BarbaraTVan: The Grampians

Friday 6th March....Labour Day Weekend 2015

GM had arrived home safely from work the day before, and got Barbara all watered up, loaded and ready to go. I had been running around like crazy after work all week stocking up on food and wine :-)

Farewell gloomy weather!!!

Somebody's excited!!!!

We were heading back to the Grampians, as we missed an awful lot of it on our last trip. Partly due to the scale of the place, the heat, and the threat of being caught up in a bush fire.

Our reason for leaving early last time.

We had breakfast on the go, with a smooth, uneventful trip through Melbourne....the only glitch being GM missing the exit to Ballarat.....he was talking too much and not concentrating on where we were going!! We managed to stop at a 7/11 and grab some coffee, oh, and Crispy Cream donuts!!! We needed to replenish our energy levels, this driving sure takes it out of you ;-)

There wasn't a great deal of traffic on the road by the time we passed Ballarat, and we stopped at Ararat to buy much desired snoring chairs....a must have for a lazy afternoon in the bush. My late Valentines gift to GM!!

Our snoring chairs :-)

We hit the road again and arrived at Halls Gap in time for some lunch. A meat pie (GM had two) and a drink. We had a couple of ducks hanging around for the crumbs......I have decided to rename them "Halls Gap sparrows". They were very handsome ducks and took the pie crust straight from my fingers. Their quacking was rather cute :-)

We were staying at Boreang campsite......right in the heart of the Grampians.....the whole place had been evacuated at New Years as it is a long way from any fire-safe area.

Hurry up!!!! A woman's not a camel!!!!

Cheers!!!!

There had been a light drizzle on the drive here, and was still drizzling on and off while we were setting up camp so we decided to put up the shade dome. We were to use it once for the whole weekend. The weather turned out to be perfect for camping :-) There was a young couple in a tent in the site next to us, but no others until later that afternoon. Saturday saw the place fill up rapidly.

There were resident Roo's lounging all about the place completely unfazed with having to share their patch of bush.

We lazed about and checked out the area, got a lovely fire going and had curried sausages for tea. We sat around the fire enjoying the night. The air up there must be pretty good, cause when I got up to go to bed, I found myself staggering!!! I slurred goodnight to GM, then hit the hay!!

We slept like logs, which is nothing unusual in Barbara.....she is just so cosy and comfortable!!! We had invested in an inner-spring mattress, much warmer than the foam one, and I no longer roll into the dip in the middle!!

We had a hearty breakfast of bacon & eggs, then tidied up and went adventuring. The Moora Moora Reservoir was somewhere nearby, so we took off down the Moora Track, a pretty smooth 4WD track. We hadn't gone far when we had to slow down for a wallaby, then a couple of roos, more roos who just stopped and stared at us

then we found a track we thought would take us to the water. What a stunning surprise!!! We could see bits of water in the distance, but we had arrived at the most beautiful swamp lands.

We spotted red deer in the distance, but they were too far for my lens. After a few pics we kept going and turned onto the Glenelg River Road that would take us all the way back to camp. I had just commented that all we were missing were emus and echidnas when a couple of emus ran out onto the road and took off ahead of us. We were going pretty fast, but boy can those things run!!! We found a couple of tracks, so we decided to explore. Two of them led to the reservoir, with some pretty decent (free) off road campsites. One was close to the water and easy to get the kayaks in, but the other was a fair hike over rocks. We found another track that led to a lagoon that wasn't big enough for the kayaks, but we wandered around and found a heap of fresh water oysters and lots of empty beer bottles.

We headed back to camp for lunch, then toodled up to Mackenzie Falls for a hike.

It was only 600m, and the downward journey was a piece of cake. A man made rock path with railings all the way. It was full of tourists just like us, but we were the only ones with aussie accents. It sure is a highlight for international visitors!!! The falls were lovely with massive rocks to climb and laze on. Then it was time to go back up....OMG!!! should have paced ourselves a bit better. By the half way mark I was wheezing like an asthmatic!!! It was a killer on the calves, but we finally made it. There was a coffee van parked at the top....probably would have been more calling for an oxygen tent!! But we had a coffee anyway :-)

Helllooooooo down there!!!!!!!!!!!

