Grampians 2013 Cup Day long weekend getaway.

Our beautiful hut.

Cheeky Cockatoo keeping it's eye on Jana.

Roos in our front yard every morning. An entire mob could be found on the local footy oval each evening munching on all the fresh baby grasses.

Day 1: no cicadas. Day 2: millions of cicadas. They literally came out of the ground en-masse on day 2. Squished all over the roads and footpaths. Birds were having a field day.

Jana before she jumps for it at Chataqua Peak.

She didn't jump, and stuck around to take this shot. :)

We saw perhaps six Blue Tongue Lizards over the weekend. This guy was baking on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere while we were exploring. He didn't move away till I got out to take close up shots. :)

A fun Geocache in town.

Accidental shot. Hiking from Zumsteins to MacKenzies falls. We'd left the bikes at MacKenzies, so enjoyed a long 6km downhill ride down the mountain at the end of our hike. Lots of fun.

Good sized Goanna crossed the road on the way home. He scrambled up this tree pretty fast. Hard to tell, but head to tail he'd easily be my height.











Some Photosynth shots.

I highly reccomend "open in new tab" for these. (control-middleMousebutton for windows users)

Set your browser to FULL SCREEN, and also press the EXPAND-CONTRACT-IMAGE button once looking at the image for a fullscreen experience. Full image resolution will load in if you're not scrolling around. You can zoom in/out with the wheel mouse.

MacKenzies 1: Walking down from the top
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=d7726285-98e2-4ef6-bcf7-077cd8cb5d53
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=143b2d38-2924-418f-96e4-fd646847cffb
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=1e17e7dc-7a47-4207-9c78-500155560620

Base of MacKenzies:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=ef2892ab-5def-4a60-9fd6-17de6f5b66a4
Primo shot-----> http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=4ee24f82-b20e-4190-a7d5-399e0c4fcee7

Zumsteins MacKenzies walk:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=c4866544-7110-436f-a890-2d098632c9b3
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=2afb8bfd-6ab1-47e7-b367-66acc635d804
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=98fc675b-26ff-4839-a825-5c9358bd170f

Cultural Center:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=49498e93-0bf8-42f2-90dc-4f4052139f89

Halls Gap Dam:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=9a7d0d6b-7eb2-451b-adb8-613eaa8c1fc7
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=973ada18-324d-44d1-a982-d7055fcc7cb6

Geocaching bridge trolls:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=47d17dae-49c5-4f86-9840-f801cfcb7a84

Chataqua Peak:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=7d5af34d-5304-4dbb-9140-3aa81ada8bf6



Some Sports Tracker routes:

Jana's first bike ride in 2 decades, 22.5km:
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/mashee/2fm5hgubjonk91go

Chataqua peak hike from town, 6.31km: The altitude info shown on the graph for this hike is pretty cool.
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/mashee/fvsnb23244p734u2

Zumsteins hike to MacKenzies falls, 5.81km:
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/mashee/3cbnm5j5fa8t2lmr

Bike Ride downhill for 6kms, MacKenzies falls to Zumsteins:
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/mashee/ectmdesa45pp58mj

Dave's Firefighter Test

Dave is doing some Firefighter proficiency test thing for work. Part of it is completing one of the actual Firefighter fitness tests. The test is in a week or so, and we got in a practice run to be sure he'd smash it. Turns out he's too fit, and crushed the test no worries. :)

Did I mention we were carrying 20kg packs?? We had to stay within a minimum of 38mins, and a max of 45mins, so locking in a solid pace was crucial. The pace required to meet the 4.83km (3 miles) distance within time was a fast walk, just shy of breaking into a shuffle or a slow jog. About 9mins per kilometer, or ~6.5km/hr.

Sports-Tracker link here: http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/mashee/fsvt2ok3dktqvk2s