Naracoorte, South Australia to Yarrawonga, Victoria

Naracoorte, SA to Yarrawonga, Victoria

Wednesday 16 October – Naracoorte, SA to Warrnambool, Victoria

After exactly one month in South Australia, we drove what is apparently, according to our GPS, the shortest way, roughly diagonally, through farmland then extensive forest plantations to our coastal destination of Warrnambool.  How about the number of commas in that last sentence?  The roads followed were mostly single lane and quiet.  We have come to Warrnambool mainly for a car service tomorrow but also to see the sights of this very pretty seaside town on the western end of the Great Ocean Road.

This afternoon, we took advantage of the reasonable weather and drove to Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve and walked up the Tower Hill track.  

Tower Hill walk on Peak Climb Walking Track - near Warrnambool

The Reserve is situated inside an extinct volcano crater now filled with a number of lakes.  A view of the area via Google Earth clearly shows the circular volcano and its lakes.  The Tower Hill Lookout is accessed by an extremely steep path with great views at the top to the coast 15 klm away and the surrounding countryside.  Next was the Lava Rocks walk along the Tower Hill Lake boardwalk where numerous emus were feeding around us.

Lava Flow walk - Tower Hill - Warrnambool

We then headed off to the whale-watching boardwalk at Logan Beach, near where we are staying, to watch the huge waves and a couple of brave surfers.  Large clumps of seaweed in the surf kept us entertained for quite a while as we tried to work out what they were as they appeared to move against the tide and looked like manta rays.  The whales have left for the season as the mothers and calves have made their way south for the summer.  Given we were now looking at seaweed and the surfers had finished for the day, we headed home to bunker down for the forecast wild weather to arrive.

Thursday 17 October – Day 2 Warrnambool

Hailstones covering outdoor matting after a storm

As forecast, we woke to a wet, cold, and windy day with hail at times (how about those commas).    The car is safely in the car service bay and we are safely in our caravan under an overhanging Norfolk Island pine tree which is protecting us a little from the elements.  Hailstorms have been hitting us every hour or so with only small pea sized pieces but still enough to cover the outdoor matting each time.

We braved the weather this afternoon to grocery shop and then drove to some of the many vantage points overlooking the ocean.  The walking paths throughout Warrnambool, and particularly around the coast, are extensive and very tempting.   Stepping out of the car once and nearly being blown away, we thought we’d save these walks for our next visit to the region.

Friday 18 October – Warrnambool to Halls Gap, The Grampians

Road to Halls Gap, Grampians

Our GPS navigated the back, scenic and shortest route through farmlands, commas and into the Grampians National Park, with views of the Serra Ranges as we travelled north, and on to our base at Halls Gap.  Given how quiet Naracoorte and Warrnambool were we had anticipated another peaceful bush camp setting in a local caravan park as we’re now out of school holidays and not in peak season.   

We ended up at a caravan park filled with the annual get together of Vietnam Vets and the annual get together of home-schooled students – a week where the children of all ages who are home-schooled during the year, get together, with their parents, some more commas, and take over a caravan park with, presumably by chance, the Vietnam Vets. In addition, the annual car enthusiast gathering was held in Halls Gap on the Sunday with the show grounds covered in vintage to hot-rod cars and old people fascinated with old metal sitting on old tyres. It was very apparent that our hopes for a quiet  three days was somewhat unlikely.

The Grampians were formed by an ancient seabed being squeezed up from the plains in the west overlaying the plains in the east thereby forming 1000+ metre high cliffs.  The area is renowned for great drives and walks through the now spectacularly eroded rock.  We picked up three brochures of walking tracks covering the Southern, Northern and the Wonderland (Central) Walks which are the ones closest to us.   There are so many choices and so little time that we decided to cover a couple from each area.

Mt William Walk - Grampians

After setting up camp and after lunch we headed off for our introductory Grampians walk up the steep Mt William named by Major Mitchell – of Major Mitchell Cockatoo fame - who climbed it in 1836.  The scenery is stunning. 

Mt William Walk - Grampians

We then took a short walk to Silverband Falls which was still flowing due to recent rains that also passed through Warrnambool a couple of days ago.   What was more outstanding than the falls was the debris from the devastating 2011 floods which closed most of the park for quite a while.

For reasons we really don’t understand, we’re very pleased to have been basically fly free since we left South Australia so we’ve packed away our fly nets and no longer need to swat around our heads regularly.  We can now comfortably sit outside each evening and enjoy the calming sounds of 100’s of home-schooled schools kids, war veterans and rev heads camped around us.

