Grampians National Park

On our drive up to the Grampians National Park, we stopped briefly at the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. It's an interesting place; an inactive volcano crater filled by a lake with an island in the center. The island surrounded by water keeps the animals in the "reserve" so technically we can say that any animals we saw here were "wild".

And we were in luck -- we managed to see four koalas high up in the eucalyptus trees. They are extremely hard to spot, but Kevin has a knack for finding wildlife.

We saw signs of kangaroos everywhere, but they must have been resting in the bush. But we did see a wandering emu, from a distance.

We then drove up to the Grampians National Park, where we spent two nights. As we drove north towards the park, we were greeted by two peaks -- Mount Sturgeon (Wurgarri) and Mount Abrupt (Mud-Dadjug). All of the geological features here share European and Aboriginal names. This park is one of the richest Aboriginal rock-art sites in Australia. The park's odd name is probably a European mispronunciation of the indigenous name Gariwerd.

We went for a short 2km walk to the formation known as the balconies.

It was late afternoon and the temperature was pretty warm (86 Fahrenheit) -- with the surrounding landscape, we felt a little like we were back in Arizona.

We decided to call it a night and went back to our cabin. The campground where we are staying is a great place for birdwatching. After noticing a beautiful red parrot eating some acorns Kevin picked a few and set them down on the ledge of the porch. In swooped a Yellow Crested Cockatoo who proceeded to discard the acorn cap with one flick of its beak, peel off the outer shell by holding it in his talons, and eat the fruit within. It was so dexterous, using its talons like hands.

It hung out on the porch with us for a while, hoping for yummier treats but we didn’t indulge him. All the cockatoos here look well-fed enough as it is.

The next morning we got an earlier start and did a few different short hikes, including the lookout for Mackenzie Falls. It's one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria, and flows year-round.

There are several cascades in this part of the park. Here's Kevin in front of Broken Falls. 

Our last hike of the morning was through the "Grand Canyon". Okay, maybe not as deep or as wide as the canyon we have back home, but it was still something to see. It's narrow, like the slot canyons in the desert in Arizona. But as it has eroded, vertical channels have formed in the sedimentary rock so that it almost looks like it's been etched with both vertical and horizontal grooves.

After a morning of hiking, we took a short drive to a couple nearby wineries to unwind and enjoy some sips of Riesling and Shiraz. Not a bad way to end our trip to this scenic part of Australia!