From the Great Ocean Road we made our way inland, to the Grampians National Park. Our first view of the park was of these mountains raising from the vast plain, looking as if they had been blown by strong winds. The 170,000 hectares of the park encompass both shrublands and forests which harbour a vast number of animal species, including some endemic to the park.Also very important is the aboriginal presence in the park, whose testimony was left in paintings preserved in several scatered caves. The Brambuk Centre celebrates the meeting point of neighbouring tribes and actively engages the tourists visiting the park into learning about aboriginal culture. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the Centre. We had a boomerang throwing class during which I surprised everyone with my ability to consistently make my boomie land in the nearby lake. After the fourth time the teacher suggested I should move to the other side of the field (Tom suggested Perth might be safer) where we were practicing but still, my boomie ended up in the water. I actually think that in ancient times a hunter with my abilities would be an asset to its tribe as it would be a great fisherman! Of course I wasn't able to make my boomie return: once, out of desperation, I tried throwing it as if it was a frisbee with the result of nearly decapitating the person next to me. Ooops. Tom was quite good at it and a couple of times his boomerang managed to do a 270 degree curve. Beware you all, next time we go for a picnick in Hyde Park our boomies are coming with us!
After that exciting class we ended up with some retail therapy at the centre's shop. As usual we decided to get an aboriginal print but we couldn't agree on which one so we bought two. I got a bit excited and almost bought a didgereedoo but Tom gave me a "and-how-do-you-plan-to-take-that-home" look so I put it back. Humph. My emotional balance was quickly restored when we came across a whole herd (?) or pack (?) or maybe just group of kangaroos! Loads of fluffly things of my height were grazing and hoping around. And they didn't mind much if you came close to them.
We stayed at the Grampians eco-house YHA, another amazing hostel. Here they even had chickens and the early birds got fresh eggs for their breakfast. Needless is to say that we never got any... On our second day we finally ventured out for a walk in the park. On our way we found a road sign saying "Tom Dunster":
We trekked to one of the many view points in the park. Both the view and the walk were breathtaking in the midday heat. The usually scarce vegetation was made even scracer by a fire in the park in 2006 but now lots of little shrubs and young trees gradually took over the landscape. No kangaroos were visible though, I suspect that they were wiser than us and were having a siesta in a covered part of the park. Heat obviously took its toll on Tom as he started pretending he was flying.
Given the circunstances we hurried to the nearest source of coolness, the Mackenzie Falls. These falls were still impressive despite the draught affecting the whole state for the last years. For some reason you couldn't seem in them so we had to contempt ourselves with looking at them from the surrounding shade. This is really driving me mad, in Australia you can't swim in most places, despite the stifling heat! When it's not the currents, it's crocs or stingers or sharks, ahhhhhhh!
We spent our last night in the Grampians back at the Brambuk Centre where an aboriginal dance show and bbq was on. We were a bit surprised when all dancers seemed to be whiter than me but apparently there are only four true aboriginals living in the Park. One of the dancers was blond with blue eyes but maybe his greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgrandfather was aboriginal, who knows? Still it was great to have some of their traditions explained to us and to see some dances. At some point Tom asked me to stop tickling him as he was trying to be as unconspicuous as possible to avoid being invited to dance. No worries, they invited me instead. All we had to do was to run around the fire and when the music stoped pretend to be an animal. I asked if I could pretend to be a koala and roll into a ball and go to sleep but apparently no. Men were told they could be hunters and jump about waving imaginary spears. I wanted to do that but women can only pretend to delicately pick berries. I think some traditions need to be changed and adapted to modern times... Still, I joined in and opted to be a kangaroo instead.
The next day we made our way to Melbourne. On our way there was time for a quick stop at Sovereigh Hill, in Ballarat. It recreates a mining town in the end of the 19th century. All the houses are beautifully constructed and some people in contemporaneous costumes amble along the streets. It gives you a sense of the hectic gold rush years, when previously scarcely inhabited towns were suddenly the focus of the world. It's a great place to learn about a very important part of Australia's history - the mining industry is one of Australia's biggest assets today.
Bye for now,
Vania
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