Around Australia 2012: Halls Gap 27/412 to 30/4/12

Next destination is Halls Gap, a small tourist town in the Grampians. The town has around 500 permanent residences but there would be thousands of tourists there at any time. It's a town of mountain walks and log fires. We stayed at a park right in town, a nice park with plenty of wildlife (mainly birds and kangaroos) with the Grampians rising up immediately in front of us. The weather continues to get cooler with days in low teens and nights just above zero. A great thing about the park was we were able to have a camp fire - which we did every night. The boys had a great time collecting all the wood required and we would eventually have it roaring. We found as each night went on our chairs would move in closer and closer.

Each day we went on walks in the mountains which were spectacular in themselves. But then on the end of each walk you would come out to a lookout that overlooked the valley below. Some of the lookouts put you right out on the edge on a sheer cliff face. The scenery was quite amazing and it certainly is a spectacular destination. We really enjoyed it and could have stayed longer but not sure we had the stamina for more walks or the town had enough wood for us for another fire.

We also had a look around the outlying area and ended up in the township of Stawell where we checked out the "gift" site. Boys had a race along the track with the result still under dispute. Stewards still looking to sort out and bookies have not yet been able to pay. On the morning we left for Ballarat we called in to the Seppelt Great Western Winery and did a tour of the site which includes 3km of underground tunnels used for cellaring their best vintages. Finished with a sampling of some of their products then back in the car for a steady drive the rest of the way.