Grampians, Dunkeld - Hamilton

Wow the weather turned nasty very quickly, and by the time we found the caravan park we were looking for, the wind was howling and the rain came till everything looked a sodden mess and as if the dirt below us would sink into a quagmire. During the time it took us to set up and get everything ready for meals, the park people had two men sowing lawn seed in front of us and one had the job of punching holes into the dirt and one had two jobs – one to push this heavy looking machine around after him (it looked like such hard work and he was extending his whole body in his efforts to push it across the whole sector.  He then got a mini fertilizer spreader – of the pushing kind – and he ran pushing it over where they had both been!  Felt like he would be in a hot spa and needing a back therapy at the end of the day! Fortunately we were able to park next to a cement slab.  We could not see a thing until morning with bouts of wild weather occurring throughout the evening. 

When we woke up the rain had abated, but sudden gusts of wild wind would happen with little branches sometimes flying off the trees in the park – not big enough to cause a problem though thank goodness.  To our amusement all the birds in the park tried to pull the newly erected signs about new grass being sown off their posts and they were delighting in pecking all of them up and eating them!

Lo and behold, time to shower came and we discovered the best ablution block ever…which now beats Beacon (West Aust) hands down in that it was heated!  Beacon has the biggest ensuites we have encountered, followed by Mukinbudin now here at Halls Gap and then Byron Bay.  This one is not flash but has a large shower with glass door, and toilet, basin and table. In such miserable weather, walking into a heated bathroom was a highly enjoyable experience!  The caravan park is nestled beneath the mountains and next to the Dam wall.  Lots of lovely cabins and a heated pool as well!

We decided that as the weather forecast contained even more severe weather forecasts that we should move on as it was all about to occur over the period of the week so heading north to avoid it all was the plan.  We arrived in the worst rain and wind at Dunkfeld which has such beautiful vistas (seen through the windows of the Information Centre) but we decided to move on to Hamilton as the caravan parks there seemed bigger and better equipped for rain events.  Hopefully we may get to see some sights soon!  On the way there we came across a young man walking along the road on his own and we also saw the animal footprints - possibly of a dingo when we stopped at a lookout.