Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #4

Days 9 & 10

Hope you like the numerous photos & commentary of this blog. So many photos taken & great memories stored.

Continuing on from my blog #3, we are into our 9^th day of the tour (including Melbourne city wandering) & thereby completing the fantastic Great Ocean Road in an easy 3.5days. From my #2 blog we lost a lot of time getting the van out of the holding yard which eliminated the time to take in Torquay, Bell’s Beach, etc so 4 full days is at a good pace for the entire road tour but that also restricts taking in some precious sites, walks & activities that most people would plan to do.

With a full-on day yesterday and seeing so many sights we both had a great sleep, although EGR later in the night moved her swag a bit further away from the van. No, I don’t snore, so I think it was the small kids in the van next to us that had the potential of waking her up earlier than EGR needed to be. In noticing the young family, we swapped a pancake mix we would be hard pressed to use where they in turn provided a capsicum, for they can’t legally take it across the South Australian border on their way to Adelaide. The parents were thrilled to offer their kids pancakes for breakfast the next day.

The Gardens Caravan Park at Pt Fairy was certainly the best place we stayed at along the GOR with all the amenities, hot showers & best cubicles (internal dress & drying area within your cubicle) plus flat beautiful manicured & sculptured grounds. Easy to book online too, etc.

Having plenty of time for the checkout at 10.30am we savoured our normal yummy light breakfast, showered & prettied up  .. (LOL!! for me) and undertook our first toilet dump of the van where EGR was determined to undertake herself, once I unlatched the container for her. EGR used the toilet entirely, so I think she wanted ownership of her ‘belongings’ and to reaffirm herself that she could do this when she starts travelling by herself later this year.

At the dump site we were able to have a great chat with a fellow traveller who had some wonderful local knowledge & of the road system through to the Grampians (mountain region). We had so much to converse about, and with all our duties now completed we managed to comply with the 10.30am checkout .. but only just.

Having plenty of time till our next campsite we ventured over the river to the small CBD of Pt Fairy to take in the historical buildings, trees and heritage type streets. We parked off the main street of Bank St due to the size of our motorhome and hit the pavement at a leisurely pace.

Turning into the main street EGR remembered a chocolate shop from her last visit in 2016 and she spied it almost instantly, so I was obvious to be our first stop. Audley & Hall is an artisan chocolate shop on the premises and the selections available are amazing. After much sauntering we both scored some delights with EGR sneakily buying a small box of Whiskey Truffles she gave me a few days later to celebrate the ending of our trip. Yummo!!!! We both LOVE chocolate & for me, scotch is tops too. Smelling the continuous aroma of chocolate EGR wanted to shout us both a hot chocolate. Well, I couldn’t say no! Sadly, it was as hot as the lady could make them. Lukewarm at best ☹

Walking around town admiring all the old & quirky shop fronts we met up again with the camper we met at the Dump point, but this time only enough time to provide a friendly wave & “hello again”. Pt Fairy reminded me so much of Fremantle & Hobart with the historical streets, shops & trees like in a time zone of the past. Some houses were dated 1857 so that’s a bit of history. I’m thinking Pt Fairy was the first town, port & fishing town in the region, then Port Campbell later & much later Warrnambool (this is by far the biggest non-coastal regional city & a lot of milk, beef & lamb industry) where sheep dog trials are on at the present & this is a huge event where prized breeding, and champions are sold for enormous dollars.

We checked out more Pt Fairy streets and walked past the ‘historical’ YHA house EGR stayed in for a while in her last GOR visit. It was obvious many memories started to flow through her mind as we walked a few more blocks. Some of the streets are so wide, yet the enormous trees of pine span over the roadway giving permanent shade to the road such as this Gipps St. What a peaceful landscape in a sleepy small township. We wanted to venture across the river for more walking however the cold drizzle of rain quickly changed our minds & our pace quickened towards the far warmer van.

Doing a small lap in the van of Pt Fairy the rain stopped sufficiently to scan a few more waterways & beaches with a most wonderful photo of EGR sitting on a rock looking out into the sea horizon. I would love to know what she was pondering in those precious moments. Back into the van we said goodbye to the most wonderful & amazing coastline these past days & headed towards The Grampians (mountainous region) to the north. The Grampians are the start of the Great Dividing Range that extends through Victoria, NSW & into Queensland with its National Park 1,672 km2.

