Grampians I

So far I haven't seen much of Australia: I knew the CBD and some suburbs like Footscray where my uni campus is located and only few others. That isn't that much for four months. I haven't even seen the Great Ocean Road every one talked about as it's a beautiful must-see-destination not far away from Melbourne.
November 22-23, it was time to go out of Melbourne and see something! Where? To the Grampians which is a mountain range and national park in the state of Victoria, 235 km west of Melbourne.
The Grampians Mountains are foothills of the Great Dividing Range, Australia's largest mountain range which starts up in the North of the state Queensland.
The Wonderland area near the little town Halls Gap is a noted rock climbing and walking destination, very popular with campers, bushwalkers and day trippers for its many spectacular views and unspoilt nature.
The Grampians National Park covers an area of 168,000 ha and is a home for almost a third of Victoria's plant species.

Justin (left), a friend and fellow student of George (a friend of mine) was so nice and agreed to accompany George (right), another friend of him Alex (middle), and me for 2 days to the Grampians which he has already visited many times before.

Our first task: to decide for a place to stay for the night, a place somewhere in the bush to put up our tent. Et voilà: our new home for tonight...at Smith Mill.


Shortly after our arrival in the Grampians we found out that Justin was more than equipped for the trip. Not only that he had a tent and all other camping utilities like gas cooker (even with "toaster-option"), camping dishes etc.: we discovered his "emergency kit" which Alex comments on this picture with "... the most important: the condom which was made in Japan (Valid until 2000)"!
Together with all that and even some army chocolate nothing could go wrong anymore and we could start our adventure!

Our first stop was the Wonderland carpark from where we started our 2.1 km walk up to the Pinnacle, a strenuous but great walk to a famous peak which led us through the Grand Canyon with towering rock walls.

The walk involved several water crossings, some slippery track surfaces and some rock-hopping (at least according to the map descriptions).

On the left, George relaxes after crawling along "the nervtest", but what he's doing on the right with Alex??? - I don't want to know...

On the way through the rocks of the Grand Canyon and its Silent Street

Finally we arrived on top at the Pinnacle Lookout.

After a long walk back having had a great day, we well deserved our dinner in Halls Gap before enjoying grilled marshmallows (*disgusting*) for dessert on the campfire we set up at the campsite.

After breakfast and the unusual teeth brushing with only a plastic cup full of water we started day No.2 for which we planned several things to see.

First: the MacKenzie Falls, starting the day with a lot of fun during the easy stroll through unspoilt fauna and rocks to the base of the picturesque cascading waterfalls.

Saying goodbye to MacKenzie Falls I met my first kangaroo close to the popular picnic area Zumstein from where we head to the Reed Lookout with a path leading to The Balconies with cliff line views over Lake Wartook and the Victoria Valley.

In the afternoon it was already time for us to go on the way home to Melbourne. What a pity!

Justin, thanks for having taken us on that wonderful 2-day trip! It was great!

Additional comment: A major bushfire burned out about 50% of the Grampians National Park in January 2006 when it became really hot here in Melbourne/Victoria.