Day 12

 Day 12

Guess what???! It was another cold night's sleep! Our plan had been to head to The Grampians and camp there for a couple of days, but the forecast was saying it was single digits in that mountainous area, and we just are not equipped for those sort of temperatures, as you may have worked out by now! We packed up without breakfast again, and drove to the Grampians for a day trip. 

We did a little walk to The Beehive Falls (The Mackenzie Falls were closed, for anyone who knows that area) which was nice. No wildlife, but nice to get the legs pumping a bit.

Beehive Tinkle?

We then headed to Boroka Lookout, which would have been really lovely if it was a clear day 😉

There is a place called The Grand Canyon, so we had to go there. I have been to The Grand Canyon in the US before, so it would be interesting to see how they compare 😂 As expected, this one was a little smaller, but it was still very lovely. Up until now, walks we've been on have been just us. We've barely seen a soul! But this walk was very different - there were people everywhere! Anyway, the Canyon itself made you feel off kilter, as the rocks look like they are placed diagonally. It's hard to describe, but it feels like you're on a slope, although you know you're on flat ground.

The Grand Canyon

It was a bit cold to begin with!

Stunning.

There was a bit of clambering to do, and I only had trainers on which, it turns out, have barely any grip on them, so I almost slipped a few times on the smoother rocks. There was one guy in the group ahead of us who was just leaping around like a mountain goat. I was envious. I am the unfittest I have been in my whole life - a combination of an office job vs a shop job, medication, living through 2020 and not going to the gym anymore have taken their toll. I have decided that I am in "My Montage Era." You know in movies where the character has a goal of getting fit, or good at something, and then there's a montage of them getting better/fitter as the enthusiastic music plays, until they've made it! Well, as I am not in a film, I have to do that montage bit in real time sadly, but every hike I do brings me closer to the end of Eye Of The Tiger song and much easier hikes in three months time, if you know what I mean!

With My Montage Era (MME) in mind, we got to the end of the Canyon walk, and were then faced with a decision: go back to the car park or do a 1.7km trail to The Pinnacle. Please remember that we had had no breakfast or lunch (other than an apple and a hot cross bun for me, and an apple and some crackers for Chris) We had had no tea or coffee yet, and we had brought less than 800ml of water between us. But we thought "it's only 1.7km, that won't take long" and so we ploughed on. It's all for MME, after all!

It might have been a mistake. We'd been walking and going up steps for at least 45 minutes before we got to a sign that said "halfway there" and we were still going up! We were this far in now, so we had to do the whole thing, didn't we?! It was incredibly tough for me, but it was a very interesting walk. There were tricky bits and scrubby bits, and narrow bits and climby bits. I just wish we'd had more water. And fuller stomachs - Chris' was rumbling on the way down!

Us at the top. I look a lot less red faced than I thought I would!

The view to the right

The view to the left

A narrow, climby bit

We drank the last mouthful of our water, took a photo and then headed back down. It took an hour to get back to the carpark, and once there I saw a sign that said the Pinnacle walk was a 2.5 - 3 hour return walk, medium - hard grade, take 2 litres of water per person 😂😂😂😂😂😂 To be fair, if I had actually read that sign before going, would I have done it? I'm not sure. Even for MME I definitely would have brought more water. Glad we did it though.

After a massive drink and a change of clothes (I was soaked in my sweat) we hopped on the car and drove down to Port Fairy, where the temperatures were supposed to be a bit milder. We had an early (but much needed!) dinner and then went for what was supposed to be a three minute walk to look at the lighthouse. Turns out that was how long it was to drive - Chris didn't change it to "walk" on google maps 😂. It was problaby more like a 30 minute walk on our poor legs! Port Fairy is one of the oldest settlements in Victoria, and it's full of gorgeous old houses. We looked at house prices and most are way out of our price range, so we won't be moving there any time soon, sadly.

The Port Fairy Lighthouse

Guess which route we chose?!

It started to rain on our way back, and as it was Saturday, we thought "let's go to a pub!" There was live music playing and a really good atmosphere. After two drinks, we made our way back to the swag for a well earned sleep.