Pretty well set-up ...

I've continued to work on my 50-cent adventure bag over the past week.  

Back in the days when we used our trusty trolley for family outings, we quickly discovered that organisation was key.  I made a handled bag to sit on top of the soft-sided esky, which held random stuff.  

It was much easier to lift the bag to access the cooler, rather than try to take out items individually. 

Although my picnic bag is much smaller in scale, I wanted it to be as easy to use. 

We used our usual green mugs when testing the pocket rocket stove but their handles were a bit awkward in the bag.  

I started looking online at possible alternatives, before I remembered these insulated tumblers, bought on clearance in 2022. They looked quite smart when new but the colour coating hadn't fared well.  Aesthetics aside, they were still perfectly usuable. 

I used a scouring pad and was able to remove all the teal coating, bringing the tumblers back to stainless steel. They are larger than the green mugs, and a better multi-purpose size - praps for soup on cooler days. 

I had pre-printed batting for a patchwork bottle tote and adapted that to make a custom holder for the tumblers.  (I'll fold the handle over when the tote is inside the main bag). Nick's sweetener tablets and a mini tea-towel sit in one of the tumblers when packed. The small co-ordinating pouch holds coffee and tea bags. 

I reckon we're pretty well set-up for our next 50-cent adventure!

Red Beverage Case ...

We've enjoyed many picnics over the years, refining our picnic gear over that time. I talk about some of those upgrades, here.

When posting that update, I'd recently changed the contents of our beverage case.

Two years on, the vintage lawn bowls case has been used often and is still going strong, as is the Engel esky that was bought to fit in with the vintage vibe.  

The Engel esky incurred minor damage during our Valentines picnic in February, when it was being used as a windbreak.  It's OK, the blemish is heart-shaped and adds to the cooler's charm!

In August 2024 I spotted a red vanity case on FB marketplace and organised to purchase it, so I could have a matching red set for my picnics.  

The seller had purchased the case new in the 1970s, used it for her makeup business - and then packed it away in 1983!  It was in such great condition!

It's a bit larger than my others (which now live in my craft area, storing various notions), with almost the same footprint as the former bowls case.

The red beverage case came away on our Eight Weeks of Awesome adventure in 2024 and has been used regularly since we returned home.  

These days the red beverage case, the former lawn bowls case and the Engel esky are our usual choices for car-based picnic outings.  Setting up my 50-cent adventure bag has prompted me to cull excess picnic cutlery.  I'm looking at some of our other picnic/camping stuff to see if anything else could be sold or donated.

I regularly use the other, smaller bowling bag as a handbag, particularly when wearing my custom tea towel dress!

50-cent Fun - Adventure Bag Testing!

"It is fun to have fun but you have to know how" said The Cat in the Hat - and the phrase is used here, at times.

After finishing my custom adventure bag, I rounded up items to put in it - and researched others. As much as we bought opshop cushions for our return trip from Caboolture, they were cumbersome for ongoing use.

Bunnings had $9.98 foam kneeling pads.  We bought two of those, which I had considered using for 50-cent adventures.  After more thought, I decided they'd be better suited for car-based picnic outings.

I spotted these Hikelite seat pads on sale at Anaconda. - $9.99 rather than $19.99.  Even better, if I bought two the price dropped to $14.99, plus click and collect orders received a $5.00 voucher.  Bonus!

Nick and I both thought about a hiking stove, pretty much at the same time.  We looked at those when picking up the seat pads.

Erin offered her $20.00 voucher, which brought the sale cost of the Furno Stove and Potset down to $67.99.  I was then able to discount the butane cartridge to just $5.59 using my $5.00 voucher.   

We took our new gear for a local test today, to a park fairly close to home.  Mr Dog was very happy to come picnicking with us!

The 50g seat pads are quite neat and definitely made the bench seat more comfortable.

I tried different ways of packing the stove this morning.  The gas cartridge fits inside the pots, along with the cannister stabliser stand.  

The pot set fits neatly into a padded lens bag that I rarely use, which then sits quite nicely into my adventure bag.

The stove, in it's case, will be packed separately - probably inside the stacked mugs.  I'm still working on that bit.

We were hugely impressed with the little stove, which has been dubbed "pocket rocket"!  It was so much quicker than the butane stove we take on our car outings - we know cos we did some back-to-back time-trial testing!  It's also much, much quicker than the Spacevan's gas burners, so it might become a multi-purpose gadget!

