I arrived in Halls Gap yesterday. Never been here before – never really stayed near the Grampians. Not sure what people do here – apart from walks. That’s all the brochures seem to mention.
Michelle said, “let’s go for a walk. It’s only a 4km round trip”. Sure, I said, that’s doable.
So we headed out after lunch – Michelle, her husband Al, and me. I put my walking shoes on – the ones Tim had asked about when I put them in the car, ‘aren’t they the ones that give you blisters?’
Not sure, I said, but put in some thicker socks to be prepared.
I also packed my rain jacket – and two rain ponchos. And a water bottle.
We drove to the starting point in Michelle’s car. My water bottle and the rain ponchos were in my car.
It was sunny.
I had my rain jacket with me, and decided to leave it in Michelle’s car.
I didn’t even think about the thicker socks.
Or a hat.
We started out okay. Walking poles helped us up over the bigger rock steps. Stopped me slipping down some of the slippery rock steps. Shoulders and hands were shared around for support.
Markers were scarce, it has to be said.
We asked someone coming towards us if it was challenging up ahead. She looked to be 15. Nope, she said. Her parents coming through some time after, said ‘just go slow, you’ll be fine.’ The man with them said, ‘it gets tougher’.
We soldiered on. Slowly.
Eventually we could see The Pinnacle. It was about 200 metres away.
And then it rained.
And then it hailed.
Here are the three photos that describes what happened next – actually, one’s a video.
We didn’t make it to The Pinnacle … but we saw The Pinnacle … and that was good enough for us.
Al made it … and this is what he saw.
Note: my blisters are the size of elephants feet. And man, did they sting when the shower hit them!
Musings from the cold 