Sonja & Ian's Excellent Travel Adventures - The Grampians

Having made very brief acquaintance with the Grampians some years ago when I was invited to speak at a conference at Halls Gap, I decided then and there to, one day, return. Well, here we are, driving through the majestic mountain regions, headed towards the only caravan park that still has vacancies – one that does not allow pets. Poor Miss Kiddle has to be smuggled in, yet again. What this means is that we stop the van a few hundred meters before the entrance to transfer her from my lap into the van. She then has to endure a few minutes of a pretty bumpy ride. I know just how bumpy this ride can be as on a number of occasions, feeling sorry for her, I’ve stayed in the van, sharing her experience.

Thinking back to the first trial run we did with our caravan about 1½ years ago, I have to say that Miss Kiddle has come a long way. Then she cried, widdled, pooed, spewed and made such a jolly nuisance of herself every step of the way that I was ready to disown her. Now, she takes it all in her stride - she happily settles into her basket, which rests on my lap throughout the journey. She spends the driving hours snoozing, washing herself, standing up every so often to purvey the passing landscape (very much to the amusement of passing traffic - I guess you don’t often see a cat staring at you from the front seat of a passing car!) and she absolutely loves being in the caravan. This certainly increases the enjoyment factor for us.

The caravan park, huge and as rugged as the landscape, is relatively empty this early Thursday afternoon before the Easter weekend. After setting up, which has become a very comfortable routine by now, we drive into Halls Gap to check out the lay of the land. By the time we return the park is unrecognizable – filled to the brim with vans of all shapes and sizes, tents, some of which are as large (I am sure) as some people’s houses; children running, hopping, skipping, some racing around on their bikes; groups of adults (of all shapes and sizes) seated around fire pits, chatting, laughing, enjoying ‘wine o’clock’. The atmosphere, filled with the smoke of dozens of such fires, is one of relaxation and happy anticipation of a long and lovely Easter weekend. It’s nice to see, hear and feel the vibrancy of all the life around us and earplugs ensure that the screaming toddler in a close-by tent, perhaps woken by a nightmare, doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm. Earplugs are definite MUST when caravanning.

We wake from a restful sleep to hundreds of corellas combining their voices in early morning song. Thankfully, even Ian had a good night, which is relatively rare these days and is often a barometer as to how well his body will behave during the day. As I have a craving for Devonshire tea, we head out to Halls Gap in search of such a delight. Halls Gap is also teaming with people; the coffee shops are packed and even their outdoors areas filled with hardy folk – it’s only about 10 degrees C.

Fortified by the delicious homemade Devonshire tea we now wend our way up into the mountain to the Boroka Lookout. The viewing platform, which is within easy strolling distance from the car park, provides a great view over the Halls Gap Valley and the eastern plains. We marvel at the rugged mountains as well as the vast plains stretched out below. Walking between viewing platforms we discover a kangaroo busy munching its morning tea, that doesn’t seem at all worried about us.

Next we target the Reed Lookout that provides majestic views overlooking the Victoria Valley, which is a truly marvelous sight! We notice 2 couples who, despite the signs that warn about stepping outside the boundary fences, sit right at the edge of a craggy outcrop, legs dangling way above the tree tops. Some people just seem to love courting danger!

 Having had enough of sightseeing for one day we return to Halls Gap, where we do a spot of grocery shopping.

After returning to the caravan park it’s time for me to do some tennis practice. Ian offers his services as my ‘ball machine’. This is a very kind offer but one that is fraught with temptation, as he used to be a very good tennis player once upon a time. Having functioned as my ‘ball machine’ a couple of times already on this trip I know just how challenging it is for him to ‘hold back’. Serving spin balls and slam dunking me every so often proves to be just too much of a temptation. I am grateful, though, as I don’t want to lose all the progress I’d been making on the tennis court prior to leaving on this journey.

After an hour of fun on the court we take a stroll along Lake Fyans, a man-made lake that is located next to the caravan park with its shore no further than 100 meters from our van.  With dozens of tree skeletons reaching out of the water’s depth towards a grey and heavily laden sky, the lake looks almost ethereal. With dusk falling it is rather chilly but very easy to imagine his place in summer. It would be a truly magical spot for families keen to enjoy the pleasures of lake-side holidaying.

We had a great day!