It was recommended that we go through a small town called Dartmoor. So the plan for getting to Halls Gap was Dartmoor then whatever back roads that the GPS should choose for the rest of the journey.

At Dartmoor they had a row of old Cyprus trees to honour the war dead. The problem came when all the trees began to die. What to do? So in the end after consultation with the families involved, it was decided to get in a chain saw carving artist to cut the trees and carve statues from them. This was so successful that he went on to do other carvings from other Cyprus trees. One of these being the large tree where all the branches are carved into Fairy tale figures. What an amazing sight and well worth the detour.

The tiny little antiquated Post Office with it's funny Post Mistress was an excellent spot to post of Melinda's Birthday present and post cards to all the grandchildren. They would get a post mark from . . . . . . . "where the hell is Dartmoor?"

From Dartmoor the GPS took us through back roads that seemed to be getting narrower and narrower by the minute. By now we were getting hungry for lunch but every time we thought we were heading for the larger town of Hamilton we would head off down some other beautiful narrow back roads. Who am I to argue with this wonderful technology?

Finally with our ribs nearly sticking to our backbones we ended up in Dunkeld. Trish the "editor" insists that I name the towns we went through. Casterton, Coleraine, Cavendish then finally Dunkeld. Sigh ! ! ! After a good feed we headed into the Grampians and some amazing scenery arriving in Halls Gap with plenty of time to set up camp with the towering Grampians all around us.