Our Great Adventure: Grampians National Park Day 117 13/01/2015

We woke up to the sound of torrential rain and wind. We'd planned to drive up to the Grampians National Park, doing a half day walk enroute but looking out of the window we guessed we might be in for more of a driving tour. After breakfast we packed up and loaded our things into the car, glad we'd parked the undercover. It was even too wet for Diane to get out of the car to take a photo of the hotel. After filling up again we set off north, deciding to go via the main road due to flooding and surface water. The rain was fairly persistent all the way to Dunkeld, a sleepy town on the south edge of the national park and where we'd planned to walk up Mount Sturgeon. The rain was still falling and the cloud very low (it was almost like being back at home!) so after a chat with the very helpful gentleman in the visitors centre, and then some coffee, we drove along the Victoria tourist drive. The route takes you through the mountain range and eventually brings you back to Dunkeld where we had lunch before setting off north again to Halls Gap where we're staying for the next two nights. It was a nice drive despite the weather and we saw emus and kangaroos along the way grazing on local farmland, no doubt frustrating the farmers. Halls Gap is in the Wonderland Range of mountains and is the main base to access the best of the Grampians (a bit like Aviemore is to the Cairngorms). It's a single street town with a few shops, restaurants and cafes. We went into the visitors centre to see what the path conditions were like, both from the current weather and also the recent bush fires (a large part of the northern area is still closed from bushfires in January 2014). Some areas have been affected by floods but hopefully we should be able to get out tomorrow - fingers crossed. As we were walking back to the car a bird pooed on Diane's head so we must be in for some good luck! We're staying at the Grampians Motel, a bit dated but comfortable enough and a little cheaper than some of the other accommodation we've stayed in so far in Victoria which helps the budget. The grounds here are full of kangaroos. In fact we've seen so many today that our initial excitement is starting to fade! In the evening we headed into town and went to a little bistro for dinner then headed back for an early night in anticipation of a good day out in the hills tomorrow.