We are now back in Melbourne once again after a couple of days out in the sticks at The Grampians and feeling refreshed after our first shower in three days!

We set off on Friday afternoon with Natalie and Dan to begin the journey west and after some debate as to whether or not we would get charged for using the freeway, we had finally left Melbourne behind us as night fell. We continued on through Ballarat and Ararat and other rodent like towns as the freeway ended and we were driving through small tree-lined country roads that reminded us of our days on the farm. We were also reminded of the kangaroo's that had a habit of jumping out at us while we drove, so it was all eyes peeled as we made our way to Halls Gap.

By the time we reached the camping grounds it was pitch black and the few other people that were there had all disappeared inside their caravans and campers, although by the time we had finished they were all well aware that we had arrived! We began pitching the tents in the dark and despite the laughter of our companions we had the smaller one up in a matter of minutes, much to the amazement of Natalie and Dan, although the larger tent proved a little trickier. By this stage Jamie and Laura dropped off the rest of their travelling party at the local hostel and had arrived at camp, so we at least had four car lights shining on us as we struggled with the poles and before too long we had both tents up and everything inside ready to go for the weekend. All that was left was for us to move the cars out of everyone else's way and we would be set, only one of the fireplaces was hiding in the way - but not for long as Fergal managed to smash it out of its concrete base while we reversed next to the tent with an almighty crash that would have woken all those that had managed to sleep through our earlier racket.

We had a few beers to celebrate our arrival and before long we were all crowded inside the big tent with many cans, where we stayed until the early hours of the morning and it was here that we both realised that our non-camping friends had no idea just how far noise travels in remote areas like this!

Yesterday morning we awoke at a reasonable hour to find that everyone else in the camp had either left or were packing up the last of their stuff in preparation to leave, perhaps to find somewhere as peaceful as it was before our group arrived!?

Once we had all woken and had a good feed of bacon and egg rolls, we set off in the car in the direction of one of the Mackenzie Falls walking tracks where we met up with Mike, David and Claire before heading off along the top trail. After a short while we came to a platform that looked out across the valley and over the waterfall beneath us and agreed that it would be good to get down to the waterfalls themselves as we could see dozens of people all walking amongst the rocks. With this new goal in mind we set off at great speed back around in the vague direction of where we had just come from, to find that in a matter of minutes we were back at the car park having just discovered the short cut! We continued on and were soon at another platform - this time directly on top of the waterfall - from where some stone steps continued on towards the plunge pool around the base of the falls.

Once we had navigated the steps and got across the slippery rocks, we found ourselves at the base of the falls looking back at the tumbling water whilst trying to stay out of the spray at the bottom. Once we had snapped away for various photos, including Jamie's obligatory "hanging on or I'll fall" picture from a horizontal rock face, we headed back up the steps to the top and then on back to the car.

While the others set off to find another walk around the summit, we headed into town with Dan and Natalie for a look around the little shops and cafés along the main street. On the way we spotted several kangaroo's in the park and when we pointed them out Natalie screamed "GORILLA'S! WHERE???" and once we had explained what we actually said she was out of the car in a flash to take some photos.

High on the agenda was a welcoming hot chocolate to warm ourselves up against the gusting winds outside and luckily there was a nice little café ready to oblige. The whole town was really laid back and had an old fashioned feel to it, like it was stuck in the past and not ready to embrace new technologies (such as cell phone reception for one!!) and we spent a couple of hours poking around in all the arts and craft shops before heading back to camp.

After dinner that evening, and with the whole camping ground to ourselves, we set about manufacturing the greatest (controlled) bonfire the world had ever seen! We had ourselves a bag of tinder and dozens of twigs we had collected from around the area as well as several newspapers to get the fire started, and three kilograms of big wood pieces to keep it raging well into the night. The only thing going against us was the damp ground and the continually fall of light rain, but unperturbed we set about creating our glorious masterpiece. Unfortunately, things were not going as we had planned as the rain was getting heavier and the tinder and newspapers weren't creating enough heat to light the larger pieces of wood. The defining moment came when Dan decided to put his trousers on to the fire (he had ripped them during the walks earlier in the day) and this stroke of genies turned our fire from a damp ember to a towering inferno.

Now that we had our fire and plenty of beers left to get through we set about enjoying the fruits of our labour. However, after about twenty minutes the rain and wind had picked up so much that the tarp we had all been sheltering under was getting blown all around us and we had to seek refuge inside the big tent once again. After a couple of hours of the wind howling around us we decided to head for the local pub in search of some warmth, and were pleased to see that our fire was still going, albeit in a rather sorry state. After we had made sure it was completely put out (using beer as we had no water!) we all squashed into Jamie's hire car and made our way into town.

The pub was lovely and warm and after a stiff drink and a couple of games of pool we could all feel the blood flowing through us once more. We stayed for a while mixing it with the locals before heading a little way down the road to the hostel where the others were staying so that we could watch the FA Cup Final at one o'clock in the morning! We managed to half time (by "managed to half time" we mean "slept through the first half") and then we headed back to our beds, much to the distain of Dan who had managed to stay awake and was looking forward to the second half!

We woke up this morning ridiculously early considering the night we had all had and started to pack away all our gear into Fergal for the return home. After more time than we care to remember, we had everything away and ready to go and headed a little way down the road for a 'tournament de force' at the mini golf course.

We knew we were in for a treat on the very first hole when Natalie went into double figures and turned the air blue in protest! After explaining the finer details of crazy golf etiquette (and pointing out that there were several families with small kids about) we continued on around the course. There were some really well thought out holes and some absurdly difficult ones as well and it all came down to the final hole to see who would be victorious and the spoils went to Dan after some dispute with the official score-keeper! Obviously we were all gracious in defeat and the silence that followed in the car on the way home was purely coincidence!

We are now back in Melbourne again at Natalie's place where we have just experienced one of the greatest and most needed showers in the history of mankind and are settling down into the nice big couches. Tomorrow we are enjoying the hospitality of Jamie and Laura and we have some serious house-hunting to be doing if we are going to stay in Melbourne for any length of time, as we are beginning to feel like nomads.