Flag Inn Statesman Ararat

... Spaeter machten wir ihn dann darauf aufmerksam und er gab sich sehr viel muehe verstaendlicher zu sprechen. Im gefaengnis waren ueberwiegend geistig Behinderte Menschen untergebracht, duie in irgendeiner Art und Weise straffaellig geworden sind und verurteilt worden.

... drive all over again. After about 30 minutes, I was ready to venture beyond the confines of the airport. I got on the road and headed back into Adelaide and then to the Princes Highway toward my next destination: The Grampians National Park. The Grampians is a mountainous area in the next state-Victoria. It is similar to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in terms of altitudes and size. I drove for quite ...

... stopping on our way to Stawell. It is a friendly town with some good historic buildings including the town hall, post office, shire hall and gaol (that was latter used to house the criminally insane). There is a well looked after park with a lake and something that we have not seen for ages, green grass!! We made a point of sitting on the green grass to eat our lunch while the children ran on the grass and fed the seagulls. We hope you get the point that green grass around ...

... for recreational use. But it is a fantastic spot to stop if you are self contained. Another place we stopped in at for lunch today that was also really good with all facilities and power at $4 pp per night. It was at Cavendish on the banks of the Wannon River.

... we made our way to the Otway forest walk. Basically they have constructed a walkway about 25 metres high in a forest of very tall trees, so it feels like you are walking in the canopy. 25 metres might not sound a lot, but it is actually quite high when you are all the way up there. You get great views of the whole forest from up there, so we both did not like it when we could feel the 40 metre high tower shaking! It was a cool rainforest ...

... des Grampians (voir photos) Aprs une journee complete de marche et d'exploration nous avons quitte les grampians pour nous diriger (pour la nuit) vers un rest area du nom de: CANADIAN GULLY Bush land Reserve hihihih. C'etait pas mal mais vaiment juste a cote du HighWay. Le Lendemain nous avons trace dans le in-land pour nous arreter dans un rest Area a Glenrowan. Ce rest area etait joint a un Mcdonald et un station d'essence ...

... we could still smell the fire and see trees which had been reduced to lumps of charcoal. But it was also great to see trees with new shoots sprouting from the blackened trunks. The bush showed many signs of regeneration and the day was an interesting nature lesson. Greg had the foresight to cool down a few bottles of beer in the river for when we got back down. He's an ideas man. All in all it was a fantastic short break.

... wouldn't be unusual to hear someone shout 'Shut that bloody door you're letting the heat out!' Generating warmth (and keeping it) on a chilly winter's night could be quite a task and every bit of it was valued, a sobering contrast to what I've experienced in Australia this year. To hear someone shout 'Shut the door Cobba, the cold'll get OUT' is as natural as waking up in the morning and the oddest ...

... town campsite - lots of static privately owned caravans on site but no- one using them. Maybe there's something strange about this place but it doesn't seem to be the manager- she's very friendly - probably doesn't get many folk to talk to! We were expecting to be able to canoe on the lake (as in the brochure) but with the drought the lake is only at 28 percent capacity and although it used to lap the shore here theres now ...

... We eventually made to the top and finished the climb! after a 10 minute rest we headed back the way we came down which was quicker but for some reason Melania and I were in the lead this time. Although people would pass us, they became lost quickly and ended up just following us as we knew the route down! Back at the bus we piled aboard and headed for Halls Gap for the night.