Hundreds of Kangaroos!

Friday Nov 21 – Hundreds of Kangaroos!



Scenic one lane highway - Grampian Mountains.

Off To Stawell were a friend’s long-time pen pal, of over fifty years, lives.

We have been instructed to drive along the Victoria Valley road.  We are heading to Hals Gap and this road takes us through two sections of the Grampian Mountains.  We start our trek at about 10:00 in the morning and the light is perfect: a nice blue sky with fluffy white clouds.  Not far along we have to slow as there is a small kangaroo on the side of the road (a wallaby we think)…it is beautiful. 



Echidna.

The picturesque highway grows narrower and narrower until it is one paved lane.  We felt like we were on the edge of the outback again.  The trees are magnificent and very large.  They are mountains are all around us as we drive through the grassy valley.

Hals Gap is our first destination on the way to Stawell.  We stop at the Lake Bellfield a man made lake which is the reservoir for the Hals gap and Pomonal communities.

The Boroka Lookout is wonderful.  We find an Echidna on the side of the road. It is somewhat like a small cute porcupine, so I had to get out, get up close and take pictures.  It was so sweet.



Kangaroo with joey.

At the Boroka Lookout you can see for miles and miles (hundreds of km’s) in many directions.  An amazing sight and well worth the drive.

Finally off to Stawell. Here we meet with Judy and Barry, our friend Donna’s pen pal. We dropped off pictures and a letter, had a nice visit and were on our way.  It was so nice to meet them. 

Stawell is a gold mining town and the mine is still working the vein underneath the town.  At the viewing area, for the mine we see a small tunnel into the earth.  When a large Euclid dump truck arrives from out of the tunnel, we realize that the opening is enormous.

In the middle of the road is a lizard sunning itself.  It seems the local lizard (Shingle Back or Stumpy Tail). It has almost no tail!

On our return trip as we cross the plains towards Hals Gap we see and watering hole and a large group of Kangaroo’s.  It is the first time we have seen more than three or four in a group.  We turn around and take pictures. A quick count comes up with 41.



Just a few kangaroos on the cricket pitch.

After Hals Gap we are very careful to watch the shoulder.  It is bathed in shadows and we really don’t want to run into a kangaroo.  As we approach our town there on the side of the road is a great big kangaroo.  We slow and he retreats into the bush.  Around the corner we pass a little valley and there on the hill are hundreds of Kangaroos.  We quickly turn around and pull over to the side of the road.  Here are many…silently hopping around and grazing on the grass in the receding sunlight.  We watch for a long time, take many pictures then head back. We see a few more enormous herds of kangaroos before we get to town.

 As we approach the town, there are 50 more on the cricket field. We stop to watch them.  Alan manages to get an amazing video. Apparently in a month when all the grass is dead, it already looks dead to me, there will be hundreds covering the cricket green, as this will be the only grass for miles.