Mid-Semester Break to Grampians <3
Finally our long awaited mid semester break is here - first week of spring, perfect weather for hiking . Grampians off we go!
Stopover at Mackies before we continue another hour and half drive to Halls Gap.
Halls Gap Valley Lodges
Finally arrived safely at Halls Gap Valley to pack our sandwiches before the hike :)
Our bungalow for the night and cute little rented car whitey.
Paid about AUD167 per night for four of us and pleasantly surprised at what we get although we did some last minute booking the night before. Highly recommend the place!
Huge living room with DVD player.
Fully equipped kitchen with all required pots and utensils.
Our hike begin from Sundial car park about half an hour drive from our lodge.
Pinnacle difficulty level : Medium/Difficult , not for the weak!
Hiking stick is recommended.
Caution (based on personal experience) :
- Do not climb when it is raining. The rocks are extremely slippery. An accidental slip and you might fall off the cliff. Certain areas from the Sundial car park will require you to climb on all fours like spiderman - rock climbing.
- You won't be able to see anything at the top because it will be very foggy.
- Look out for arrows drawn on the stones by chalk / painted on the stones. Do not ignore the signs or you may fall off the cliff. There are sudden drops at certain areas of the footpath hidden by the trees and vegetation.
- Start the hike early since the sunsets at around 5.30pm early September.
- Visit the information centre for clearer map of grampians.
- Print hardcopy of the map to Grampians as there will not be any reception closer to Halls Gap.
A quick pose for the camera before we continue climbing on all fours on the Journey to the West fruit flower mountain lookalike behind.
Difficulty level: 999999999 ><
We originally thought we were lost but since we drove all the way, might as well bite the bullet.
" You only live once ", literally chanting YOLO and motivating ourselves all the way hahahas.
Honestly majority of us are not very fit, haven't been exercising for years, pretty amazed by our sheer determination to complete the 150-200 m incline hike and wishing for a walking stick - teckko.
Footpath :Level one
Take a break and some snaps of the scenery along the way
At the pinnacle resting
Starry Night
Praise the Lord for the amazing weather and company that we had. The weather forecast a week ago showed that there will be a heavy downpour. Fortunately, the Lord blessed us with amazing weather that we can enjoy the beautiful scenery as we hike - not too sunny nor cold. There's a lot of flies though hahahas. We originally planned for an easy walk - Baroka Lookout and Mckenzies Falls and somehow changed our plans to visit the ever so popular pinnacle. The scenery was breath-taking.
A visit to the cowboy town - Ballarat
Sovereign Hill
Brunch at The Unicorn Ballarat
127 Sturt St
Ballarat, VIC 3350
How can you miss this yummilicious peach smoothie! <3
Skinny Latte
The brunch here is really good. We spent on an average of AUD 25 per pax . Worth a try!
