Grampians - Sunny Sunday

The weather was much better today and we wandered back up the twisting mountain road up amongst the peaks and views. The first view today was so much better than the cloud blanket from yesterday with the vista over the valley and town below.

Wandering back down the road we arrived at another great lookout right next to the car park, and a 1km walk along a well groomed path we arrive at, yup yet another lookout, this time with the Jaws of Death as an added attraction. These are two rock fingers sticking out, looking like a pair of the titular Jaws. People used to be able to walk the 4-5 ft out on the lower one but this is now discouraged: probably in case you slipped and fell the 200 ft to the valley, although to be fair it looks like you could break the rock by jumping up an down a few times.

Bored with the vistas we now reversed the process and went to look at McKenzie falls. Great views, and other than some steep steps down the side of a gorge, an easy reach from the car park. For those of a lazy disposition the Grampian's so far were great: let the car do the work, park at the 1,500 ft view point and admire.

Clearly this was too easy and we drove the hour north to Hollow Mountain. I lost the road to this mountain car park a couple of times and badly judging the petrol gauge suddenly panicked and drove back down the road we had come. Staring for 30 mins at a fuel gauge at zero, shallow breathing and waiting for the hiccuping of a car running out of fuel. We somehow made in to the "petrol station" which consisted of a shed and 2 pumps in a caravan park, and the need to ring a bell to get the warden out. Suitably replenished (the kids also managed to wheedle chocky bars out of me) we returned to Hollow Mountain.

Banished was the easy walk to the view, this time taking on some pretty serious scrambling, for 1.5 hours to reach the top. The mountain gets its name from the endless fissures seeming to run through it, creating a couple of interesting caves we had to traverse. The girls did really well and the views were worth it, the weather by now providing typically Aussie, cloudless skies with a glaring sun.

Rockclimbing was popular here and we met some climbers on their way down carrying what looked like gym mats. I've climbed (very badly) in the past and this was an odd replacement for ropes, carabiners etc. All became clear when we went through one of the largest fissure/caves. Loads of climbers were practising a form of extreme climbing, trying to follow the impossible grooves in the ceiling while having their little mats below them for their backs!