We found the best direct route to be Road C178 on advisement from our campsite traveller, through townships of Hawkesdale, Penshurst, Dunkeld, past the magnificent Mt Abrupt, turn off to Grampian Valley Lookout & then another turnoff to Mt William where we found the time to walk through basic jungle where you could see the slightest remnants of a bush track. Luckily, we found our way back without the need for breadcrumbs. This track brought us to 959m (3,149ft) above sea level & the mountain would be another 91m (300ft) higher still & Mt William is the highest in The Grampians. We couldn’t do the hike up to the lookout as energy & time would not allow for it. Where we reached was a great view of natural, agricultural landscape but further into the distance was about 40 vile un-environmental wind turbines. On the way out of Penshurst along C178 there were about 20 wind turbines & not one was working. Oh, for a pack of dynamite! Environmental disasters.

After Mt William we travelled about 10klms to Halls Gap, a cute little town, central to The Grampians with a great information centre. EGR has stayed at Halls Gap before, so there were a few points we had to cover at the Info Centre in terms of what locations are accessible for us to handle as there are many treks ratings & vehicle access points to consider. After quite a consultation we finally headed off to Old Man Emu – a private property offering a nature off the grid camp area with no amenities (our first & only ‘free camping’ type experience). We first have to check-in at the front entrance farmhouse where we met the co-owner Greta who directed us to the side pastural entrance a few hundred metres up the road after paying the $20 fee. Opening the gate, we found the best nature spot ever!! The farm area we found was in Smith Zone next to the small lake where we came very close to emus, kangaroos, ducks & wrens.

We placed the table/ chairs near the lake, had our red wine, dips, cheese & chocolates and took in the wonderful nature over these grazing fields. We had the option of having a fire pit operating & we looked so forward to it however, being so dry & with the wind a little blustery we decided not to. I also advised Greta & she was really thankful & appreciated the decision we made & for the contact.

EGR set up her swag closer to the lake than the van to limit the wind buffering her swag & we both made a Thai stir-fry dinner, with our new-found capsicum & an early sleep plan after washing up.

Day 10

With only nature waking us up we both had a great sleep & the most relaxing morning with an easy breakfast. I went for a walk around the small lake and to see where the emus were grazing while EGR used the van’s amenities & got dressed. Without much-a-do we headed back into Halls Gap for the major accessible sites of the Grampians. There are just too many locations to see, so you need far more days than what was allowed for us. Some main sites we couldn’t get to, were The Pinnacles, Mt Sturgeon, Chataqua Peak, Grand Canyon to name a few. There are over 100 rock climbing sites & treks of all different grade ratings.

Starting with the longer trip along Mt Zero Rd (bitumen) towards Laharum (village) further north & took the worst rutted gravel road for some 4klms to Mt Zero & nearby Hollow Mtn. The GPS certainly wasn’t friendly this morning (low internet) & we were really tested to which road to take. Road signage was very minimal.

We seemed to take the wrong turn & ended up at Mt Zero carpark in not being our primary choice. Seeing we are now parked we saw the nearby sign of Mt Zero walk trek (1.3klms Grade 3) & decided to give it a go. Wrong move .. track became barely visible as we ventured upwards & wasn’t worth the effort, so I rated it true to name Zero!! 2 out of 10 maybe. The walking track was obviously in this state due to the last 10 or so years of horrendous fiscal management of the Victorian Labor Government withdrawing or severely reducing land funding, etc. The trouble was now, the walk used up a bit of EGR’s strength. Her body battery can fade quickly. When it was safe to do so I raced back & put the air con on so EGR could regain her body temp, etc as quickly as possible. In this recovery time we had a bit of morning tea and chilled out.

It took us a while to then sort the road system out towards our preferred Hollow Mtn & headed off there. Again, another bad rutted road for some 4klms. EGR had to put her headphones on to restrict the rattling noise of travel. Loud sounds & vibrations affect her disability in a big way, so I had to really watch my driving closely. A bed pillow certainly helped her in this case.

