From Adelaide, I decided to take a tour to see the Great Ocean Road. I was up early the next morning, packed my bag and was picked up at my hostel. After picking up 14 passengers, I was off with the Groovy Grape Getaway tour company. Steve, was our “brilliant” tour guide. The tour was to consist of transport from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road with an overnight stop at the Grampians National Park and another overnight stop at the town of Princetown which is at the start of the Great Ocean Road.
We were up so early and that made for a very sleepy morning drive and it was a long one! We drove and drove into the early afternoon. Finally, we arrived at The Grampian National Park. The Grampians are a series of five spectacular sandstone ridges running north to south with steep slopes on the eastern side and gentler slopes to the west. They are the result of earth movements lifting and tilting the hard sandstones. There are lookouts with stunning panoramic views and a number of picturesque waterfalls. The Park is approximately 413,000 acres and it's beautiful. The rock cliffs make it an ideal place for rock climbers to practice and develop their skills. In January, the area was hit with severe flooding which made some of the normal tourist visiting areas off limits. We were able to take a hike along and up Hallow Mountain. It was only about 1.2 km but it was up a rather steep incline and overlooking a cliff. It wasn't too strenuous and after sitting in the bus for so long, the walk was a welcome activity and the views at the top were great.
After the hike we headed to Halls Gap, the main town in the Park and settled in at our accommodation. Caroline, my new friend, from London via Ireland and of Lord of the Dance/River Dance fame, and I took a walk and spotted hundreds of Kangaroos! Eastern Grey is the species and they are odd creatures. I can't figure out if I like them. They have this long tail that almost serves as a leg, short front arms with claw "hands" and when they are upright they are kind of creepy. But, they do have a cute face. I am undecided on how I feel about these creatures. We also spotted a very large stag deer that was not afraid of us at all. We were able to get really close to him.
The tour included meals and the meals were done communal style. Everyone chips in and either helps prepare or cleans up after the meal. We had a good BBQ dinner - no Roos were not on the menu! Caroline had chatted up the owners of our accomocation and was asking about the event in the main town. There was a jazz festival going on and 4-5 tent venues with different bands. After dinner, he ended up taking us to listen to the music. We were on average about 25 years younger than everyone there! It was a fun time.
No comments:
Post a Comment