We were asked how we got there as the Mt. Victory road had been closed due to some poor bugger going A over T on their bike and going over the edge. That was all we heard about it and don't know if they survived. I certainly hope they did, it's a pretty steep drop.

We set off back to a lazy afternoon at camp, planning the next day with a few cold drinks and then Spaghetti Bol for dinner, drinks around the campfire, then into Barbara for an episode of Game of Thrones.

Sunday morning saw us have another big breaky. Today was going to be a big one!! We had decided to do Zumsteins. About a 6km hike. We knew the track started around the same place as Mackenzie falls. We really should have done a bit more research. We had no idea Zumsteins was on the main road and we should have started our hike there. As it was, we started it the other way around. We had to go via Mackenzie falls, and it wasn't until we were down the bottom that we realised we would be finishing our hike with the killer climb!!! It was a beautiful walk, with Fish Falls about 1/2 way, and people swimming in the rock pools. It was a glorious day, and the water was crystal clear. We passed lots of people, and about 99% smiled and said hello. It's amazing really. People are so much friendlier when they're in the bush....brings out the happy in everyone :-)

We finally reached Zumsteins. Walter Zumstein came to the Grampians from Switzerland in 1906 to work for Barnes Honey and took up a bee site at Shanty Crossing about a km downstream of Zumstein Picnic area. By 1910 Walter applied for and was granted a bee site up the creek so he left Barnes. I love Barnes creamed honey....makes me want a honey sandwich as I'm typing this!!! There was a small historic walk dedicated to him, but we gave this a miss. We sat and ate our apples, then headed back the way we came. The trip back seemed much quicker than the one in. We seemed to reach Mackenzie falls in no time at all. You could hardly move for all the tourists there. A good thing really, as you could only ascend the falls slowly, so this was far easier than the day before, even after the hike :-)

We hopped in the car and set off to camp for a late lunch. Then off to Lake Wartook where we finally finally got the kayaks wet!! The water was beautiful, the sky blue with a gentle breeze that stopped us from getting too warm. There were pelicans and fishermen and the day was glorious. We kayaked for about an hour and GM got caught on a log and just managed not to fall in (damn!!), then set off adventuring once more. We drove to Zumsteins and filled our dwindling water supply from the Mackenzie river. Then took Zumsteins Track - another 4WD track - which took us back to camp far quicker than the trip there.

A lot of the Grampians tracks are closed due to the bushfire that destroyed 2/3rds of the park just over 12 months ago. The regrowth is tremendous, but the charred bush is still quite noticeable.

They look like creatures from the deepest jungle!!!

When we got back to camp, GM set about putting the roast on. Nothing beats a camp oven roast!!
I decided to test out the snoring chairs, and within 5 minutes I was snoring....hence the name ;-) I woke to discover a couple of visitors in our camp happily grazing.

They were happy to let me take pics of them, and even stood up and scratched their bellies for me :-)

Well hi there!!!!

Our roast beef was divine, and after a few drinks around the fire, we hit the sack, pleasantly exhausted after all the fresh air and exercise.

The next morning we had everything ready to pack and go, so while we were waiting for the tent to dry, we took another drive. This was recommended by the Park Ranger. A short hike....more like a stroll....it was a 350m hike to Paddy's Castle. A rock formation with 360 degree views of the Grampians. We had driven passed it a few times, but the bush is so dense you wouldn't even know it was there....and such a short distance from the road!!! It was a lovely way to finish our long weekend, and so peaceful up there :-)

King of the castle???

There's a road down in there somewhere!!

We heard the odd vehicle drive passed only a short distance away, but all you could see was the dust they kicked up rising above the trees. We packed up camp and headed home, a 4 1/2 hour trip that went super smoothly. Back to work to pay for the next adventure.....sure is worth it though. Camping washes all the stress and anxiety of modern life away :-) No telephones, no internet, no demands......just peace :-)

Homeward bound :-(

Miraculously, I had no encounters with any creepy crawlies, accidents or cuts and bruises...YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully GM will be home for Easter, so the next adventure should be around Echuca way if all goes to plan!! :-)

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