I've used our kitchen scales to weigh the various components.  On it's own, the stove is 109 grams, then 140 grams packed.  The lighter adds an extra 15 grams - so 155 grams in total.  

The pot set weighs 194 grams and 217 grams with the stabiliser.  The 230 gram cartridge weighs 337 grams?!  When all items are packed into the lens case, the total weight is 888 grams - which is less than my large lens!

50-cent Fun - Adventure Bag!

For our first few 50-cent adventures, I used my pink basket bag.  I think it had been a $2.00 opshop find - and then I replaced the handles with a pair I made.

As an adventure bag it was OK but not really what I wanted to use long-term.

It took time to decide on a suitable replacement. I don't find backpacks comfortable, so opted to make a custom bag, using fabric from my infamous stash.

My Granny was born in 1915 and relied on public transport all her life.  I remember when she travelled by train from the Blue Mountains to visit us on the Central Coast.  

She would pack all kinds of stuff into many pocketed bags. There were always small gifts for all of us, even a bone for our dog!

Nick carries two lunchboxes in our insulated backpack but I wanted some insulation in my bag, also.  Just in case I carry any provisions.

I used thermal batting between the main body and the lining, then wool batting for the pockets.  The bag is lined with the bright batik print and there was enough for a matching tablecloth.  All fabrics were on-hand, with some of the batting having been sourced from opshops. The vintage tea-towel with steam train graphic is perfect for a bag that will spend lots of time on the railways!

50-cent Fun - Witton Barracks and Walter Taylor Bridge!

Brisbane Greeters offer a free tour of the Walter Taylor Bridge - an activity that had been on my radar for at least seven years!

Tours run on select days, with only four participants on each - so scheduling a suitable time had been tricky due to Nick's shift-work.

Today's tour was eagerly anticipated!

We caught the train to Indooroopilly and met our tour guide in the park, beside Witton Barracks.  

We had a morning tea picnic in the same park, on our previous visit to Indooroopilly.

We'd read some of Witton Barracks history, during our heritage trail walk but on this tour, we entered one of the buildings, now converted to office space - and viewed a former cell.  It was a very interesting site.

It was a short walk from Witton Barracks to Walter Taylor Bridge, our primary focus for doing the tour.

The bridge is one of only a few in the world designed for residential living and the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The north tower was home to the Green family for more than 75 years.

I'd been keen to see inside the bridge apartment since realising tours were available - but as we listened to our guide, we realised there were lots more interesting facts about the bridge and it's builder, including a link to Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We had plenty of time for a good look through the rooms, photos and records.  We even stood on the balcony to view trafffic below!

(Some people remember driving on the bridge and seeing washing hung over the balcony)!

The National Film Archive has a short film from 1954 - titled "Living in the Walter Taylor Bridge".  

At the end of the tour, Nick and I walked back to the Jack Pesch (pedestrian and cycle) Bridge, to cross the Brisbane River.  We then walked under the four bridges to the Walter Taylor Reserve, where we sat beside the river for our picnic lunch.  It was a great shady spot to view the bridges from another angle and we stayed for a while, watching the world go by.

After lunch we walked back to Indooroopilly, on the Walter Taylor Bridge footpath. By that time, out of the shade, the temperature was 34 degrees and we made a snap decision to have a drink in the Indooroopilly Hotel (which had been a point of interest on our previous heritage trail walk).  We really appreciated the air conditioning while we waited for our train home!

Total fare cost was $2.00 - 50c each way, for each of us. How good is that? 

Our previous Indooroopilly train adventure was 12 days ago.  Since then the price of diesel at the same fuel station had risen to $3.21 per litre. Using the same calculation method, today's return trip would have cost just over $16.00 - plus $6.00 for parking, so $22.00 total.

Provisioning ...

We planned to be at Carnarvon for six nights.  The closest towns were either Rolleston (103km) or Injune (153km). (Both had small grocery shops).  

There was a convenience kiosk at our caravan park but we didn't want to depend on it for meal provisions, so did a large shop at home on Saturday (the day before departure).  What did we buy?  I hadn't prepared a proper meal plan but jotted down the days we would be away and where we would be each night (to judge energy levels for cheffing).  

Our initial thought was to take one Engel only, running as a fridge - so I picked three of the vacuumed packed Coles One Pot meals. There was also butterflied pork shoulder, a pack of lamb steaks and a pack of marinated pork steaks. All pre-packed options had long expiry dates.

