Hiking: Grampians part 1

Over the school holidays at the beginning of the month, we took a family trip into the Grampians National Park, a three hour drive from home. 

I booked the hotel. Looked at things to do on the web. Then booked the rental car. Then asked Tim to plan the days, Jonathan to plan the food. And they were both unhelpful. So I mapped out a daily itinerary. Tracked down local restaurant menus to make sure there were vegan options for Jonathan. Mapped out travel routes, etc, and basically planned the whole vacation for these lazies who are related to me. 

But I guess it was worth it, because I got to do the things I wanted to do, even if I was tired.

So what did I want to do?

Break up the drive to the Grampians by stopping at a waterfall along the way. 

Some times of year, this is a view of a waterfall.

There was no water in the waterfall.

But it was still nice to get out of the car for a minute. 

There was a fancy seesaw thingy that allowed us to determine who weighed more. Although Jonathan is shown lower in the photo below, in fact it seems the three of us are all about the same weight right now.

Anyway, back in the car, back on the highway, back into the mountains -- to the Grampians!

We had been there once before in 2014. Even though it doesn't seem that long ago, that was actually seven years ago. Before, we stayed a little ways out of town in a motel with kangaroos and emus on the front lawn. This time, we were in a motel right in the center of town. But there were still kangaroos on the lawn. 

The motel proprietor recommended a hike that started just behind the building and climbed up to the top of a small mountain overlooking the town. We still had a couple of hours of daylight. Why not?

And look: there is a small walk to a waterfall along the way. Why not?

Again the waterfall was basically empty. Not waterfall time of year.

But surprisingly, some of the wattles were already in bloom, and I think they are more of a late-winter / early-spring flower. So the fact that it was the wrong season wasn't stopping everything from giving us a nice performance. 

And then as advertised, the views were spectacular.

We made it back down the mountain in time to clean up for our restaurant reservation, in an outdoor table on the side of a creek. As we ate our vegan and non-vegan food, while the sun set and the stars came out, the sounds of frogs and night birds filled the air around us. 

I turned to Tim and said, "Isn't this lovely? It's just like the restaurant at Disneyland on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride."

So nice to drive three hours into regional Australia to have that Disney (TM) experience.

The next morning, I forced Jonathan to get up really really early (7am) and eat the breakfast that we brought and get dressed and off on the road! Dirt road! Up to the northern Grampians for some hiking!

Wait -- does the rental car handle dirt road? Well, I double and triple checked, and there are maps describing road conditions, and they all assured me that the road was suitable for 2-wheel drive. So off we went. 

The road was dusty red, and the kangaroos bounced off into the brush as we drove by, while birds darted over the road. We were the only ones there. Which was good, as the road became sandy and I started sliding around on it. 

Aack! 

Luckily the turnoff for the trailhead was just around the corner. We parked, stretched out the fear of dying on a dirt road in the Australian outback, and headed up the trail. 

A little wallaby was on the side of the path watching us.

The red rocks looked like they were straight out of the camping trips of my childhood to the western US deserts.

But the wildlife was completely different. And the vegetation was also quite different, with eucalyptus and banksia.

 Our first stop was 20,000 year old rock art. Young People's Hands.

That was actually very impressive. In spite of the fact that it had been fenced off to protect it.

 

We walked nearly back to the car park, and then decided to take the other trail, to the top of Hollow Mountain. 

That trail was rated as a little more difficult, but only a little over 2km. How bad could it be?

 

After scrambling up the first cliff face, we paused and asked ourselves: Are we really up to this?

And the answer was almost no. But we decided to keep going.

And going.

And going. 

And an hour later, we were at the top.

The views were really spectacular. 

And then we had to scramble back down those cliff faces. 

We survived.

Tim said, "That was really cool. Let's go to the other nearby rock art site."

So we did. 

It was not quite noon, but we had already done a lot with the day. Jonathan asked if we could have our picnic lunch. 

Sure.

Except there was no picnic table where we were. So I looked at the map and suggested we drive 30 minutes around the other side of the mountains to a picnic area that had been recommended by the motel (and was on my itinerary anyway). 

Off we went!

The red dirt road became paved. Phew! And then even became wide enough to have a line painted down the centre, so two cars could pass at the same time. Phew! Phew!

And then we found a nice place for lunch by a river. 

Well, I said, the 7km river walk was on our itinerary for the afternoon. Are we up to it?

Um. Maybe?

We taped up our blisters, took an aspirin. And headed up the trail. 

To the waterfall at the end! This time with real water!

And then we had to walk all the way back. 

Partway there, we stopped to dip our toes in the water.

Drink some water.

And then we limped back. 

Ok. Two major hikes and two minor hikes in one day. The day really had become more like a day from my childhood camping trips, and not in a good way. 

The difference between being a child and being an adult is that after the big hike, I was the one who had to drive back along the narrow winding mountain roads, this time with oncoming traffic in two directions, cliff faces, and wildlife. Yikes. 

As we drove, we passed a couple of turnoffs for overlooks. In spite of the fact that they were on my itinerary, no one wanted to stop.

Forty knuckle-whitening minutes later, we pulled back into the motel car park and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

And then took a nap.

Jonathan, a few hours later: "Are we driving to dinner?"

Me: "No way am I getting back in that car. We're walking."

Everyone: "But my legs hurt!"

Tough. 

This post has to end here, because I just writing about it has made me tired all over again.

Time snapshot

Happy April. 

This morning, we finally had a time change, last of the world, I think. I know this because I have meetings with people in the US and Europe. The US changes first, and has to meet an hour later. The UK changes next, and I shift to meet an hour earlier. Then I change. That puts our group meeting two hours off of our previous meeting time. What was a 7:30am meeting time for me would become 5:30am. No way am I meeting at 5:30 in the morning. So we change the meetings to the opposite ends of the day. I go from early morning meetings to late evening meetings. From now until October, I'll meet my colleagues after 8:30pm. That's ok. It will be dark now by 6:30pm. And getting darker earlier until June. 

In the pandemic realm, our state has gone more than a month with no virus cases. We are pretty much fully back to normal, just face masks on public transit, and more flexible work arrangements. We aren't getting vaccinated very fast in this country, which means we'll be susceptible to outbreaks for a long time, and short lockdowns and state border closures. But meanwhile, we appreciate every day free of pandemic. We walked to the beach on the bay yesterday, and it was bustling.

So life carries on. 

Day by day, I know what is happening. I still can't plan things out too far in advance, though. Back in December, when we had first eliminated the virus, we thought Australia would be in a safe travel bubble and we'd be able to move around the country easily. I applied for and received funding to collaborate with a colleague in Sydney in May. Then right around Christmas time there was a virus outbreak, and snap lockdowns and state border closures to contain it. People who had traveled from Melbourne to Sydney for the holidays were given only a few hours to rush home, or be stuck indefinitely and subject to two-week quarantine when they were eventually allowed back. 

Since then, my university has been very wary of interstate travel. My visit to Sydney, scheduled for May, wouldn't be approved today, in early April. I don't know how much will have changed in four weeks. So maybe I won't travel. 

In non-pandemic news, I gave a virtual public lecture on Thursday. This was an incredible amount of work, curating pictures and stories and building slides appropriate to share with a public audience. Forty-five minutes long! (Too long.) It came together, and it worked out well, I think, but the public lecture filled most of my free time for multiple weeks. I am still tired. Maybe I can catch up on some other things, finally. Now that it is April.