The Amazing Grampians and an unique stay!

G'day Mates,

In the mean time we are in Victoria and we found an unique stay at the foot of the Grampians! Its in Victoria Valley, a Bed and Breakfast named "Heathvale Heights", which of course wasn't relevant for us but they also offer free camp sites!

They have a few possibilities for power sites but when you can do without, you have a big choice of where to go.....

Bonus is; you've not only got great views, but a toilet and shower is provided as well......

you can even choose some shade (not handy when you need sun for your solar)...

You even might get an egg or two....

(if the chooks are still alive, I don't know what blue tongue lizards eat)

The only thing the owners want for the free site is you do some little jobs, just one hour a day.

This looks like a very big job but that wasn't asked. My hubby was asked to paint a small gate which he did and then he thought, ooh well; lets paint the whole front of the veranda as well....

  

The dog, Joey was happy as well, wanted to help right away with bringing some scrub to a pile in the paddock....

Movie time;

Besides the little jobs we had plenty time left to explore the beautiful Grampians. Close to the farm stay is a walk called "Picaninny" which we did first...

During this walk we could see the farm and the caravan in the distance....

(bit hard to see on the picture) 

The summit provides excellent views of Dunkeld and Mount Abrupt.

 Steep track winds its way through healthy woodland to a ridge lookout.

Our car is waiting patiently for us to come back from the walk....

On our way to explore the Grampians we found out that the surrounding is already stunning!

Emu's everywhere....

After visiting Halls Gap to buy a map, we continued with our tour.... 

After the walk we drove to the Boroka Lookout.....

Great views of mountain ranges, lakes & plains.

The Mackenzie Falls, years ago we were here as well and walked all down to the bottom of the falls, it was too much to do now so we stayed on top and just went to the lookouts...

Reeds Lookout;

Great spot with a good couple of lookouts from the car park. 

Only about a 15 minute walk from here you will get to a spot called "the balcony", which are a couple of splendid rock ledges which people walk out on to and take photos.

It's a long, long way down ......

I found it rather scary to see these people balancing on the edges..... 

The Silverband Falls.....

I assume it will be a bit bigger in winter...

The landscape on our way back home.....

After a long day exploring the Grampians its nice to sit at the caravan, enjoying a beer or wine.....

but also this view.....

Thanks Val and Malcolm to share your nice spot with us.

To show our gratitude I made a promo movie for their Bed & Breakfast which I want to share with my blog readers....

Movie time

 

See ya next time!

Cheers!

Getting drunk in The Barossa, Mount Gambier's Blue Lake

G'day Mates,

Hé, what's wrong with Mount Remarkable?? my previous story has hardly been read and that even as there were so many nice pictures in it and also (scary) animals.....
So, if you read this and didn't read the last one, I suggest you still do.

Then now its time to get drunk in the Barossa. We had a great house sitting again, nice view but unfortunately we didn't had too good weather so we haven't sat outside;

We were situated on the edge of the wine region in Lyndoch but the wine wasn't too far away, with this Welcome Arch only 8 k's from us we could nearly roll home after a nice tasting....

Jacob's Creek

From Jacobs Creek we went to Seppelt but unfortunately because of an event that was closed to the public so we only saw the road towards the winery which is beautiful because of all the palms....

and we also passed the family's mausoleum....

During the winery tour we passed great views and spots....

Mengler's Hill Lookout with the Barossa Sculpture Park

Yalumba Winery; a beauty!

Wolf Blass; an expensive one....

After this lovely stay and all the wine experiences; we tried one of the local wine's every night, 

we continued our journey towards Victoria, we chose to go along the coast via the Princess Highway; one of our stops; only $ 10.00 for two nights, sorry, I forgot where it was

Our goal was to stop a few days at Mount Gambier because I had heard that it has a blue lake, but that wasn't the only attraction of Mount Gambier, it seemed to have a lot of sinkholes too and these were very special....

We were camping at the Mount Gambier Showgrounds, which was very good by the way, and this sinkhole, named Umpherston Sinkhole, was only 1 km from the showgrounds so we could walk to it.

Of course it's a great location for a wedding as well, especially for the pictures....

Even in the middle of the city, amongst the shops, was a sinkhole as well. 

I personally find it a bit scary to know there are sinkholes and even caves under the city.

Bee's at the entrance of the cave....

And then........

The Blue Lake;

 The Blue Lake boasts a vibrant cobalt blue colour during the months of December through to March each year. From April through to November, the lake turns to a darker steel grey colour. 

There are a number of theories behind the mysterious colour change of the water, but it generally accepted that the change in colour has something to do with the water temperature of the Lake.

There is a walking trail around the lake and we did a small part of it, passing this strange prickly little garden.....

We had a great time in Mount Gambier, unfortunately we had problems again with the car (new starter motor) which costed us again an extra day AND money of course.

Till next time.

Cheers!