Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Grampians Spring Camp

Our family just got back from the Grampians, which is beautiful nature & adventure place with mountainous and rocky terrain. It is a four hours away and I loved the place! I told mum that we must certainly visit again and go to the other hiking, rock climbing and waterfall spots with our cousins and relatives who are visiting in December. I love nature and adventure! I love taking all the photos and seeing the beautiful landscape. I think it’s the most interesting holiday spot I’ve visited so far in the surrounding areas of Melbourne.

Anyway, we were there for a spring camp organized by students from the Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF) in Monash Uni Berwick campus. We were there from Mon to Wed. Thank God the weather was perfect – cause last week’s weather was horrible. It was unexpectedly cold, and there was a good amount of hail. But thank goodness the skies were blue and bright in Grampians and we took some splendid pictures! :D

Although we were a pretty small group, I thank God for the good fun we had getting to know each other better. We had a lot of day activities – hiking to the pinnacle at Grampians National Park, visiting the Reids Lookout, the Mackenzie Falls, and Venus Bath (it all includes breathtaking scenery)! I think we all lost 10kg from all the walking. Haha kidding, sadly no. :P

Anyway, as always, the pictures speak a thousand words. I took many, but here are some of the best ones. =)


On our first day we hiked up to one of the pinnacles at the Grampians National Park.

The girls. We were passing through a stretch called the "grand canyon".

I found it amazing how rocks can actually look so interesting and beautiful.

Dad and Janna on one of those funny large rocks that seem as if it'll topple over any minute!

Oke, Lin Jing, me, Lorence, Daniel and Nick.


Finally at the top of the pinnacle!


It was so windy and cold up there! Very thrilling.


Janna, mum, me, and Oke.

Nick, my dad, and Daniel. Crazy fellas! It looked so, so scary from that my point of view. Shudders.
Family =)

Yeah you bet I didn't want to fall over the cliff behind me!

Group shot at the pinnacle =)

Whee. At first I didn't want to go for the cliff edge. Too scary. But then well, its once in a life time perhaps - thought I must give it a go! Thankfully it wasn't actually as scary as I thought (cause earlier I was looking from the side and seeing the whole cliff edge).

This is now the next day's outing to a place called Reids Lookout. The sky was so wonderfully blue that day which made the shots much better than the pinnacle ones!

Too beautiful, isn't it?!! It's amazing. I'll definitely go back there again with my family to take time to enjoy the scenery and snap all the pics we want! Since we went with the group, we couldn't really take our time.

Haha, Nick, the famous oversized koala bear at Grampians!

=)

=)
All the girls! ... And my dad. =)


This was perfect! There were two white lines across the sky cause' it so happened that there were two jet planes flying across. It definitely made the shot more interesting with the mountainous view.

Jasmine and I


Me, Lin Jing and Sarah.

Nick standing on "the Balcony".


My dad got on the higher Balcony! He went to the very edge! I was so scared he'd slip. Shudders. Somemore he says he's scared of heights! Hah! :P

Love this shot. It was so cool!

=) This is a place called the Mackenzie Falls. (=

Haha :D

My dad and Nick climbing up the rocks in front of the falls. They said it was very slippery with moss and the water was freezing!

This is the best waterfall I've seen in Australia so far. The waterfalls here are ofcourse not as great as the ones we see in M'sia.

Janna and Sarah. I really like this one! Although they seem a big small, but its a nice perspective.

=)

My sisters are my bests subjects or models so far! Haha =)

I was hoping to see a rainbow in the falls since it was a sunny day. Thank God I did just before we were going to hike back up!

Beautiful. And once again, I was the last person in the group to leave. Haha. ;P

The final spot we managed to visit (though there were many others) is Venus Bath. Most of them climbed up the smooth, sloping rock surface for fun.
Janna climbed halfway. Jirene did very little. I didn't attempt at all! Haha. I'm afraid of looking down and sliding or slipping!


Guess what, as always, my dad, Nick, and Daniel went all the way up! Can you spot my dad waving? Crazy fellas. I was praying dad wouldn't tumble down when they climb back down. Haha.

:)

Yeah, my dad is still wearing his sunnies/goggles thingammajiggy! :P
Lorence, Oke, Lin Jing, Nick, Daniel, me and mum.

Cliffhanger, hey!
Nick was saying that if my dad was doing it for real, he wouldn't have been smiling. :P Hahaha.

Dad and mum =) I was mesmerized by the pattern these huge rocks created! Its amazing and so uniquely beautiful.

Quite an eerie shot taken on the way back from Venus Bath. The trees looked as if they had long, gnarled, twisted arms coming right out to grab you! Nature is so interesting in a million ways.

Group photo at the campsite before leaving. =) The End.

Phew, wasn’t that a load of fabulous scenic nature shots? God is so great – and I’m that puny photographer admiring His work of art. Nature humbles me. It reminds me how very tiny and insignificant I am. Like a flower in the field that quickly withers away. Hmm. Oh I wish we’ll visit Grampians soon again! I have a lot more other photos to snap! :D All in all, thank God for the great company we had. It was a good trip. =)

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