Tuesday December 29
I didn't head off until 9:00am to avoid the peak hour traffic, and I was smart enough to remember sunglasses and sunscreen before leaving this time. I made it across the city to the Western Freeway without much trouble, but then started having leg pain. I almost made it to Beaufort, past Ballarat, before needing an exercise and toilet break.
The speed was 110 km/h almost all of the way, but then dropped down to 80 km/h near Ararat. I just managed to see the the turn off for
Mount Buangor state park, and started down a really bumpy and dusty road. I was stuck behind a big truck for most of the six kilometres to the state park, and the car was bouncing everywhere, once inside the park entrance it got even worse. I went to the Middle Creek car park first since it was the closest area, but it was pretty flat with only a couple of long walking tracks so I drove over to the Ferntree car park instead.
After a quick lunch break I started with the Waterfalls nature track, it was quite short and I didn't see much evidence of a waterfall before I had done a full circuit and was back where I started. There was a longer and steeper Two Mile circuit to try next, I turned around at what I though was the half way point because I wasn't sure where the other end came out. I tried driving back to the main road at 40-50 km/h instead, and that worked so much better.
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| The first walking track. |
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| The second walking track. |
There was another turn off a bit further ahead for Langhi Ghiran state park but since I spent longer than I expected at the previous stop I decided to skip it for the day, and perhaps see it on the way back. I made it to
Ararat around 2:30pm, a reasonable size as far as small towns go. I got some food for the trip from the local supermarkets, than walked up the main street which was pretty empty, or perhaps it was just normal. I also walked around Alexandra Gardens and the town hall before returning to the car. I planning to drive up the One Tree Hill road to a lookout that sits above the town, but the whole area was closed off.
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| Ararat. |
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| Alexandra Gardens. |
It was about 4:00pm before I reached the next town of
Stawell, it was getting much hotter both inside and out of the car by then. Stawell was a smaller town, I was able to visit the athletics oval where they run the Stawell Gift every year, Cato Park and the main street again. This time I was able to drive up to the Big Hill Lookout, but you couldn't see the town very well from the top.
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| Stawell. |
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| Stawell Athletics. |
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| Big Hill lookout. |
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| Stawell Athletics entrance. |
I finally made it to
Halls Gap at 5:30pm, all the bugs turned up for the last stretch of road so my windscreen was a mess. The town was even smaller again, just a few shops, but there were tourists everywhere. I checked in to the motel just a little further down the road:
- Nice view of the mountain ranges
- Foxtel but no ESPN channels
- Crappy internet, almost unusable
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| View from the motel car park. |
My Samsung Galaxy health tracker on my phone reported 21000 steps or 17.75 kilometres for the day.
Wednesday December 30
I got up early to beat the crowds into the
Grampians, but I still got one of the last car park spots at the Wonderland car park around 8:30am. There was a walking track from the car park all the way up to
The Pinnacle, as they call it. The track was well laid out, although there wasn't many signs it was usually obvious which way to go and the path was not too difficult to walk along, although some of the steps were quite steep, which takes a lot out energy out of your legs. After finally reaching the top there was a rewarding view down to the town below. I slipped once on a large rock coming back down and lost control, but luckily didn't suffer any injuries or fall too far. According to my health track I had already done 8500 steps or 7.5 kilometres, but it should have been closer to 5 kilometres.
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| Walking to The Pinnacle. |
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| The Pinnacle. |
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| The Pinnacle opposite direction. |
I got back in the car and continued further into the Grampians before reaching the
Reid's Lookout car park by about 10:30am. Just in front of the car park was the lookout over the whole mountain range, quite similar to my visit to the Blue Mountains in Sydney earlier in the year. There was a one kilometre walking track which ended at
The Balconies, where two more balcony view points have been constructed. There was also some rock ledges that extended our further than the balconies but were off limits, but parents still let their kids walk out to the end anyway.
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| The Balconies. |
Back in the car again to the next stop at
Mackenzie Falls car park at 11:30am. My legs were almost done for the morning so I took a long time to get all the way down to the bottom, but it was worth it with a big waterfall at the end, along with a refreshing spray to cool down a bit. I sat down at the bottom for a break, before heading all the way back up to the top again.
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| Mackenzie Falls. |
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| Mackenzie Falls again. |
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| At Mackenzie Falls. |
That was it for the morning in the Grampians, and I set off for
Horsham next. The drive was pretty boring without much scenery most of the way, I also had no idea what the speed limit was meant to be as I never saw any speed signs except one that said 70 km/h maximum at night.
It was almost 1:00pm by the time I reached the town, and the temperature had accelerated up to almost forty degrees. Horsham was the largest of the towns, depressingly they even have the NBN already! I had a quick walk around the shops before getting some lunch at the local Subway. I almost managed to work through a Powerade Zero, Mother energy drink and Pump water along the way, fair to say I'd gotten a bit dehydrated earlier.
I took the scenic route along the Wimmera River on the way back out of the town and on to
Dadswell Bridge, just a quick stop to see the world famous
Giant Koala, before heading back to Halls Gap via the main roads this time.
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| Wimmera River. |
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| Giant Koala. |
There was still some time left in the afternoon so I drove back in to the Grampians a second time and reached the Sundial car park at 4:30pm. I walked all the way to the
Sundial Peak and back, about four kilometres, without seeing anyone on the track. The view at the peak was alright but not as good as The Pinnacle, there was a large lake down below instead.
On the way back to the car my leg started hurting a lot, so I decided to make just one more stop for the day. The drive down hill to the
Silverband Falls car park was fun as it was a one way road with plenty of sharp bends. These waterfalls were very poor compared to the previous one, there was just a trickle of water and the river was dry.
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| Sundial Peak. |
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| Silverband Falls. |
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| At Silverband Falls. |
I was definitely done for the day, heading back to the motel with an accumulated total of 31000 steps or 26.75 kilometres.
Thursday December 31
I got back on the road early at 8:00am for an uneventful drive home, a little over three hours in total. The highlight was stopping in
Great Western, which reminded me of The Great Northern.
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| The Great Western. |
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| The Great Northern, not part of this trip... |
