Halls Gap, The Grampians, Victoria

 We have made it safely to Halls Gap and will remain here for the next three nights.  The drive from Ballarat to Halls Gap is along the motorway today.  A little different to what we normally do, ie through the back roads, but it is a lot easier, sometimes, to traverse a four lane highway with a caravan in tow.

The Victorian countryside still amazes us.  We had no idea that there would be so much broad acre farming land in Victoria but today we are passing through what is predominately sheep grazing areas, and we see that it is intensive rotationally grazed.  We know from experience that you can run far more stock with a rotation system in place.  We stop at Pomonal for coffee and cake to kill a bit of time as we left Ballarat quite early and cannot check into Halls Gap Van Park before midday.

Yesterday was bleak and promises to be the same for the next couple of days while we are in Halls Gap.  Not surprisingly today we woke to a low of 7 degrees and a high of just 13 degrees.  But we push on and map out our morning.  The office staff  at the Caravan Park  issued us with a detailed map of the "must see" places in Halls Gap and the National Park and we decide on Boroka Lookout and Mackenzie Falls for today.  If the weather improves we will also hike into "The Balconies" (it didn't improve).

The drive is a steady climb to 850m with lots of switch-back corners to navigate and I thank god Philip is a terrific driver.  

Can't say that for other drivers on the road through, as we came around one corner and were almost taken out by a driver right over the white line on our side of the road.  He never slowed down and if Philip was driving any faster it would have been a head on.  I have captured it on the dash cam and debating whether to hand it in to the local police.

Boroka Lookout is a dismal failure.  At 850m we are in the clouds and the view is this.......

On a clearer day, this would have been the same view!

Back into the warmth of the car and we head further down the track to Mackenzie Falls Lookout Walk.  I am pleased to say that the weather improved slightly and I was able to get a couple of photos of Mackenzie Falls, the highest falls in Victoria and they flow all year round.  Philip would have liked to walk to the base of the falls but the 300 odd steps down looked very slippery.  Perhaps we will come back tomorrow if we get the sunshine that is predicted.

We arrived back to Halls Gap with enough time before lunch to walk the Main Street.  It is a lovely town and we both commented that it has the look and feel of a Swiss alpine village.  There are many people wandering the short Main Street and, as it is just a fairly short drive from Melbourne, we guess many folks come here for the weekend.

The photo below is the caravan park that we are staying at with lovely views out over the Grampians.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will do the Pinnacle hike.  It is a medium grade hike that is a steady uphill. That will be challenging but the views are said to be worth the hike.