The Grampians (this one is a bit long)

Monday morning we picked up Andrew and all 6 of us headed out for three nights at Grampians National Park near Halls Gap, about 3 hours WNW of Melbourne.  Most of the drive was through plains of savannah/pasture with mountains/hills in the distance.  At Ararat, we turned off the Western Highway for the last 40 km.  It was a bit of a white-knuckle trip as I tried my first stint behind the wheel.  The driving went reasonably well with no near-disasters, but I did turn on the wipers several times in lieu of signalling a turn.  I think I'll be ok as long as it's clear where I'm trying to go.
Pulling into the rental house to unload, the first thing we spotted was an emu about 100 m down the road (but unable to get a photo).  The house is a very nice three-bedroom with dishwasher, big-screen TV, etc., and after unloading, we set off for a hike up Chatauqua Peak.

Front of house with mountains in background.

In the dining room of the house planning the first hike.

Barely on the trail we came across three kangaroos and walked withing about 3 m of them without disturbance.  The hike was about 6 km with some elevation climb (but nothing compared with the AT last summer!) and beautiful views from the summit.

Rest break on the hike up Chatauqua Peak.

At the summit of Chatauqua Peak.

The peak was, in fact, named after the 19th century North American cultural/educational movement which became popular in Australia in the 1890s.

Kangaroo casually munching while a frisbee game proceeds on the cricket grounds.

 After returning to the house, we had a "mob" (the name for a group of roos, but not sure the required number to qualify) of about 9 kangaroos calmly grazing in the yard.  It's already a great trip and there are still 2+ days to go!

Mob of kangaroos grazing beside the house..

We were aroused by a loud raucous of laughing kookaburras at about 5 am, but they quieted and allowed a couple more hours of sleep.  Today we did a US naional park loop:  saw the Grand Canyon, Bridal Veil Falls and the Pinnacle (all local names for varous formations).  It was a bit shorter than yesterday and warm, but not hot except  in the direct sun (~20's C).  The pinnacle was spectacular with fantastic views, but a bit precarious in location.

View back through the Grand Canyon.

Heading upwards in the Grand Canyon.

Bridal Veil "Falls."  Not much flow in the summer!

The Pinnacle overview point.

View looking up from a "cave" cut back into the rocks. More accurately it would be described as a crevasse with fallen rocks wedged overhead.

Resting in an overhang.

Susan on the "nerve test," a ridge of rock that one can walk/jump our to the end.  She (nor anyone else in our group) went out tot he end, although we saw a guy in flip-flops go out to the end, then jump over to the side.

Afer an afernoon rest, we then did a short hike to Venus Baths, a spot with a bit of running water and and large, rock basins to collect enough water to take a dip.

Venus Bath.

Venus Bath.

Today (Wed) turned out to be the coolest, most exciting day in the Grampians.  The weather was mild (20's C) and we did some climbiing in places that I didn't think I could go.  We started with a drive to the north end of the park, much of it on gravel tracks.  We stopped at Hollow Mountain, which appeared to be just a nice mountain to climb from the car park.  However, it turned into a very unique experience that was a mixture of challenging (for us as least) rock climbing and spelunking.  I say spelunking, but we were never in a cave per se, but in a series of enclosures/fissures/creavasses in a very large rock through which we were able to navigate.  There was always daylight available, but the spaces were very confined at times.  Also, our progression was generally vertical instead of horizontal as might be expected in a cave.  At the end, we emerged at a relative summit with panoramic views, but had to retrace our steps and take another track to the ultimate summit of Hollow Mountain.

At the trailhead.  Hollow Mtn peak is just above the rusty red towards the right in the photo.

A closser view of our destination.  The large rock with the shear face to the left of the rusty face is the rock through which we climed.  You can see an opening  into the rock's interior as a black spot just above the greenery.  We were able to look out from there on the way up.

Scrambling up some inside the large rock.  View up.

Susan scrambling up one of the cracks.  View down.

All of us on top of the "hollow" rock.

Close up of the rock. It is the rectangular one in the lef-center.

Susan at the summit of the mountain.

After the hike, we drove back to Halls Gap through the heart of the Grampions, stopping at Mackenzie Falls.  This was the only waterfall that we saw with significant waterflow.   The source for this falls came from a reservoir, so flow could be maintained throughout the year.

On the way down to the falls.

Full view of Mackenzie Falls.

While sitting on the deck that evening, we were visited by the usual mob of kangaroos, but also had a cockatoo land on our deck railing.  I can't get over how casually we can observe exotic (to us at least) wildlife.  We've not seen an echidna yet and haven't been able to photograph an emu, but other animals have been very accessible.

Cockatoo on railing.  I'm within 3 m or so.

Thursday we got up a bit earlier to clean the house before departure.  Also had a very big breakfast trying to get rid of the food and not have to haul it home.  We stopped to visit the Brambuk Aborigial Cultural Centre before leaving Halls Gap.  It was well worth the stop and presented Australian history from a distinctly Aboriginal perspective.  I'm sad to say that there are many parallels between the treatment of North American natives and those in Australia--the vast majority quite unfortunate.  In some ways Australia has been worse, only stopping the forced separation and cultural indoctrination of Aboriginal children in the 1970s.

Brambuk is the Aboriginal name for a cockatoo and the centre is supposed to architecturally represent a cockatoo in flight.  The entire space is designed/built to sybolically represent different aspects of Aboriginal culture.

We took a different route home just to see a different landscape and stopped at a pie shop for lunch.  I was thinking "apple" when I saw the sign (and was wondering if Susan would actually let me get by with pie for lunch), but here it means meat pies or pasties.  Our nephew said that fruit pies can be found in cake shops rather than pie shops.  However, the big event of the day was that I drove all the way from the Grampians to downtown Melbourne (3+ hours) and made it with no dings or scratches on the car.  I also picked up the rental car and make it back to David and Beth's without major incident.  I now think I'll be ok with the car, but the hardest part continues to be the turn signal--can't seem to stop activating the wipers because the wipers are on the left of the steering column.  Wesley, who had had recent experience in the UK, was also included on the contract, so driving duties can be split.  (Susan had no interested in being included as a driver!)