Melbourne, Australia, Australia

Today started out with an early rise for breakfast at the Asses Ears Wilderness Lodge and then off for some kangaroo spotting. There were so many kangaroos it was a little ridiculous! They were all over the roads and in every field we went by.

We made our first stop of the day at Mackenzie Falls. There were a few different lookouts to see the falls from, so we decided to check them all out. While walking through the woods to the lookout we came across more kangaroos and wallabies, these things are everywhere!

We moved on to Reed’s Lookout where we got an unbelievable view of the Grampians. Some of us climbed over the fence at the lookout to sit on the edge of a rock that was hanging over a huge drop. It was pretty nerve racking up there, but it made for some great pictures. One thing I’ve learned on this trip is that the best pictures come from places you’re not supposed to be.

Our next destination was Hollow Mountain. We had a pretty good hike up to the top for more spectacular views of the Grampians. I was also happy to see that I had great 3G service on the top so I got to watch the bottom of the 9th inning of the Red Sox game and some highlights from the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Life is good! As usual the hike up the mountain ended up being easier than the way down, but we all made it down safely, except for one of the Chinese girls with a scraped knee.

We had all worked up a good appetite and we went to a picnic area in Halls Gap to have some burritos, sausages and ham sandwiches, to be washed down with more chocolate cake. We had taken a little more time than expected on the hike and having lunch, so we were forced to skip the Aboriginal Cultural Center and drove straight back to Melbourne. I figure I’ll get to see a lot of Aboriginal stuff at Ayer’s Rock, so I’m not really missing anything.

We got back to Melbourne around 8pm and said our goodbye’s to everyone on the trip. It turns out that it was only a “see ya later” to Cameron, because he’s going to be our tour guide again on Sunday when we go down to Phillip Island. It was a great trip overall, we got to see some awesome sights and had some really good company for a few days as well. It’s just a shame that it’s over so soon, but I’m absolutely exhausted now so will probably sleep until the trip on Sunday!