Grampians Gambolling

Unfortunately, the alarm didn’t go off at 5am this morning.

I was sure I had set it, but having told Loss last night that we needed to accept Steve’s challenge of a clamber up the Elephant Hide for sunrise, I suspect she may have turned the alarm off after I went to sleep.
So we woke up at the crack of 9 instead and opened the curtains to find a mob of emus grazing outside our window.

After a slow start, the day picked up pace with a pretty solid walk up ( the watch is registering 93 flights of stairs) to the signature lookout of the Grampians - ‘The Pinnacle’ with a diversion via ‘The Grand Canyon’ on the way.

Again, the weather proved to be perfect and the climb was enjoyable, although steeper than what we had suspected. However, once the lookout was reached we were rewarded with exceptional views and a sense of awe.

After returning to the car, we drove on a little further to ‘The Sundial’ carpark, stopped for some late lunch in the picnic area then continued on to the ‘Lakeview lookout’ which was 90% as spectacular as the Pinnacle but requiring only about 10% of the exertion.

We circled to the south by car, walking in to the ‘Silverband Falls’ which were really lovely - the experience made all the more enjoyable by the fact that we had it to ourselves. Finally, we completed the circuit of this part of the Grampians by driving down the hill to Lake Bellfield and then back into Halls Gap for some groceries for dinner. It soon became apparent that we should have done our grocery shopping much earlier in the day, as the only meat options left on the shelves were sausages or mince patties.
As a result, the mince patties are now being converted into a Spaghetti Bolognaise sauce . . .Read more