After our deluxe picnic lunch, we drove inland, straight up to the Grampians. When this mountainous landscape was “discovered” by major Mitchell, a Scott, he decided that they resembles the region in his home country and named it after them. The indigenous Aborigine,s however, had lived and harmonized with the land for tens of thousands of years before that and fought in court to have its original name reinstated. They won and today, although still known as “The Grampians”, it is legally called the Gariwerd Grampians National Park.
Our first stop in this beautiful green region was the Brambuk National Park, an Aboriginal cultural centre and park. We watched two short films about the park and Aboriginal dreamtime – the stories about the creation of land, plants and animals. After the first few meters into the park, I saw my very first wild Wallaby and only a few steps further (and then all along the walk) my first Kangaroo. Such cute animals and clearly not very shy. I could approach them till almost a meter away, before they slowly hopped a few meters away. Quite a few had little joeys in their pouches, that stuck their heads (or feet) out every once in a while. Above us, flocks of Cacadu flew by and landed in the trees or just squawked off into the mountains. Even a few Emu were running around amongst the Kangaroos.
From there, w drove deeper into the green and took a little hike, including 290 stone steps, to the McKinzey Falls. These impressive waterfalls thunder down into a pool, which branches off into smaller falls, leading the water down into the valley. This was just one of those sights that is too beautiful to put into words, too sublime to try to describe. The walk back up was lung-burning, jacket-removing strenuous – but definitely worth it.
We stayed at Ned’s Beds, a hostel in Halls Gap, a quiet little town in the valley which – according to the Aborigines - was created by an angry giant emu chasing a crow which had eaten its egg and kicking the crack in the mountain in which the crow was hiding. We had a wooden cabin with two rooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Quaint and, once the heater was going full blast, even cozy. Hot showers were a blessing and so were the thick fluffy comforters on the beds. For dinner Whales made us an extremely delicious Kangaroo Lasagna – yes, with Kangaroo meat. I couldn’t really taste much of a difference, but I guess in lasagna it’s not that detectable. Garlic bread, giant salads and chocolate cake for desert rounded up the meal perfectly…. A clear night sky, stars twinkling above and not a sound to be heard – falling asleep in the middle of nowhere.
29.08.2010
Just like the morning before, the grass outside was sparkling with morning dew, but this time there were Kangaroos eating the grass – right outside our doorstep. The sun was rising over the mountains to the right, turning them orange, and illuminating the tree tops to the left. After breakfast and sandwich making, we drove to the Northern Grampians to hike the Hollow Mountains. The sign at the entrance read 1,2km – almost disappointed that it would be so short, we started across the sandy path. I realized I had never hiked a mountain walking on fine sand. The reason of course is the fact that the area used to be a desert, the mountains are all sandstone and their erosion makes the path a little winding beach. The vegetation is so different from anything I’ve hiked through – yellow eucalyptus, fine pines, morning dew flowers and spikey looking things. The sand turned into rocks and the climb became a bit harder – that’s more like it! When we got to a point where Whales told us to leave our jackets (I had already taken one off anyways) and any excess baggage because “here starts the fun part”, I got excited. And yes, it got fun! Hiking turned into rock climbing, among, along, over and through cliffs – no path, just little yellow arrows leading up to the very top of the mountain. What a feeling… The adrenaline rising with every boulder conquered, my smile growing at the sight of the “rock ladder” (a short vertical climb that felt like an artificial rock climbing wall, only natural) and pure bliss after climbing out of a hole in the cliff and onto the top of the world. I would say we were above the clouds, but there weren’t any to speak of…. Clear blue skies and beautiful beautiful sunlight, both reflecting off the surfaces of the little ponds in the rocky landscapes. Mountains surrounding us, trees below us and wide open spaces, fields, lining the horizon. We spent a while climbing around on the boulders, soaking up the sunlight, staring off into the distance. A definite highlight of the whole trip so far. I didn’t want to come down off that serene rocky paradise.
After slowly finding our way back down, me being the last because I just can’t stop taking pictures, we took another short hike to a cave with Aboriginal painting on the walls. Although not much is known about the place, it is speculated that it was a place where children learned the art of cave painting, drawing emu and kangaroo tracks and making handprints. Even through the wire fence protecting the paintings, it was quite amazing to be standing in front of such ancient art.
12:55noon, no make that 12:25noon… just crossing the border between Victoria and South Australia. Things that change: the time (half an hour), the speed limit (100km/h to 110km/h) and the ability to own 2 weed plants without being prosecuted.
6:30pm… Sitting in the Canon Street Backpackers in Adelaide. The rest of our journey took us through lots of farmland and a truck stop along the highway, where cattle and sheep were dancing polka in their cramped limousines. We did get to stretch our legs next to a wildlife park with white kangaroos and before heading into the city, we drove up a mountain to get a view of the Adelaide hills and the city, all the way to the coast. Spent most of the ride occupied with music – I have found that the Garden State soundtrack, the 500 Girls of Summer soundtrack and the Blow soundtrack make for really good background music while driving through the countryside – and episodes of “Die Drei Fragezeichen”. My first impression of the city is: small. And yes, I know it is Sunday, but driving into it and walking through the streets a few moments ago really felt like being in a ghost town. The hostel seems close to deserted, compared to the hustle and bustle in Melbourne, and is so quiet that you can hear the echo of your own talking in the halls. Will head down to the bar for free apple pie and cream at 8pm and see if that won’t attract the other life forms in here.
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