We actually took both Engels, so the meat packs were frozen.  We also froze some bacon, pulled pork and chicken (for wraps/sandwiches), as well as a loaf of bread.  Nick froze some bottles of water, to help the effectiveness of the freezer.  It would have made sense to freeze some milk and I'm sure we'll do that another time, now we've been reminded of how horrid UHT skim milk tastes!

Once the meat portions were in the trolley, the other main meal ingredients were fairly easy to select.  We also took packet pasta cabonara, plain pasta and rice.  There were wraps, peanut butter and vegemite, juice boxes and small fruit packs along with various snacks to have when walking.  There was a carton of UHT custard and two small cartons of UHT cream. (Cheese and antipasto were chosen for a celebratory platter at the end of all our walking).  

Flour, six eggs and a few other basics were packed from home, including frozen corn.  We picked up extra groceries at Roma - bottled water, a pre-mix salad pack, a few vegies, some mushrooms and a small bottle of red wine (for the beef bourginon).  I think there was a packet of chips and another block of chocolate.  

I made creamy bacon and mushroom pasta for our first night.  There was some leftover, which was used as a side dish the second night - with lamb steaks and salad.  We had beef bourguignon the third night, when the mushrooms were good.  Beef madras may have been after that.  I know we had Mexican beef at the end of our 24km/12-hour hike cos Nick put that one together!  I BBQ-ed the marinated pork on our second-last night and we had a cheese platter finale to round off our Carnavon week.  

There was another round of creamy bacon pasta at Mitchell (made with UHT cream), though sundried tomatoes were substituted for mushrooms.  We had the pork steak on our first Chinchilla night.  The second night was BBQed chops purchased from the local butcher, served with potatoes done over the coals and some simple coleslaw.

The one pot meals had good flavour and only needed an onion, a tin of tomatoes and one or two other extras.  We liked them but thought we could choose better quality meat in a DIY version.

Chinchilla-ing!

We left Mitchell at 10:00am on ANZAC Day.  Although we'd been advised the baths would open at 12:00, we decided we'd enjoy them on another visit - so headed back to Roma (where many memorial bottle trees had ANZAC wreaths).

There was no need to re-fuel, so we made our way toward home.  We'd thought of staying overnight at Dalby but stopped at Chinchilla.  

Although we had stayed at Chinchilla Weir on another occasion, it was easier to have a powered site for the Spacevan, so we chose Charleys Creek Campgrounds.

As much as we'd loved Carnavon Gorge, we hadn't been so keen on the busy-ness of our caravan park there - so really appreciated some space around us and being right beside the creek.  

The caretaker suggested we buy a bag of firewood and have a fire, which was a splendid idea! 

Charleys Creek was lovely and we stayed another night - so had two fires! 

We rang the insurer to arrange a claim assessment - for the day after we returned home.  

Bump on the road ...

Our Carnarvon pack-up was smooth and we started heading back to Roma.  There was no real plan.  We had lunch at Injune, at the same picnic spot we'd visited in 2020.  (I had Nick shake hands again with the miner)!

A little further along was Gunnewin, so we stopped to have a look around there.  We re-fuelled at Roma but weren't ready to return home at that point, so decided we'd go to Mitchell - and soak in the mineral baths after all our walking.

I'd not long booked a site at Mitchell when the plan hit a huge bump.  As did we.  

Nick pulled over when it was safe.  By then we thought the trailer might have a flat tyre but once stopped Nick could see the issue.  Sadly the Spacevan's spare tyre had worked free of it's drawbar mounting and then dropped onto the road.  The bump we felt and heard was trailer running over the tyre.  We were both quite shocked to see the side panel damage.  We circled back to look for the tyre but couldn't spot it in the long grass along the roadside - and weren't really sure where it had dropped onto the road.  We stopped again, so I could rescue a tortoise - and then we headed to Mitchell.

Once checked in and set up (on the same site as our first trip in the Spacevan), I used the free wifi near reception to lodge an insurance claim via the app.  Neither of us felt like soaking in the mineral baths and we had a fairly early night.

Gorge-ing ourselves at Carnavon!

Carnarvon Gorge had been on our agenda for a few years.  We almost got there in 2020 but there were no sites or other  suitable accommodation available, so we set off on our Wing-it Wanderings road-trip instead.  

(While staying at Rolleston during that trip, we chatted with other travellers who had just been into the Gorge.  They spoke of the many mice they'd encountered - due to a mouse plague at the time - and we felt better about "missing out")!

There were other false starts but everything finally aligned for visiting in April.  Nick had leave approved and we booked several months ahead.  (Our initial booking was for six nights but we were able to extend an additional night once there).