Somehow, we found the car park of Hollow Mtn, and we took in some more recovery time before we had the confidence to start the walk & climb. Heading onto the trail the first klm was reasonable but then it became tougher. Little by little we started clambering over & around boulders of huge size & at times like we could be abseiling. We were making real progress although I had trouble with my wallet in my long trek pants, restricting my leg movements. The van keys & my phone were OK in other pockets. EGR suggested I put the wallet in the small zip pocket just above my knee & that made a huge improvement in mobility.

After a while we thought we had gone a fair way, only to chat with a Netherland family coming down the terrain who stated we are only just beginning the harder stuff but it’s doable, taking our time they said. Their son (about 25yrs old) had been in Australia for some time & the parents were over here visiting him. It was wonderful they all could speak English too. Again, with some newfound confidence & still with good energy levels, we ventured on & to also see how far we can go & still have the energy to get back to the van.  

For a good 10 or so minutes, we were going well only to hear the Netherland family yell out if I had lost a small wallet. Yikes!! My zip above the knee had worked loose with all the climbing & therefore my wallet escaped unnoticed. Leaving EGR to sit & recover I had to venture back down a bit to meet their very fit son who had thankfully climbed back up to meet me at some point. I thanked him so much for returning it & with virtually no cash I couldn’t offer a reward as my cash was back in the van. He clearly stated he wasn’t looking for a reward either & was very happy to provide ‘rescue’ & knew it was my wallet due to my licence photo inside. I was so lucky that he was very honest & had found it in what would be considered a virtual ’no clear path view’. Whew!!! That lost wallet would have destroyed the remainder of our trip & in getting back home, not to mention the drama of re-obtaining licences, credit cards, etc, etc. Double Whew!!!

With that unwanted drama now over & back with EGR, onward we went, forever upwards & sideways & looked for the sometimes ‘hidden’ little yellow painted arrows (some triangles) on rocks. Getting to the point where EGR was reaching her peak we rested for a while & drank some more water, for we are now in full late morning sun being on the western side & also wondering where this ‘window’ our Netherland friends spoke of.

While EGR was resting I suggested I walk/ climb around to the other side of this huge boulder outcrop blocking our view to see what is on the other side & then return within a very short time .. no hero stuff of course, making sure I kept as close as possible to EGR. If need be, take a photo or two for her if we decided to return to the van.

You wouldn’t guess it … for another 50m of edging over that boulder outcrop it became a flat surface where I found myself standing in front of the ‘window’. What a relief & a prized result. I quickly returned to EGR who was now determined & excited to see this ‘window’ & soldiered on. Being at the front of the window I was assessing the best way for both of us to enter the narrow openings at both ends of the window when EGR spoke to me through the window, for she had walked around the ‘corner’ & entered through the much larger opening at the back of the cave. OK!! EGR won the smart trophy.

What an amazing natural structure before our eyes. The mountain continued above this window cave some 50m or so on a guess & much steeper, so that settled that. The more you looked at the rear opening you wonder how it is not crushed by its apparently small mounting points. The cave was absolutely pleasant enabling a quick recovery time for both of us with much cooler air breezes. Looking out the ‘window’ was a great sight of pure tree vegetation, grazing land and mountains in the distance as far as you could see. Such a dense forest in places & accessibility to those areas would be near impossible. One could not fathom the devastation & fierceness of flames if this area became a terror bushfire through a careless trekker/ camper/ farmer or lightning strike.

Naturally, we went as far as the ‘Window’ level reaching the altitude of 384m (1260ft). The photos above were of the ‘window’ cave and the views from that elevation & the start of our descent. With that, EGR looked at her phone & found we were doing in fact a Grade 4 trek. Yikes!!! With that shock we then spent more time in the cool cave for us to increase our recovery before descending. Clambering down these boulders, etc required different strategies, muscles and care however, we managed to do this with finesse and without incident. Overall, we did the mountain in 90mins of physical activity which I thought was pretty good & especially for EGR. Again, I raced back when it became safe to do so for the air con & then we had a big lunch & lots of water. What a trek …. & we earned it!!!!

From there we ventured back onto the rutted roads for more vibration & noise. EGR wouldn’t let me increase speed to fly over the ruts as you’re supposed to do, as her anxiety issues would then kick in. I behaved so I wouldn’t lose trust with EGR & used the slightest of all pressures on the accelerator.

