Grampians

Nightly encounters with a kangaroo are a little creepy. Especially when it's as big as me, because they are wild animals that can box and kick. I've seen it on TV before.

I wanted to go to the toilet and headed off with my headlamp, completely unaware. Suddenly it's standing in front of me, I would say about 8 meters away. And one meter away from the toilet door. Hm - what do I do now? First, try to scare it away with the lamp. So I wave it around like crazy. Unimpressed, the kangaroo continues to stare at me. Curiously, it tilts its head. Hm - what now? Making noise is not an option, it's too late for that. So I close my eyes and go bravely. It lets me approach up to 2 meters. Then it seems to get annoyed and hops away. Phew, lucky me, I reached the toilet unharmed.

Sleeping in? It's been a long time, I would say at least 4 weeks. I almost don't remember what that feels like.

Today I was able to do that again. By now, I've also gotten used to the padded board. 8:30 is already sleeping in. Then have a hearty breakfast and laze around.

The weather is changeable, good for hiking actually. Well, maybe later. The laundry still needs to be washed and once it's hanging, we can start.

First milestone "The balconies". A cliff edge that looks like a balcony, the name already says so.

From the parking lot, a one-kilometer walk. A kilometer can be quite long. We were already wondering if it's an Australian kilometer. They also always provide more information about the walking distances and times. But it was actually just one kilometer.

Haven't moved much in almost a week, so fitness seems to fade pretty quickly. But we persevered, defeated our inner demons, didn't turn back in between, and were rewarded for all the hardships with a great view.

Thankfully, you can almost drive up to the sights here by car.

Next stop "MacKenzie falls". Another highlight here in the Grampians. Only 586 meters away from the parking lot, which puts a smile on our faces. Ha, a piece of cake for us, after the 1000 meters just now, we are fully trained again. However, they stupidly built the parking lot above the falls. You can probably guess what's coming!

Quite a lot of stairs going down.

With full breath and not even out of breath, we reach the pool at the end of the falls.

A waterfall, almost as high as Niagara Falls, just a little narrower.

A beautiful place to linger and mentally prepare for the climb. Some brave souls even venture into the pool, but you could see that the water was apparently quite cold. After half an hour, we started the climb. Taking the first few stairs lightly. Water would be great now, but it's about 300 meters above us. So we keep going, there's a bench. It's good that the sun is still shining, then we can pretend that we want to sunbathe. 5 minutes later, the air is back, and we head for the final sprint. We had to catch up with the 87-year-old Indian guy who started the climb 20 minutes before us. With a slightly flushed face (because of the sun), a hanging tongue, and heavy legs, we reach the camper. Finally, water.

Last stop, a field with kangaroos.

I already mentioned that kangaroos are active in the evening.

Quite a lot, peacefully grazing kangaroos or wallabies. I got within an arm's length (was brave, they were smaller than me), maybe I could have even petted them, but who knows what little creatures (thinking of ticks or fleas) they carry with them. In any case, it was the highlight of my day.