We bought hiking boots as our anniversary gifts in January and started to break them in soon after.  (I was also getting used to new orthotics). I actually started the year very well, increasing my walking to 30 and 35 kilometres for the first two weeks in January. And then I got Covid, followed by some other issues - which set my physical activity back considerably.  Nick had hurt himself when packing (possibly cracked a rib), so neither of us were in prime condition.  Given how long it had taken to get leave etc lined up though, we decided to just go and do our best.

Plenty of bloggers have written about Carnarvon and there is a lot of YouTube content also.  Although we read tips and watched some footage before arrival, it was still awesome to experience such stunning country first-hand.  I took many, many photos while there.  We managed to walk 70km over the course of our week-long stay, saw everything we wanted to see and even made it all the way out to Big Bend, Cathedral Cave and Boowinda Gorge in one huge 24km/12-hour day!  

When viewing the caravan park's intro video and reading various descriptions of the walks, we felt a bit daunted by all the numbers.  After studying the rated walks, we decided to get up super-early and view sunrise from Boolimba Bluff.  It was one of the level 4 walks and once we'd finished that one (the first hour in darkness, with just the light of our headlamps), we were more confident about doing others.  We had done a level 5 hike close to home the week before heading out to Carnarvon and that experience was good to compare to the sunrise Bluff walk.  

A few days after our level 5 hike, we bought much better backpacks from Anaconda, in preparation for Carnarvon.  I also bought a water bladder to use instead of a drink bottle, which was a great choice.  Nick found my hiking pole when packing and that was so very handy for all the creek crossings we did.

Some people didn't stay long at the caravan park and tried to do all the walks in one or two days.  We took a far more leisurely approach and spent time at each of the sites once we reached them, to fully appreciate all there was to see.  Nick went up to the office the day after our 24km stint and was able to extend our booking, which meant we could have a rest day before our Moss Gardens and Amphitheatre finale.  

This is how our week panned out.  We were very chuffed with our efforts - and how wonderfully everything fell into place.

Day 1 (  3.0km) - Arrive late afternoon

Day 2 (  6.5km) - Visitor Centre Nature Walk and Mickey Creek

Day 3 (10.5km) - Boolimba Bluff and Rock Pools

Day 4 (13.5km) - Art Gallery and Ward's Canyon

Day 5 (24.0km) - Big Bend, Boowinda Gorge and Cathedral Cave

Day 6 (  4.5km) - Warrumba Creek Gorge (Mickey Creek), caravan park lookout

Day 7 (12.0km) - Moss Gardens and the Amphitheatre

Day 8 ( 5.0Km) - Departure ...

Setting off (and setting up) ...

Although we enjoyed two road-trips last year - our Big Loop tour in February and then a Sydney visit in November - it had been nearly 18 months since our first (and only) Spacevan trip, back in September 2021.

In the meantime, we'd completely unpacked the camper, plus moved house.  These two happenings made packing a lot trickier than usual, cos once we'd decided what to pack, we then had to find it! Hah!

Nissa visited for the first two weeks of April.  We holiday-ed at home during her stay, doing daytrips and having a lot of fabulous fun together.  It was wonderful!

After fare-welling Nissa on Friday night, we started packing - aiming for Sunday departure. 

We worked very hard on our separate missions. Nick sorted lights, power and water as well as our two Engels.  

The Engels travelled in Elmer, one as a fridge and the other as a freezer.  The freezer was in the back because we wouldn't often need it (and standing on the tow bar to reach it is a bit tedious).  

The rear seats were folded down and the fridge was stowed in the passenger-side footwell, where it was a little lower for easier access via the side door.  Both Engels stayed in Elmer for our overnight stop at Roma.  Nick ran an extension lead to the car, so they had mains power for that period.  (They use 12-volt power while in transit).

Vaughan came with us for our first Spacevan trip and a section of the rear floor was used for his sleeping area.  It was just Nick and I this time. When we set up properly, the two Engels were carried inside the camper.  

One folding table was used inside, so our Gladstone bags were at a good height for access.  I took a number of plastic hooks and these were very handy for hanging jackets, shower bags etc.  I'd made two shower totes early last year, for carrying clean clothes etc to the amenities block.  We've used them as swimming bags since then but this was their first run for their intended purpose - and they were great!

I'd done other sewing for the Spacevan and those accessories were used for the first time also.  Although I'd intended to make dedicated Spacevan laundry bags, that project had stalled - so we used the set I'd made for non-camper road-trips.

