Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Halls Gap Day 3

Today we went sightseeing in the Grampians, it is a long weekend here so it is very busy. Heading up the mountain our first stop was Boroka Lookout. It provides spectacular views of the Wonderland Range, Mt William Range, Fyans Valley, Lake Bellfield and the plains to the east of the Grampians
It was early in the morning and it was just a magical experience with the clouds below us and the mountains stretching their necks through them to show themselves to us. It was as if you were in a plane viewing the land below, such a special time.






We then wound our way further up the mountain stopping next at Reed Lookout, from here we went for a walk to view the Balconies. Breathtaking views over Victoria Valley, Victoria Range, Serra Range, Lake Wartook and the Mt Difficult Range can all be seen from this point.



Views of Lake Wartook covered in cloud.


Views from the Balconies Lookout over Victoria Valley.


The cloud is just beginning to clear and the landscape starting to emerge.





The adventurer having a great time.


On our way back to the car the cloud had lifted from over Lake Wartook showing a different scene.


 


We travelled further up the mountain stopping next at MacKenzie Falls. We first walked to Broken Falls Lookout with sweeping views of the MacKenzie River as it cascades over Broken Falls.


We then continued to walk to the Bluff Lookout views of MacKenzie Falls and the MacKenzie River from high above the gorge. The lookout provides the only opportunity to capture the multiple cascades of the MacKenzie River as it flows through the gorge




We drove further up the mountain and stopped to walk into Beehive Falls and have our lunch there. Talking to a local here who has a farm he told us that he had been hand feeding his sheep for three years now due to the drought. So it was little surprise that the falls were a small pool of water with a trickle of water falling over the cliff face.





On our way to Ngamadjidj Shelter we saw this wonderful bird patrolling the fences. Unfortunately on our arrival we found we could not get in to see the shelter as it was closed due to recent fires.


So the road ahead was now to visit the Gulgun Manja Shelter to see the rock art.
Gulgurn Manja (pronounced Gulkurn Manya) meaning ‘hands of young people’, is a rock shelter at
the northern tip of Gariwerd. From here the small groups of Jardwadjali would have been ideally
positioned to see the fires of other groups on the plains to the north. They also used the local fine grained sandstone to make stone tools. Marks where stone has been broken from the walls can still be seen in this shelter.

The paintings at Gulgurn Manja include bars, emu tracks and handprints. Handprints such as these are only found in northern Gariwerd, and many here were done by children, hence the Aboriginal name for the site. These paintings were part of a unique local art style which was used to tell stories and pass on the law of the people.








 Correa wildflowers were going by the bush track.


 We came home in time to have company for dinner outside our studio again, this time in the form of a beautiful cockatoo.


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