After we finished the great ocean road we left the coast and drove away from the coastline into the country. The next stop promises green hills and stunning views – the Grampians Nationalpark.

As we arrived in the Grampians we got our information from the visitor centre. These centres are almost everywhere and the employees are always very helpful. They tell you, what to see, where to go and where to camp. The visitor centre in Dunkeld, the most southern part of the grampians, welcomes us with a sign which says: „FACT: MOST AUSTRALIANS HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THE GRAMPIANS“. So we can be happy that this is not us.

Dunkeld is not that interesting so we move on to Halls Gap in the middle of the national park. The first stop is the vistor centre again. An older lady shows us a free campground about 10 km from Halls Gap. Camping for free sounds great so far. With the money we safed we can afford two pizzas which are pretty expensive, like everything else. After that we did a walk to the mount william summit, that is the highest mountain in the park. The beautiful nature is destroyed be powercables hanging around everywhere. On the top we see the reason for that. There is a huge electric station right at the summit and this looks very disgusting. How could you do something like that in a national park? This walk wasn’t worth the effort.

To use what is left of the day want to do an „amazing“ wildlife walk which starts right next to the visitor centre. Amazing, fantastic, georgeous, absolutly beautiful, best you have ever seen or done seems to be the perfect description for everything, when somebody tells us something about his region. In the most cases so far we realised that the more they advertise for something, the less spectacular it is. But this time we are not dissapointed. Curious and tame kangaroos are waiting for us right next to the street and won’t run away as we get out of the car. We get closer to them, take many fotos and simply enjoy that experience. Additionaly we see two emus and a deer. So to be honest, what was the last time you had two emus, a deer and kagaroos on one photo?

Satisfied about how this day ends we head off to the campground where we are welcomed by a thousands of ants and almost as much kangoroos. If there is something the Grampians definitely have enough of for two it is wildlife. Who likes animals should definitely go there!

So we awake at sunrise on the next day with a kangoroo and it’s joey standing next to our car. Seems like a good days start. With a good feeling we make our way to McKenzie Falls, the biggest wateralls in the Grampians. Bushfires destroyed a lot of the scenery and you can definitely see it. You can spot burnt trees everywhere which are about to regenerate.

To get to the wateralls you have to climb down some steps, but this descent is really worth the effort. We stay a long time, enjoy the view, the water and the wind. I think the pictures will speak for themselves. After this we visit the ‚roos again and end the day.

Next on our journey is Patrick the wombat, the oldest living wombat on earth. Carina will tell you the story soon.

Simon