We took two sets of camping mats.  The site was dusty, so it was great to have eight inside.  The dust falls down the holes and sits within them, which minimises the amount tracked onto the upper floor.  There was another set of eight, just outside our doorway.  (We'd forgotten our step but didn't miss it too much).

Two-up on ANZAC Day!

Nissa flew in the day before ANZAC Day and one of our first morning's missions was to make ANZAC biccies together.

Our free-standing oven had some issues, so we baked about 65 biscuits in the benchtop turbo oven - seven in a batch. Each group only needed about 12 minutes cooking time, so swapping out trays was a bit fiddly but otherwise all worked well.

I've just checked and our Yowah fuel stove ANZAC biccies were made using smaller "trays", though we could fit several trays in the oven at once.

Once all the biccies were baked, we packed up some to take with us for a later lunch picnic.  

Given the public holiday, I planned to pick up some picnic supplies at a large IGA in Boonah, en route to Lake Maroon.

Not long before departure I thought to ask Nick for some pennies.  He was able to find some as well as a scrap of wood - and I printed off two-up rules from the internet.  I printed off two sets of rules, cos the first set talked of three pennies which seemed like three-up, not two-up! 

I'd never played before and neither had anyone else.  We modified the rules a bit, so as to play at our picnic table.  

No money changed hands, only buttons!

Erin wasn't keen to play, so watched our antics while doing her knitting.  

Bandit didn't play either but tried hard  to join in - and his noisy barking added to the hilarity!

Life's a picnic (or a cafe lunch)!

After our splendid January adventures, February was busy getting back into our normal work and school routines.  As always, there were outings but those were not really in keeping with the scope of this blog.  

Nick and I also enjoyed a lovely weekend away - though the focus of that break was his performance at the Songwriters Showcase.

There was lots of rain in March and we took advantage of a dry day for a school hours picnic, fairly close to home.  We dined well on wraps made with leftover roast dinner meat and vegies - and Bandit was happy we'd packed a treat for him also!

A few days later I made scones and packed another lunch for some exploring further afield.  I had thought we might try to see somewhere new but after huge hilarity at the GPS "assistance" we ended up back at Atkinson Dam where we've visited on a few other occasions.  There was a bit more water after all the rain and it was very pleasant to sit watching the little birds flit about.

In contrast to those organised picnic outings we had a wonderful, impromptu adventure this week.  We headed to our local Bunnings (less than 10km up the road), made a small purchase - and then decided it was too nice a day to spend at home, so continued in a westerly direction! 

We didn't have a plan but enjoyed blue sky, sunshine and lots of pretty scenery as we drove along. We chanced on a wonderful lunch spot, the Nash Gallery & Cafe at Esk, with many birds chattering away (and stealing leftovers when they could).

There were a couple of local art exhibitions at the two information centres we stopped at.  We'd called in at Esk at other times but hadn't previously visited The Condensary at Toogoolawah, which caused some discussion as we parked.  It really was a former condensed milk factory - Australia's first!  As well as the exhibition there was a small history display in a former bomb shelter inside the shed - and we looked at that also.

We headed back slowly, poking about in a few opshops and finding a few bargains.  By the time we arrived home in the later afternoon we'd made a 180 km round trip, substantially bigger than our original/planned 18 km quick loop to Bunnings!  

All the way to see Jandowae!

There is a two-metre tall metal dingo at Jandowae. We parked Elmer in a side street and walked across the road to view the sculpture. In truth, we were far more impressed with the absolutely massive bottle trees than the art-work!

We'd seen very tall bottle trees earlier in the day.  These were tall and wide.  Just amazing!

Bottle trees can grow to a height of 20 metres and some achieve a girth of 8 metres. They develop their bottle shape between five and eight years of age - and may live 150 years.

Erin's "Wild Food in Australia" book has entries describing both Leichardt and Major Mitchell's early exploration parties chewing the wood to release a nutritious jelly.

Prickly pear ...

We traveled through some lovely country and the super-tall bottle trees beside the track were a definite highlight.

When I saw "Boiling Springs Lookout" listed as a picnic stop on the tourist drive, I was keen to sit and view the springs.  Yeah, well.

Upon arrival as far as I could see, there were no boiling springs.  There were two steel posts where some signage might once have been supported and no picnic table, though there was a shelter.

On the edge of the clearing was a large rock upon a large base of brown, patterned cement and I walked over to see if that offered any information. Nup, it was just a rock.  Nick called out, asking if was like the one near Eulo - which was what I'd been thinking, also!

