On the Bottom Half

The Grampians and the Great Ocean Road

Now long overdue, the story of my most recent trip, a three day adventure, starts with a longish drive to The Grampians. A very early train trip into Melbourne got me to the meeting place for the tour bus about and hour and a half too early, so I went and found a coffee shop for a hot chocolate. There's something in the irony of that that I really like. The drive to the Gramps was about 2.5 hours, which was time spent meeting the tour guide and companion travellers.

'The Grampians' is a National Park that is largely centered on what could once have been referred to as mountains. By Canadian standards, they are little more than foothills, but the fierceness of Australian erosion has now worn away these once great peaks, leaving behind yet another great place in Australia. I will call them mountains anyway because they are wonderful nonetheless and the tallest is still 800m+ ASL. A tribute to their legacy is that they are 400 million years old, placing them firmly superior to the Rockies in age.

The first of several walks was from the Sundial Carpark down a lush fern and gum-tree valley to a town called Hall's Gap. There we stopped for lunch, then headed back up the peaks to another car park for some fantastic views (picture). These views were near 'The Jaws of Death', two stone balconies one atop the other that are more commonly referred to as 'The Balconies', but honestly, which would you prefer to be called? This is where the tour group was split up: another group was coming in from Adelaide and the three-day people from my tour were going to continue the rest of the tour with the Adelaiders. Everybody else was on a single-day Grampians tour and would be returning to Melbourne straight away.

The three-dayers were taken to Zumstein, down valley about 20 minutes, to start up a trail to MacKenzie Falls (picture). It promptly began to rain as the bus got to Zumstein, but the more hardy of the group decided to go on the walk anyway. The trek was up, again, a very lush valley of ferns, gum trees, black wattle, sundew, and a river. It took about 1.75 hours, and was truly beautiful. At the top of the falls, we met up with the other tour group, split from the old one, and headed on our way to the Jaws of Death... It's a short walk from the carpark and afforded some wonderful views.

Next stop was a very cool little farm stay called 'Asses Ears Wilderness Lodge'. There was an airstrip there and the bar had a bent propeller over it: that means it rocks in my books. We had tea catered for us, then played a pool comp which I lost in the last round(!), and watched some of 'Spirited Away', the ending of which I had to ignore because I couldn't hear it in the bar and I haven't seen it yet.

Next morning was back into the Grampians for the final hike to 'The Pinnacles'. These are the highest points in the Grampians and overlook Hall's Gap and a couple of lakes. A good 3 hour hike through some awesome terrain and a few slot canyons on the way down. If anyone with a geological bent is reading, it's definitely the place to take first years to see cross bedding.

We then drove down through the Park to Tower Hill, a collapsed volcano right on the coast. There were 4 koalas there, two with babies, hanging out in the eucalypts! Cute as only koalas can be... Then had tea as in liquid tea, and 'bickies' there. The Great Ocean Road doesn't really start until just outside where we spent the night, Port Campbell. We did, however, stop at the Bay of Islands, London Bridge, which has indeed fallen down, contrary to the nursery rhyme, and Island Arch Bay, which is just that. The story to London Bridge (picture) is that there were originally two arches connecting the headlands to the mainland. The innermost one collapsed suddenly in 1994, surprising two people, a man and a woman, who were on a romantic trip 'away from it all' and had walked out onto the headlands. Unfortunately, the wife and husband, respectively, of this man and woman were not 'away from it all' with them. Needless to say, the clandestine couple avoided the swarming news choppers and were left for the police to pluck from the new island. Just God's way of getting even, I guess. It would have been spectacular too see that much rock go splashing suddenly into the surf below. Probably more spectacular than the slap those two got from the judge when they got back home.

Next stop was Port Campbell, where we took over the hostel's kitchen and BBQ'd some meat and exotic salad. Oh, I forgot to mention that there were about 16 girls and 3 guys (tour guide not included) on this trip... After dinner, the gang went to the local pub. I went for a bit, but when the Aussie construction workers saw the hoarde of women that were temporarily in their neck of the woods, they swarmed and I left!

Next morning, we left for the final day of the trip and followed the GOR all the way back to Melbourne. There were tons of stops, all of them along breathtaking coastline. I caved and ponied up for the chopper flight at the 12 Apostles, where are now the 11 Apostles as of this June (picture). Is anyone yet getting the idea that the Earth can change things quickly? These Apostles are tall spires of limestone, the remnants of headlands after their bridges have been cut off, a la London Bridge. Absolutely stunning! Stopped in at Apollo Bay for lunch, then Lorne for liquid tea. Final stop was Torquay (pronounced Tor-kee), where the girls wanted to go shopping at the discount surf shops there. Torquay is the international headquaters of Billabong and Rip Curl and also of Bell's beach, which we stopped at. Bell's has world class surf and hosts each Easter a surf competion that is considered in the Grand Slam of surfing events. Truly awesome to see waves like that, dude!

Melbourne arrived in the windscreen at about 2000. I was dropped at 2017, about 2 minutes after the bus left for Sunbury. The next wasn't until 2140, so I found a delicious Turkish kebab place, read a magazine, and smelled strongly of garlic after I left! The girl sitting beside me on the bus spent the entire ride facing the window, so I either smelled funny or the scenery was very interesting. It was dark, after all... Got into the house at about 2330 and waited for Bruce to come home.

I spent the next couple of days doing a few things. Washing clothing, etc. On Sunday, Helen and I went into Melbourne to have a look at the some Chookas Children's Festival stuff, Federation Square, chocolate desserts, and train stations. Then Monday, Bruce and I went out to Hanging Rock: an exposed volcanic neck (trachyite), up which we completely avoided the beaten path and made our own. The trip down included a 10 foot drop, which Bruce and I deflty navigated, resulting in some crushed tendons in Bruce's right heel. Not to worry, he says, he'll heal! (No pun intended...) In the early 1900s, a school group went out. 4 girls went for a hike during this outing and were lost. Two came back, but neither had any memory of what happened... The rest have never been found. Spooky! Visiting Aboriginees say that they feel a sense of 'unfinished business' about the place and find it difficult to stay at for very long. To understand this, you have to realise that Australian Aboriginees are very connected to the energy of their land, hence the reverence given physical features such as Uluru, the Olgas, the Devil's Marbles, and Bungle Bungles. For example, contrary to common action, the traditional owners of Uluru request people not to climb it. They liken it to someone visiting The Vatican and sitting on the alter. Kind of a visceral example that one.

On Tuesday, I watched the Melbourne Cup, THE horse race in the Southern Hemisphere. A horse named Makybe Diva won for the third consecutive time, making Cup history. Roughly 106000 people there, but I was in a comfortable restaurant at the Kilgour Estate Winery on the Bellarine Peninsula overlooking Port Phillip Bay and some wonderful vineyards lowering into the ocean. It was great... That was capped off by some visits to a couple of beaches and a few other vineyards to buy some fine Shiraz.

That brings me to today, where I decided that the next destination is to Tasmania. I booked the flight and leave on Sunday. Not suue how long I'm to be there, but it may be a while.

Aussie slang for the day: "Do we have any trees for tea?" Translation: "Do we have any broccoli for supper?"

Update complete!

Extra pictures because I liked them. The rest have to wait!
Kookabura (for Bob); Cool orange fungus that eventually overgrows the trees and kills them.

posted by Kyle @ 08:45