J18.31 The Grampians

This post is part of a series called Journey 18 ● PolArt 2015

Today sadly marked the start of my westbound journey home to Perth, firstly with a stop at Essendon Mitsubishi – and eggs benny at the nearby Evolve Eatery – while a replacement underbody panel was being fitted, which Mitsubishi Hobart were stubbornly refusing to help with.

As I drove toward the Grampians, I kept a close eye on the Odometer of my car as it crept towards a key milestone: 100,000km since the moment I drove this beast from the dealer’s yard in February 2009. This car has given me great joy & exhilaration, as well as some grief .. it’s a love/hate relationship but we’re in no need for counselling and hopefully the mighty ‘Fortis’ continues serving well for at least another 100,000km! Gee she’s dirty, needs a high pressure wash before we collect more bugs across the Nullarbor.

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Next I headed straight for the Grampians, which is a bit of a detour from the main highway west, but well worth it. Due to time constraints I had selected just two of many highlights in this National Park: Reed Lookout and MacKenzie Falls. There’s also a pleasant twisty drive toward these attractions!

Reed Lookout is virtually straight off the car park and offers wide views of the Victoria Valley and Grampians overall, easy to access and worth a visit.
MacKenzie Falls takes about an hour to take in the main highlights properly but well worth the time spent as the falls are the largest ones I’ve seen on this roadtrip and with a slight breeze today there’s also a refreshing spray from the falls near the stairs, perfect on a 38C day!

That old problem was back where I was running out of time so I regrettably missed out, again, on exploring the Adelaide Hills including Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wineries I had on my list of places to visit, so I headed straight to Adelaide via the main highway. Unlikely to visit these in the morning either as I’ll be up and driving early too…might have to make another roadtrip in the future!