July 5th (Sunday) - Day 126 - Grampians
Our first stop this morning was the McKenzie falls. Millions of steps down and we reached the bottom of the falls. Despite all the rain they were not in full flow but nevertheless they were still really impressive. We all did a few photos at the bottom and then I went exploring - no one followed me. I went on a little trek down the river until I was out of sight and decided I should head back. We then had to climb the million steps back to the bus. Our next stop was an area known as the balconies; famous for 2 slabs of rock which just stick out the mountain side. The view was also something worth writing home about (hence I am mentioning it!). The surrounding area had been burnt by bush fires about 4 years ago and already you could see how quickly nature recovers from such a thing. It was already really green and within a few more years it wont even be noticeable. Our final stop of the tour was at Hollow Mountain. It was the tallest mountain in the northern ranges. We climbed the track as far as we could to be presented with some awesome views. The best bit was that the weather had cleared up and there was even some temperature in the air. We thought we were at the top but our guide had other plans. Before we knew it we were climbing. This lead us into a cave within the rock (I am guessing this is why it is called hollow mountain). We climbed up through the cave and managed to get out on the roof. Some of the group dropped off as they couldn't climb tricky parts. Once at the top I was speechless. It took ages to take in the view. Mountains and bush as far as the eye could see. After spending what seemed like forever taking it all in we started our decent. We were down the climbing part in minutes as the guide knew an easier route - however no where near as dramatic. After prying the Asain 2 away from their camera's we climbed down the hill and started our way back. We stopped for lunch at a giant Koala (take a look at the pics!) and drove about another hour. As Sarah, I and one other person were going onto Adelaide we got dropped in a place called Ballarat to wait for the night bus. It was 4pm and the bus was not until 10pm so we had so long to wait around. We walked the full length of the town in about 10 minutes so decided the best way to pass the time was to see a film. Once that was done we grabbed a late dinner and the bus arrived before we knew it. Typically the bus was full and had a screaming baby on board - we knew a sleepless night was to follow.