Halls Gap, Victoria, Australia is located in the Grampians, a mountain range about three and a half hours north and west of Melbourne.  Again, David had been here multiple times beginning as a youngster on trips with his parents.  We headed for many of the lookouts in the mountains and made plans to return to one location for sunset that evening and another for sunrise the next morning.  Sunset was about 8:20 and we got there early to stake out our location.

Lots of wind but not a great sunset.  Sunset the second night was better with some great sun rays but the low clouds didn’t give us much of a look at the sun or the color in the clouds we were hoping for.

Sunrise the next morning meant we were up at 4:00. and all we got was fog.  All I was able to get was these trees in the fog near the lookout.

We’re staying in a campground just outside of Halls Gap.  We have a great three bedroom cabin with a large open field behind it.  Each morning there are many kangaroos hanging out here and many have a joey in their pouch.

I caught of couple starting their day with their kick boxing exercises!

These are the first kangaroos I’ve seen on the trip and they are plentiful around the campground, in town and, like deer in southeast Kansas, along the roads.

There are also a number of emu here.  They look a lot like ostrichs but smaller.

We slept in ‘til 4:40 for our second sunrise and went to a new location along the shores of Lake Fyans (pron. “fines”).  It was our best so far.  The dead trees in the lake made a very good foreground and, in my opinion, made the sunrise a success.

Here are two images from the same series.  Tell me which one you like best.

#1                                                #2

David promised me we’d see several animal found in Australia, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypus and koalas.  We haven’t seen the platypus and koalas yet and we had to go to the Halls Gap zoo to see the wombats.  These little creatures are about the size of a small pig but heavier with sharp claws and teeth.

I did get an image of a rare white kangaroo at the zoo and saw a bluebird next to one of the pens.

How long does it take to play a game of cricket?  I’ll tell you in my next blog.  I think you’ll be surprised!

Ron