Bouncing through the Grampians

With only a few days to get back to Melbourne from Adelaide, we made a bee-line for the Grampians National Park. So many people had recommended it to us that we had to pop in to at least see what the fuss was about!  We were not disappointed.

The drive from Adelaide took ages despite us leaving the city by 7am.  Australian speed limits are low, and are apparently enforced strictly. Not wanting to be faced with a series of A$300 fines at the end of our trip, Geoff kept to the limits, though it was all he could manage sitting at less than 100kph on the highway! As we drove a cold front caught up with us and looked like it might just follow us to the Grampians, but thankfully it held back. 

A typical view from the car.

The Grampians are a range of mountains, about 70km in length, that rise abruptly out of an otherwise flat landscape. The mountains comprise of sandstone and are very similar in texture to the Cederberg mountains back home, only not nearly as large. The main difference however is that the mountains are covered in lovely eucalypt forests which imbue them with a very different feel to our mountains back home. They are what we imagined the Cederberg once looked like when covered with Cedars.

We arrived late in the afternoon and set off to pitch our tent immediately. We found our campsite only to discover a mob of kangaroos grazing our site and all inertia to head out for a hike disappeared! We can't get enough of these weird, but wonderful creatures, particularly when they have joeys tucked in moms pouches! Geoff had fun making a fire and cooking some chops as we set up for the night all keen and ready to head out hiking the next morning. 

A spiny echidna burrowing into a termite mound.

Little joey all warm in his mum's pouch, checking us out while we pitched our tent.

We awoke to the sound of bouncing footsteps outside the tent and headed off north to explore the area.  We stopped at the Balconies for breakfast and the spectacular view over the mountains and valleys before heading on to MacKenzie Falls for a short walk out to the waterfalls.

A beautiful place for quiet reflection - the Balconies.

We found the Grass Trees (or Kangaroo Tails as they are named when in flower) very intriguing.  At the top of a thickened trunk sprouts a tuft of 'grass'.  Most of the trunks were blackened from previous fires.  The grass trees can live for many decades.

MacKenzie Falls - the 800-odd steps to the bottom was well worth it.

The Broken Falls looks like they came out of a set for a David Livingstone movie.

This emu amazingly ran across the road and then slipped through the strands of a barbed wire fence!  An emu is not a small bird - about the size of a small ostrich - so this was pretty impressive.

Our main objective was to tackle the appealingly named Hollow Mountain. It was not a difficult hike, but promised great views and some interesting rock features. The walk up was a pleasure and delivered as promised including a huge, low roofed cave that was a favourite amongst the bouldering community as evidenced by extensive chalk marks. The top offered fantastic views of Mt Stapylton and the impressive Taipan Wall.  

 

Geoff with a small grass tree in flower.  You can see where it gets its name "Kangaroo Tail" from.

The first cave we found on Hollow Mountain, and the one that most people see.  We were a little disappointed that the mountain was named after this relatively unimpressive hollow.

Boy, were we sorry that we didn't have our climbing equipment with us!

One of the small wind hollowed 'caves' that we found.

The view from the top of Hollow Mountain.  Mt Stapylton is the highest peak above the red overhanging Taipan wall.

What a beautiful view!

The rock was incredibly like the Cedarberg.

On our way down we were threatened by rain so we looked for some cover and accidentally found an extensive system of caves and tunnels through the rock. What a pleasure - we were both in our elements!

Wind erosion on the rock walls

Inside the impressive and extensive caves that we found.  Most of it was formed from wind erosion and there were fantastic patterns and features in the cave.

There were wind formed arches and bridges - some scarily thin.

We were in our element and clambered all over the rocks :)

The landscape was very familiar.

We also managed to visit a few aboriginal rock art sites in the area.

Gulgurn Manja Shelter - cave of the young people's hands

Ngamadjidj Shelter - cave of the white painted figures.

However the cold front had caught-up with us and the rain followed in constant waves for the next couple of days. 

We made full use of the public barbecues which were protected from the inclement weather.

Nothing like a Tim-Tam-Slam after a cold wet day in the mountains!

We still managed to get in a number of other hikes to various look-outs, but were kept on our toes by the rain, hail, and ultimately snow! We had a lovely walk in the 'Grand Canyon' and up to The Pinnacle.

Walking through the pretty Grand Canyon.

The 'classic view' down on Hall's Gap from the Pinnacle

Snow and sleet on the Pinnacle!

Silent Street - a lovely path through an amazing narrow gorge.

Surroundings look familiar?

We were very impressed by the Grampians and would love to return there in drier weather. Hopefully we'll get the chance to return one day!

Before we left, we popped in to the Brambuk Aboriginal Centre which is dedicated to telling the story of the aboriginal peoples of the area. It had some interesting displays, but we felt disappointed that it dealt too much on the devastating and tragic influence of the European settlers on the aboriginal community, and too little on the stories and background of the peoples themselves. Aboriginal australians have a strong oral tradition - similar to our bantu cultures back home - yet ironically these traditions and stories seem to remain unrecorded even in such a centre. Too little pride and too much apology...