do some of the northern hikes after first stopping at Zumstein, an old homestead and picnic area. We drove to Ngamadjidj Shelter and did the short walk to the rock art site. Then we drove to Mt Stapylton camping area and walked up Mt Stapylton, where it was very cold and windy at the top. Then it was to Dadswell Bridge for lunch at the Giant Koala, which was recently used in the filming of “Charlie & Boots”, the new film starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson (of Kenny fame). Then it was back into the national park where we walked to Beehive Falls. We then drove to Reed lookout and walked to the Balconies where the wind was blowing a gale (check Annelies' and Alex's hair in the photo).
On Monday, we drove to Sundial car park and did the hike to the Pinnacle, which was easier than hiking up from the Wonderland car park. We then drove to Silverband car park and walked to Silverband Falls, which were interesting as the water falls onto rocks and disappears
below the ground (ie. It doesn't fall into a pool of water), re-emerging in the creek about 50m downstream. We then drove into Halls Gap again and walked up to Venus Baths. It was still quite cool and the water was freezing, but Thomas was determined to go for a swim. Thomas had a great time on the natural wet rock slide. Annelies too didn't want to miss out on the fun, so stripped down to her knickers and also had a go on the slide, although not as successfully as Thomas was with his board shorts on (less friction). Afterwards, we drove to the Wonderland car park and did the Grand Canyon walk. Then to the Boroka lookout and finally back to camp.
On Tuesday, we packed up and drove out via Halls Gap, although we stopped at the Mount William car park and walked up to the summit, which is the highest peak in The Grampians.
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