Grampians Day 2: The view from the top

Tuesday was a fantastic day. We began by visiting the Ngamadjidj Rock Shelter (above), home to rock art painted between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago by Aborigines. While it is amazing that the art was that old, it’s even more amazing to think that Aborigines have been living in Australia for at least 40,000 years (the oldest culture that still exists today). This site, which has great spiritual importance for the Aborgines of the Grampians, has paintings done in white ochre. There are some people, who look to me to be dancing (above), and one dude who appears to be brandishing a spear (above).

Then we went to the Bunjil rock art site (above), which depicts Bunjil, the chief who Aborigines believe created the Grampians (above). The area where Bunjil was located was amazing in its own right. It was filled with huge boulders (above), which we of course had to climb (above). The view from the top of the boulder was awesome, across miles of sheep herding fields (above).

After lunch we went hiking in the Grampians. It was truly spectacular. We had to climb pretty much vertically to get to the top (Mary, above).

Just kidding. That shot was achieved through some movie magic. We hiked normally on a path was mostly just made up of the rock that naturally existed there (above). We hiked up the mountain for about an hour and a half, seeing some fantastic sandstone rock formations (above). Some of the areas the path went through were pretty narrow (above).

The view at the pinnacle was so worth the climb. You could see for forever (above). We all stopped to admire the surroundings (above). “The Pinnacle” was a rock outcropping that jutted out over the cliff’s edge. It was not for the faint-hearted, but even Eric (who’s afraid of heights) stepped out to the edge of the pinnacle (above).

It was an absolutely amazing day.