The Grampians

With the weather on the coast turning a bit nasty we made an impromptu decision to head inland and hit the Grampians. We are staying in a gorgeous town Dunkeld at the southern end of the Grampains. It also happens to be home to the Royal Mail Hotel, a two hatted restaurant which I had researched for our 10 year wedding anniversary a couple of years ago (not much of an ulterior motive in that suggestion – HA!) So camping within walking distance, I suggested we go there for dinner. I’m pretty sure sending a bowl of chips & a lemonade out to the car park for the kids is straight out of the 1970’s parenting manual, but Sean wouldn’t go for it, so off to the pubs ’public bar’ it was. Same kitchen, awesome food and still on budget-ish. Winning!!

The plus side of eating in the pub was most certainly meeting the locals. No shortage of colourful characters and we stuck out like beacons as we were in our German Lesbian outdoor wear, not knowing to don the local uniform of checked chambray shirts, blue jeans and RM’s. With the collar turned up, of course! As the evening progressed, they were all warmed up on the scotch and cokes, we’d worked our way through the local wines and everyone was up for a chat. I even managed to tee up a coffee & run date the next day with a local woman I latched on to as my new bestie…she never called L

Waking up the next morning with the biggest hangover since Goulburn, we were relieved to do a head count and find we’d managed to actually bring all 3 kids home with us. I’m sure THAT is in the 70’s parenting manual!

With all the kids accounted for, it was off to climb a mountain! Mt Sturgeon looms over Dunkeld and it was a must do according to the locals. Not that we bumped into any of them the next morning while we were doing it…

3.5km of vertical zigzags was really fun, as we kept telling the kids! The view will be worth it! About 600m from the top there was a mutiny as the kids sat and refused to keep going. I was a bit more prepared on our Tassie walks with fruit, then bickies, the chocolate as a last resort. All I had for this was water, which is apparently enough to sustain life, but not enough to get 3 kids to the top of a mountain. With ridiculous bribes of movie downloads, milkshakes and ice creams, we managed to get them to the top & it was well worth the hike.

SP: The next day (fully recovered from hang overs and mountain climbs) we headed off to Halls Gap (northern Grampians) for a little cultural experience and to learn about the local aboriginal communities in the area. We also managed drive up the Victoria Valley to check out some of the lookouts which were amazing. Stunning views across the entire area, so well worth the visit if you are in the area.