Vaughan decided it was a great opportunity to harvest prickly pear fruit and given he is usually very picky about his food we foraged for tongs in the picnic case.

Although the drive was described as being  a loop of 110 kilometres long with a suggested time of two and a half hours, we took a lot longer (and drove much further).

Some areas were not well marked and we needed to double-back later in the day.  It was late in the day when lunch was finally eaten at a very nice picnic area beside the Jandowae dam.  Vaughan offered prickly pear tasting as a finale.  I was dubious but the taste was quite bland - and far, far more palatable than the snotty gobbles!!

C'mon to Carman's Tunnel

I'd picked up a brochure for Carman's Tunnel mine tours ages ago - and then collected another on our previous visit to Maldon.  We were having so much fun exploring that day that we decided against doing a mine tour.

We left home earlier today and were a lot better prepared, so headed to the site after lunch.  We arrived only a few minutes after the 1:30pm tour had walked into the mine, so were able to join them.  (Erin wasn't keen to go underground and stayed outside to keep Bandit company in the car).

Although we entered an abandoned gold mine for our 500th geocache, it was very interesting to view this much larger tunnel system.  We donned hard hats at the entrance and the guide was impressed with Vaughan's confidence underground (and later his understanding of the term light-fingered).  Of course, it wasn't our boy's first time in a mine and we've been in caves also at Kwiambal and Jenolan.

The tour cost $7.50 for adults and $2.50 for children.  It was money well spent!  We bought ourselves a "spider" candle-holder with candle (as used in the mine) and hand-made wire toasting fork for the campfire.  Nick seems to think the fork handle is too long but given the enthusiasm of my fire-bug family, I reckon it's probably a good length.  (Vaughan has already decided it might work well for marshmallows)!

Dragging along to the dragline ...

We enjoyed Maldon so much three weeks ago that we returned today, to continue exploring.  First stop was to refuel Elmer at the neat footpath bowsers!

From there we headed to the Union Hill open cut mine.

"Between 1988 and 1992, the open cut mine yielded 55,000ozs of gold after 1 million tonnes of rock were processed at the treatment works."

Impressive, eh?!

Although we'd stretched our legs and snacked en route to Maldon, Vaughan was obviously in need of more sustenance and we continued to Porcupine Flat, to picnic beside the dredge and dragline.

We carry all kinds of stuff in Elmer, cos you never know what may come in handy.  Along with binoculars, we also have two mini microscopes.

They are good for viewing small bugs and today were used to examine some rock specimens.

We relaxed in the sunshine, while watching white browed babblers hopping in the undergrowth and welcome swallows flit about near the front of the dredge.

Sisters Rocks

The Sisters Rocks are huge granite tors named after the Levi sisters who camped there in the early gold days. They are now smothered in graffiti which ruins or enhances them, depending on your politics.

Yep. I would have preferred to see these beautiful rocks in their natural state but there was an amazing amount of graffiti - and from my further reading since coming home, the graffiti dates back over most of the 20th century.  (The earliest date we spotted was 1957 but we weren't looking too hard).  Interestingly, the site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Database as being aesthetically significant at a local level for heritage overlay.

I definitely preferred the much earlier rock art and natural beauty of Bunjil Shelter but it was interesting to contrast the two sites, visiting both within a few hours of each other.  (When we arrived at the Sisters Rocks, Vaughan asked if Bandit was allowed off-lead.  Nick responded the site was obviously not sacred, so Bandit could walk freely - though we should all watch for broken glass).

Bunjil Shelter

We departed our cabin on Friday morning, after posing for some group pics.

Although we could see the Grampians in the distance from Old Dadswell Town we were not able to enter the National Park (as dogs aren't allowed).

In reading various tourist information though, I'd spotted a reference to Bunjil Shelter near Stawell, and the park notes stated dogs on leads could visit.

"... this is the only rockart painting of Bunjil known. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant cultural sites in south eastern Australia".

The actual shelter was caged to prevent damage to the rock art.  (We had seen similar protection at the Sandstone Caves while visiting the Warrumbungles).

There was much discussion of the Bunjil rock art.  Nick and Erin debated whether he was sitting cross-legged with hands on hips.

They both agreed he had a man's face, though I thought he may have had a side-facing beak.

Regardless of how Bunjil was depicted, everyone thought the site was beautiful and we are very glad we visited.  There was a picnic table and fireplace across from the gravel carpark (with more gorgeous boulders, which is where Vaughan is climbing) but no-one needed sustenance at that stage, so we drove back to Stawell en-route to Ararat.