Saturday 19 October – Day 2 Halls Gap, The Grampians

On a perfect day for walking, with blue skies and not too hot temperatures, we went to Wonderland today.   The Wonderland Ranges are described as the heart of The Grampians.  First stop was Wonderland carpark and a great warm-up walk through the Grand Canyon.  This walk climbs up a spectacularly wind and water eroded gorge.  Climbing out at the top of the gorge we decided not to walk the plainer path back to the carpark but turned around to walk back through the gorge the other way. 

Grand Canyon walk - Grampians

Grand Canyon walk - Grampians

Grand Canyon walk - Grampians

From here we drove the steep, winding roads to the iconic Boroka Lookout, providing views down through the valleys of the Grampians and out across the Wimmera Plains in the distance. 

Boroka Lookout - Grampians

Boroka Lookout - Grampians

Next were the walks in the Mackenzie Falls area with its many lookouts, then on to Reed Lookout and the spectacular Balconies.  

The Balconies

The Balconies

It was here we first came across the vintage car element of the car enthusiasts.  The rumble and rattle of old people in their old vintage cars coming up the steep roads was soon replaced by the grating of teeth, some false,  some gearbox, as they reversed into the remaining car spaces at the lookout. 

Fortunately the drivers and their passengers were half frozen and fully old so we were able to beat them all to the Balconies Lookout to have the place to ourselves for a while.

Balconies Lookout Walk - Grampians (spot the odd car out)

Wending our way back down the road towards home we stopped at the Sundial car park and did a two hour walk to The Pinnacle with its appropriate level of Wow factor for its breathtaking views and spectacular weather carved rocks.   

Pinnacles Walk and lunch spot

Pinnacles Walk

Pinnacles Walk

Pinnacles Walk

This was a good spot for lunch so we set up on the edge of the cliff with views over the valley below.  The lookout at the top of the Pinnacles Walk was remarkably busy.  We couldn’t believe how unprepared many people are – many with no water (despite 30 degree heat), no hats (despite the sun), and basic footwear (despite the rocky terrain).  Still they made it.

So after our first full day exploring The Grampians, we noted how the tracks are very well marked and maintained and how there are so many wonderful walking options.

Sunday 20 October – Day 3 Halls Gap, The Grampians

Beehive Falls

Today we decided to tackle the northern Grampians and we’re so glad that we did although not all went as originally planned.   Again we had a warm, sunny day with very few commas.  With an early start to beat the worst of the heat and crowds our first stop was Beehive Falls and a medium grade one hour walk to the base of a pretty waterfall.

Next stop was Golton Gorge Walk however the walk was closed due to previous flood damage from 2011, so off we went to Gulgan Manja Shelter.   This was a surprisingly pleasant 30 minute walk to high rock ledges with good views over the Wimmera Plains.  The shelter contains aboriginal cave rock art featuring the hand prints of young indigenous people aged 8 to 12 years old from 1000’s of years ago.  It was here we stopped for morning tea overlooking the plains below and the rocky bluffs above.

Julie rode to Gulgan Manja Shelter

Aboriginal rock art - Gulgan Manja Shelter

Morning tea - Gulgan Manja Shelter

The track to summit of Hollow Mountain

The Gulgan Manja Shelter walk led back into the start of the Hollow Mountain (Wudjub-Guyan) walk, graded as medium/hard with an estimated walk and scramble time of one and a half hours along the 2.2 klm return track.  The track led through a gully and woodland of native bushes and trees then to the base of an iron-stained cliff.  

The track to summit of Hollow Mountain

The track to summit of Hollow Mountain

From here, the going got tough with a steep and strenuous climb through fallen boulders and along exposed ledges to a rocky outcrop leading further upwards to wind-scoured caverns and finally to the summit with extensive, spectacular views of plains and rocks and mountains.  

Hollow Mountain Walk - Grampians

At our first high ledge, we were tempted not to climb any further thinking we could see the best of the sights from there.  How wrong we were.  Luckily we spoke to three young blokes coming down who encouraged us to keep going.  

They made it sound easy enough and worthwhile so off we went.  This was one of the best walks we’ve had for a long time.  The summit views were stunning.   Stopping for lunch, again on the edge of a cliff, we sat marvelling at the majestic views and a massive sheer cliff of orange that curved beyond 90 degrees for 100’s of metres.

