The Manna House: Ballarat to The Grampians

Marnie in a wonderful second hand bookshop

in Castlemaine.

Here's a little more Dorothy Mackellar for all you poetry lovers.

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil

We are in The Grampians now, and finally the temperature has dropped to a comfortable 26C. Very pleasant for bush walking and rock climing (for those inclined to such things)
Driving to Ballarat we went through Castlemaine (great art gallery) Daylsford and Hepburn Spa. We were of the mistaken impression that we could have a dip in the natural springs at Hepburn.(not true) However, there was plenty of mineral water free at the pumps scattered around , so we filled several bottles. It was disgusting stuff. Tasted (and looked ) like rusty water!
We were happy to arrive in Ballarat after a long hot day. In the morning we dropped TMH off at the Jayco place to have an extra vent put in above the existing one and hoped that would fix the fridge problem, ( it has) and took ourselves into the city for a good look around. Great art gallery here too and beautiful old restored buildings. This is a huge city with sprawling suburbs.
We took off for Dunkeld in the morning. It's at the lower end of the Grampians and trust us to arrive on what turned out to be, "the biggest day of the year " there. It was Race day and the small population of a few thousand had swelled to 12,000. There were glammed up girls and guys everywhere, and the races were due to start in an hour. The caravan park looked very full, so we were happy to find they just had a cancellation and we could have a spot. We went for an evening stroll to the nearby wetlands and watched the sunset over the beautiful Grampians. There was much merriment in the van park after the races.
It just keeps getting hotter! A short drive into the Lower Grampians and we stopped at one of the National Park's well set out camping areas. Loos and water available and bays marked out to camp. There was another couple stopping for the night, so we plonked ourselves next to them and tried to get some shade. The temp was a scortching 44.5C Most of the trees around this section of the park, were burt out in a big bushfire 3 years ago. It raged through most of the Grampians. There is a reasonable amout of regrowth now. Thankfully, the nights are considerably cooler, so we sat outside and had a cuppa with our New Zealand neighbours and enjoyed waching the kangaroos come out to munch the grass.
There are so many beautiful places one could camp in the Grampians, but it is strictly in allotted places only. We went to Halls Gap the nex day and drove up to the Wonderland car park.As the temp was now a much milder 26C we decided to do the Grand Canyon walk, described as a moderate in difficulty and about 2.5K around. Moderate it was'nt, difficult it was! I felt like a mountain climber by the time we reached top, but it was rewarding with great views. We would love to have gone on to reach the Pinnacles, another hour or so upwards, but my knees simply would 'nt have coped. We did another delightful bush walk the next morning to a place called the Venus Baths, lovely rock pools and running brooks. Last night at dusk, the van park filled with kangaroos, dozens of them. Lots of joeys in pouches.....so cute, their heads hanging out to nibble the grass.

Vicki