Off to the Grampians. We intended to hit Hall’s Gap (not Hall’s Creek) for a couple of nights in a van park so we can catch up with electricity, water and more importantly, showers. We had planned to stay at Big 4 but upon arrival, there was not much in the way of sites available and nothing within a stone’s throw of each other. We headed back into Hall’s Gap and landed at the central van park. Lots of sites available and we choose a couple of suitable adjoining sites and settled in for the evening.
Hall’s Gap Van Park
Tuesday, Jan. 20
Today we have a day trip planned. We cleaned out the Prado and loaded Mike and Jan inside. We planned to do the loop road around the Balconies and back down past the Lake Bellfield. Our first port of call was the Wonderland Range just outside Hall’s Gap. The view from Wonderland looks back down Hall’s Gap towards the township.
The Wonderland Lookout
From there we headed to Reed Lookout and the walk across to the Balconies.
View from Balconies Lookout
The Balconies
Mike and Jan at the Balconies Lookout
We then drove around to MacKenzie Falls. Things were starting to heat up and the girls were showing signs of heat stress. We choose the shorter walks and got some great views of the falls.
Jan and Sally on the MacKenzie Falls walk
Mackenzie Falls
Mike at Makenzie Falls Lookout
On our return to camp, we decided to search for an appropriate body of water into which we could dip our tired limbs into. We started at the Wartook Reservoir but this didn’t meet our expectations of a suitable swimming lake.
Wartook Reservoir
We headed back towards Hall’s Gap passing the Lake Bellfield Reservoir on the way. To me, this proved irresistible. Crossing the muddy bank it was straight into the water. See Mike and Jan’s blog for photos (http://themikejancolandsalbigtrip.blogspot.com/). However, as we approached the lake we spotted a flock of Emus. On closer inspection we found scores of the giant birds living around the grassy plains surrounding Lake Bellfield. Whilst I swam, Mike went walkabout stalking these majestic birds for that perfect photo. Me I caught this snap of a young family.
Emus at Lake Bellfield Reservoir
After this it was back to camp where we dined a local restaurant and then retired for an early night.
1 comment:
surely that was your chance to snaffle a young emu for the barbie?
Post a Comment