After lunch I dug out our binoculars to have a look at some aggravated nesting white cockatoos flying around the sheer rock face.  We couldn’t believe the cockatoos were being annoyed by three rock climbers almost half way up the greater than 90 degree leaning rock face.  They were so small by comparison we could only just make them out without the binoculars.  They were barely moving as they looked for hand and foot holds in the very smooth looking cliff face precariously perched well above any safe fall level.  Hollow Mountain was easily in our top 10 best walks around Australia so far and, given it wasn't a long walk, could be done alongside other walks in the area.  We took many photos so here they are.

Hollow Mountain Walk - Grampians

Hollow Mountain Walk - Grampians

 

After Hollow Mountain I had to to think about things for a while ..... 

then we made a last minute change of plans to head to the Southern Grampians - specifically to Billimina Shelter - which we had read was a massive rock overhang with the best example of aboriginal rock art in Victoria.   After over half an hour of driving we found that the unsealed road and track into the area was closed due to fires that devastated the area in February this year.  Having done enough for the day we set our GPS for home.  We travelled along various unsealed roads right through the centre of the Grampians with spectacular mountain views all the way.  Back home we rested our weary limbs after two and a half days of fabulous walking in the Grampians.

We will definitely put The Grampians on our wish list to return to and tackle some of the longer and harder walks in future - hearts, lungs, knees, commas and hips permitting.

We can’t believe that 3 days ago, we were at Warrnambool, only a couple of hours further south, feeling very cold with hail and strong winds and a maximum temperature of 10 degrees and yet the past two days we’ve been quite hot during the day with maximum temperatures about 30 degrees although relatively cool overnight.

Monday 21 October – Halls Gap, The Grampians to Blackwood Macedon

Last night was concert and party night for the home schooled children so a late night was had by all.  We watched DVDs waiting for everyone to settle down.

We have been invited to attend the Gold Coast University Hospital official opening 30 October, so our travel plans have been amended to allow us to park the van in Yarrawonga on the Murray River, and drive up to the Gold Coast for a few days before heading back down again to finish our trip.  Our route is therefore a little inefficient but still designed to take in some interesting places on the way.  Further complicating things are the bad bushfires around western Sydney and the Blue Mountains.  We will have to keep an eye on the fire risk and decide which way we go back to the Gold Coast.

Today we headed east towards Blackwood however the skies were overcast, rain threatened so we changed our plans at our roadside morning tea spot and ended up at Macedon for the night.  Rural Macedon Caravan Park looks to be a quiet place for a peaceful night.

Mt Macedon Remembrance Cross

We set off to explore the sights including Hanging Rock, Hanging Rock winery then up Mt Macedon to the Remembrance Cross.   By the time we had ordered our coffee at the summit kiosk and selected our table by the window, the fog had set in together with a light drizzle. Our views were limited to 20 metres but the walk around Remembrance Cross was made a little different by the, for us, unusual weather conditions.  The fog became worst and was so thick we had trouble finding the exit from the carpark.  Driving down the steep mountain was more than a little hazardous but all went well and we arrived safely back at camp.

Tuesday 22 October – Macedon to Echuca

Echuca Thong Tree for Thing alongs.

With a rainy day forecast we cut our stay in Macedon by one day to head north to the historic town of Echuca on the Murray River.

After settling in, we walked down past the old paddle steamers and along the historic riverfront street and then main street of the town.  The rain heard we were here and again paid us a visit overnight but was a lot lighter than where we came from down south.

Echuca

Wednesday 23 October – Day 2 Echuca

With unpredictable weather, we walked in to historic Echuca twice before deciding to have lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Murray River then taking a trip on a 100 year old paddle steamer down the River.   Other than a short scenic drive and a slightly longer drive looking for fuel, that was about it.

Historic Wharf Precinct - Murray River cruise - Echuca

Thursday 24 October – Echuca to Yarrawonga.

After a relatively short drive through fertile looking farmland, we set up at our caravan park at Yarrawonga, on the Murray River for what will be one night in residence followed by seven nights with the van unoccupied as we head back home followed by two nights back in residence. Unfortunately for us, the weekend we get back is a four day "long" weekend in Victoria for the Melbourne Cup so prices are sky high for those four days.

This closes our Blog for a week until we’re back on the road again with the caravan in tow.

Tomorrow we will set off to the Gold Coast stopping overnight in regional Narrabri.  The one-way journey is 1500 klm and will take about 16 hours to drive.