EXCEED JUNE/JULY 2017 june_July_colour emag | Page 45

TRIP REPORT
Each night saw the group gather in the camp kitchen, by the fire place, to enjoy fivesies. Most people retired to their
caravans to prepare dinner and after dinner several returned to the camp kitchen to chat and play board games. On
the last night, Thursday night, the group walked to the nearby hotel for dinner. Unfortunately, the quality of the meal
appeared to me to be below the standard of meals we had enjoyed on previous trips, for that I apologize. However the
company was great and fire warm. Both Sue and I enjoyed the trip and hope that other trip members did too. Thank you
all for being such a great and supportive group.
Brian and Sue Hay 1497
We joined with five other couples and the leaders in Halls Gap to participate in this the fourth successful Grampians
Caravan Capers Trip. Most of us had been to or passed through the Grampians/Gariwerd and this would be an
opportunity to enjoy the scenery and get some exposure to the Aboriginal culture of the area.
For three days we meandered on tracks enjoying the highlights of both well-known lookouts, like Reeds and several
lesser known that required a walk and rock scramble to access. The themes for the days were the northern parts, central
and lastly the southern. The area is sandy in places as in ancient times it was an inland lake and much weathering
has taken place since then from the sandstone ridges. Despite large areas having been devastated by fires, significant
regrowth is occurring, notable are the bright green grass trees and epidermal leaves on other trees.
It was not long into day one and reinforced later that the leaders, Brian and Sue had extensive knowledge and appreciation
of the area. They used this experience to make planned deviations to various highlights due to many closed tracks. We
understand that it is likely some of these might not be reopened to the public after the extensive damage again sustained
from storm and fire events.
We visited three well protected indigenous rock art shelters, whilst minimal in numbers in Victoria compared with say
Western Australia never the less significant and worth the effort of the longish walks to them. We also took in waterfalls,
passed extensive olive plantations, the now closed Heatherlie Quarry with many relics intact that had provided stone
for a number of buildings in Melbourne including Parliament House and the Town Hall, and enjoyed afternoon tea at
the Wartook Wander Inn.
The days started out cold (frosty) clearing later, with one day when the vistas were spoilt by smoke from farmers and Parks
fuel reduction/ flora management burns. The tracks varied considerably and gave a first timer and lesser experienced of
us the opportunity to experience reasonably rough and undulating tracks, notably Victoria Range Track.
Thank you Brian and Sue, and fellow participants.
David Turner and Enid Maloney, 1232.
This was our second time on caravan capers and was as enjoyable as the first time. Thanks Brian for arranging the
key to drive up to the Heatherlie Quarry it was much appreciated. The trips arranged showed off the grandeur of the
Grampians. The most challenging was the Thursday trips in the southern end both the scenery and the tracks were
brilliant. Evenings were spent in the recreation room where we managed to addict Brian to the game called “Sequence”.
Gordon Ainslie 1664
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Vol 34 No. 5 June-July 2017