Grampians

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Had a long not very eventfull drive from Barossa, stopped off at the famous Whispering Wall dam which I saw last year, my friends were suitably impressed, and actually got round to taking a photo this time, i had my usual 'i have seen it before' and it's hardly worth getting out of the car for approach.

Much driving followed, we did a fairly remote stretch, not outback by Australian standards but in the hot sun you would not want to break down, with usual efficiency I had a store of water bottles in the boot just in case. Not required, but you can't be too carefull. In all honesty it was not a stunning drive but we had my cheefull collection of cheese on my Zen Mp3 to keep us amused/antagonised/awake. Then the Grampians loomed up, they are not 'massive mountains' but as most of Australia is pretty flat they look good when approaching from the plains, the road up there is very windy and precarious in a swiss type way and being Australia day a lot of people, probally from Melbourne, had made the pilgramage.

We had a slightly 'posh' dinner out for Australia, but being backpackers we just had the one course and settled into the 'eco friendly' Byron Bay in Halls Gap. Best thing about it was the fact they had a family of Hens scratching aroud the gardens, very tame, they almost mugged me for my pizza.

The next day was spent following everyone else going to see all the little viewpoints and waterfalls in the Grampians, was hard to get parked most of the time, but what do you expect on a holiday weekend.

The best was kept until last, the main lookout over Halls Gap and right out over the plains (sorry forgot the name) luckily it was not busy at the time and really was stunning panoramic, almost undeserved for just sitting in a car for 15 minutes.

And on the sunday, it was return to Melbourne, uneventfull drive back into the big city, where I have to find a house, somewhere to live, a life, etc etc etc

Let you know how I'm getting on in due course.

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Photos

Halls Gap from above
Superb viewpoint

Approaching the Grampians
From afar, they are not that huge a range of hills really.

SA/VIctoria Border
Yes another cheesy border photo opp, groan.

Whispering Wall Dam
Legendary