Next stop when on the much-loved bitumen road was Mackenzie Falls which I was keen to see for namesake of one of ex-gf daughters back home who has 2 young children now. I sent her a photo when the internet was available. The falls lookout has an altitude of 305m (1230ft) at the lookout 1klm walk on a horizontal line from the carpark. The photos do not do it justice. EGR made it to the other opposite lookout site as well but sensibly wouldn’t do the 700m drop in steps to the base of the waterfall to further deplete her energy battery & really, we were behind the time required to fit in the rest of other viewpoints on our way to our next overnight stay.

We managed to fit in the viewpoints of Broken Falls, Burrong Falls, Reed’s Lookout after much horizontal walking & finally Boroka Lookout just before Halls Gap township for the end of day. Totally buggared.

The above photos are of Burrong Falls Lookout & those rock outcrops where EGR is standing are where she sat out there when YHA were doing a tourist photo shoot & she was their model. I told her she was crazy to be out there (this was before the balustrade railings were erected). She was excitied to be reliving this adventure I’m sure.

The above photos are of Boroka Lookout with Lake Lonsdale in the background & Wartook Reservoir much further into the distance to the left and towards Mackenzie Falls area The bottom 2 photos shows another rock outcrop where EGR posed for the cameras again outside of the barricades. Yikes!!! I couldn’t do it!!!

Driving through Halls Gap from the north & then slightly out of the township we came to our night lodgings, The Lakeside Caravan Park with the entry point of a boom gate. We had booked online so we had our specific entry code however, we had a car in front trying to gain entry but seemed to have much difficulty in doing so. The couple appeared to be about my age or a little older going through all the signs of emotional frustration. EGR, quite determined to gain entry to shut down for the day, plus she is an ever caring & helpful person, so within a flash she was in conversation with them before I could blink.

After much conversation, with a mixture of smiles, frowns & hand waving the conversation ended with signs of utter relief and gratitude. The couple were French & their English was rather poor to just basic. What are the chances of running into a person like EGR in a remote bushland setting that can speak a bit of French? Honestly, it would be like winning Lotto on those chance odds!!! Wonders never cease in finding out more of EGR’s talents. The couple were so very happy and after they had settled into their site we gained a few waves of happiness from them.

After setting up our camp we had our red wines, dips & crackers then headed off through the southern boundary of the caravan park for the start of a great 15min walk. The first thing we noticed was the excessively high man-made hill right in front of us which spanned from the main road area to the natural high ridge ‘mountain’ of some 200m and with a security fence placed along its perimeter. Checking out the Park map (above photo) & Goggle Maps we were indeed immediately in front of the levee dam wall of the created Lake Bellfield. Yikes!!! The thought of all that deep water behind the levee certainly gives you chills & with the park & the Halls Gap township clearly in its downward path doesn’t seem to be very good planning. It was obvious now, the caravan park was aptly named Lakeside. Praying nothing happens to this dam wall.

This park area is so full of nature, with many bird calls notifying us of the coming sunset, the kangaroos grazing & some with joeys too plus the flock of emus was also welcomed but were some distance to the northern end of the park, a little further away from humans. Before our walk I was waiting outside of the van when a Rosella landed nearby on the ground. I put my arm out & within a flash the bird landed on my hand for a talk. Obviously, it was a pet at some stage that had escaped & so far survived. Without warning the bird was off again. What a wonderful & joyous surprise.

With darkness approaching showers became the first priority, then a full dinner to use up as much of our stored food as possible, for tomorrow is our last day on the road. After dinner, EGR was quick to retire to her swag, for it has been a huge day for her. I propped myself up in bed to blog my Polarsteps with the very frustrating poor internet reception. By the time I had finished I had forgone a lot of my beauty sleep.

Our alarms were set for 6.30am in order to get away early so we can call into the large regional city of Ballarat on the way through to Melbourne in time to off load the van before their drop off closing time of 3pm. What a week it’s been!!!!

I’ll end this Blog #4 here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully you enjoyed the photos as much as I have had reviewing them & more to come in Blog #5.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

Thank you again for reading my blogs and I trust you will stay safe, happy & healthy for 2024 and for it to be a far better year for all. I do not receive any commissions &/or ‘perks’ from the above nominated businesses & locations as I am purely happy to provide the acknowledgement and connection.

I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be our travel back to Melbourne through the large regional city of Ballarat.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..

“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”