May 5, 2013:
This is the third or fourth national park we've been to. I'm starting to think that Australia is one big national park. It's quite incredible actually. The PRTM in me is loving all of this and wishing I had written my 60 page paper on the aboriginal culture in Australia instead of the natives in Patagonia.
Vera and I got up at 5AM to get ready and meet Squatter downstairs at the bus to get front seats. He had traded in the last bus for one with Wifi! It helped on our long drive to Grampians National Park. Stopping along the way, it didn't seem like 10 hours of driving all day. But it must have for a few of the girls who partied all night in Adelaide and got on the bus with little to no sleep. First night out as 18 (legal age here) and they had to get on a bus and go hiking all day. Horrible idea for the girls that were still drunk when they got on the bus. And not gonna lie, all I could think about is they better suck it up and not ruin our trip, or I would be beyond pissed.. Grandma status. Welp, they did pretty well and we got to know them when they sobered up! New friends, and pretty sweet girls ;) Fittingly, they work at a vineyard in Barrossa where Fallon and Brooke are from. Kaitlyn works there too, but is from California where she studied wine making at Cal Poly-Tech, I think?
Anyways, our new group was all girls. Squatter is one lucky fella!
Two girls from London, two Aussies, two Americans, one Dutchy, one Italian, and one Colombian made up our group with Squatter leading the way! Our first stop was at the border where we crossed into Victoria from South Australia. I've loved being able to border hop, unfortunately I won't have a pic Infor NSW or Queensland because I'm flying. However driving all the way would have been a lot. We also got out to see some white kangaroos. Those were pretty special.
That was a quick stop, but then we went to Hollow Mountain. This was an AWESOME hike on the edge of the rock face. One of the London girls wore flats and thought this was more of a sightseeing tour. She was in for a treat. Falling to the right would have meant falling off the mountain, and many of the times we had to resort to climbing on our hands and knees for support.
The views were truly incredible. We got so e group pictures at the top and it was well worth the climb. We saw some rock climbers nearby and they were doing what was said to be the easier routes. They looked pretty tough to me!
We picked up lunch along the way and booked it to Mackenzie Falls first. Steep steps on the way down meant a rough climb for the way back up. It proved true. But it was neat to see Mackenzie Falls and hang around the rocks a bit.
We made it back up with a few motivational pep talks and drove over to an overlook where we watched the sunset before heading to the Grampians Motel for a BBQ dinner by chef Squatter and bedtime. I roomed with Vera and Sophie, which was a lot of fun. We watched some tv, enjoyed the space and nice shower being in the room! Motel Luxury.
