A Night At The Grampians National Park

 27th December 2012.

So we drove along the Highway or something like that, making our way to the Grampians National Park, where the Grampian Ranges boast some of the most scenic hill ranges in the entire Victoria.

Our rented Nissan Micra.
Spacious enough for the both of us!

Stopped by some places to check out the scenery, or more so because my husband is a very curious one, always stopping along the way, in search for a photo opportunity. -_-

I found it clinging to my left ankle and shook it off. When it didn't fly or scamper away, I peered at it and noticed that its innards were bursting out and looking at its legs, they could be broken.

I was mortified at the possibility that perhaps I had stepped on it.

Informed the hubby who demanded to know where was it, and said that it was my chance to take a good macro shot of the bug.

O.o

Tsk tsk!

Anyway, looking at the fellow's forlorn OMG-I'm-Going-To-Die look wasn't helping. Look at its eyes!!!!!

After taking a few pictures, we left it in some weeds and prayed it would no longer be in pain.

One of them was Lake Burrumbeet, which turns out to be Ballarat's largest lake. It has it's own caravan park located just midway from the main road which led us to the lake.

Apparently it's a pretty shallow lake. :)

We arrived at Halls Gap at about 5 or 530pm and instead of checking into our accommodation first, we proceeded to make our way to Boroka Lookout.

By car. 

Hey, it's a far drive in, man. :D

A glimpse of Wartook Reservoir.

Boroka Lookout provides a breathtaking panoramic view of Halls Gap valley and the eastern plains.

REALLY? Why can't these idiotic picnickers bring back their garbage??

Some people were smart enough to bring their picnic basket with them. They don't need to be enjoying the view as they can just picnic right from the car trunk at the car park.

I kinda regretted not preparing a picnic basket. All we had in the car was fruits and junk food. Oh, and lots of water.

As the evening was still light at 7pm, we proceeded to the next lookout point called  Reed's Lookout. Apparently it provides the best sunset view.

Reed's Lookout provides a crazy awesome view of Victoria Valley, Victoria Range, Serra Range, Lake Wartook and the Mt Difficult Range.

We were early for the sunset, so we had to hang around til 830pm.

I had to hold on to my pee til we arrived back the motel.

The things we do for a 'great' picture.

I had to walk around the fence along the edge of the cliff just so I could seat myself precariously in the middle of the ledge. I was fearful of missing a step and slipping down ... brrr ... it was scary!

Photo credit: the hubby's.

Please say that it was worth the trouble! :)

By the time we arrived at our accommodation, the night was dark at 930pm. We went around looking for places to eat but to our dismay and great hunger, the kitchen of the eateries had already closed at 9pm.

Bugger!

I was on the verge of throwing a HUGE tantrum, to be honest!

In the end, we purchased 2 readily wrapped smoked salmon sandwiches left at the display at the LiveFast Cafe.

 28th December 2012.

The view from our balcony was breathtaking (you will see this word used repetitiously in this blog post!) and it was a shame we had to check out before 10am (yep, that's the bad bit about this motel!) and continue on our road trip.

Breakfast was at the LiveFast Cafe (again) just because it proved to the most crowded cafe that morning. In Halls Gap, Stony Creek Stores are the ones which cater to its tourists.

The creek was rather dry, but oh, what a clever idea of eating out in the open!

Stony Creek Stores, the most happening part of Grampians National Park.

Breakfast cost a bomb, I think it was AUS$40+ for our breakfast of Smashed Avocado and Goat's Cheese with poached eggs, Pancake with raspberries, lemon curd and whipped cream, and 2 coffees. Gosh! Isn't that the usual price we'd pay for a meal for two in KL?

Our first stop after breakfast was Mt William, which was a 1.6km hike up. It is known as the highest peak at 1,167metres within Grampians National Park, so yeah, the hubby said it was a must to visit.

Occasionally it can be a wee bit nippy should chilly winds start blowing. I found myself putting on my jacket immediately, only to find myself taking it off 10 minutes later.

The weather was just unpredictable, even at the Grampians!

Power station.

This marks the end of your hike!

On top of the world, rightfully so! :)

And then he spotted 2 giant rocks from where we were standing at the stone plague. He said we had to get there and check it out.

There is no trail, I wailed!

Just imagine the look of disbelief and disdain on my face.

There was NO obvious trail, as you can see from the picture above, but he said, it's OK, let's make that trail anyway!

It must have took us about 30 minutes or so just to find our way through shrubs and scratchy bushes and killed a million plants along the way, just to get there.

These rocks aren't even visible from the road up from the entrance, mind you. You can only spot them from the stone plague.

The thought of taking making the same way back made us wince.

So we made our way down instead, as we could hear voices from the road.

On top of the world! :)

Next stop was Mt Abrupt, a steep track at the beginning which zig zags up the mountain and as you near the top, you'll be walking over on rock slabs, assuming it's the right track, as there's no signage.

Love the view, but not the heat!

Signal Peak on the left, and the right, the road leads to Dunkeld.

Rock slabs IS the path.

Well, we made it up in good time, about 1.5 hour. Unfortunately it was crazy hot despite it being 4.30pm in the afternoon!

I was paying a lot of attention to my shoes (Skechers GOtrail) and I felt a bit bad for taking them out for hikes, instead of a trail run. But I'm sure they had a great workout nevertheless, despite a lesser mileage.

I left him to snap-snap-snap away (since he was enjoying the view much more than I was) and happily ran back down to a shady spot to wait for him. Along the way, I bumped into 3 Australian dudes who were chatting on the way up.

Support a support group, peeps! Spare some change! :D

Landslip information. Looks massive!

We quickly made our way towards the direction of the Great Ocean Road after a snack of chocolate-coated pretzels and water at the car.

I spotted a girl in her station wagon (or is it an SUV??) who took out a tub of Philadelphia Cheese and a loaf of bread, and then proceeded to sit cross-legged on a rock, making her sandwich.

I think she was camping in her car at the Mt Abrupt car park!

I was informed that we were spending 2 nights in a town called Koroit, which was a short drive to Great Ocean Road.

Thank goodness the sun hadn't yet set when we arrived at our hotel!

I was stunned when he turned into the driveway of this church and I kept insisting he must have been mistaken.

He remarked, "SURPRISE!"

"Are you surprised? I didn't want to tell you where we would be staying, 'cos it would sure surprise ya!"

Indeed!

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Other Melbourne-related posts:
Chasing Kangaroos and Rabbits
Just Hanging Around Melbourne
VRR New Year's Eve Run

Don't forget to check out the hubby's blog for his version of our trip:
Grampians + Great Ocean Road Trip - Day 1
Grampians + Great Ocean Road Trip - Day 2