Melbourne Road Trip Day 2 – Dandenong Range National Park

12 May 2019

Day 2 of road trip started with an easy 120 km drive to the Dandenong Range National Park from Phillip Island.

While there are numerous attractions within the park, we planned to visit the William Ricketts Sanctuary, do some walking in the gardens and quaint mountain villages.

Sassafras and Miss Maple’s Tearoom

Our first stop was the small village of Sassafras in the Dandenong Range National Park.

  

Autumn foliage in forest at Sassafras, Dandenong Range.

While the drive to the village was easy, finding a space to park on a Sunday morning was not. Especially on the Mother’s Day weekend. To add to the misery, there was a slight drizzle on this overcast day. After circling the village a couple of times, we managed to find a space.

Sassafras has a few cafes and many antique, art, craft and speciality shops. One of the most popular cafes is the Miss Marple’s Tearoom, famous for the scones.

We had planned to arrive just before opening time, to avoid the queue. This cafe usually opened at 11 AM, but being the Mother’s Day weekend, it opened earlier at 10 AM.

Miss Marple’s Tearoom at Sassafras, Mount Dandenong.

A crowd of waiting customers was already outside as we went in to get a queue number. We got a queue number and was informed that we would probably have to wait about 45 minutes.

The best thing to do next was to explore the small quaint shops along the main street while waiting for our turn. Especially interesting was Geppetto's Workshop with its puppets and toys and Tea Leaves with tea from all over the world and beautiful sets of teapot and cups.

Tea Leaves – shop in Sassafras selling tea from all over the whole and beautiful sets of teapot and cups.

We were also invited into the Cream at Sassafras by the friendly owner who showed us his gourmet organic products and natural remedies that was sourced from all over Australia.

We finally got our table in Miss Marple’s Tearoom ahead of schedule. The deco is English and inspired by the character in Agatha Christie’s novels. Miss Marple memorabilia and teapots line the walls of the restaurant. This tearoom definitely reminded me of the cafes we visited during our road trip through the Cotswolds in England.


Square shaped scones, beef cottage pie ad tea at Miss Marple’s Tearoom.

We ordered 2 of the famous scones (AUD12.50), a beef cottage pie (AUD17.50) and a pot of tea (AUD 5 per person). The scones were served with one of freshest home-made raspberry jam I ever tasted and very light whipped cream. Yum. However, the beef pie with peas, carrot and topped with mash potato tasted a little bland after eating the scones with the sweet raspberry jam and cream.

William Ricketts Sanctuary

The William Ricketts Sanctuary is a short drive from Sassafras, along the winding Mount Dandenong Tourist Road.  Unlike Sassafras, there is ample parking at the free public car park just across the road from the entrance.

Entry to the garden is free too. The creator of this garden was William Ricketts, a potter and sculptor of the arts and crafts who had spent much time in 1949 to 1960 living with aboriginal communities in central Australia. He believed that all Australians should adopt Aboriginal philosophies, respecting the spirituality of the mother earth and all things in the natural world.

Layout of the William Ricketts Sanctuary.

Along a paved 500m forest trail, there are 92 clay sculptures. These sculptures are made in the on-site kiln and placed in the forest scene.
Upon entry, the first thing that struck me was the lush greenery, peace and tranquillity of this amazing place.

Equally amazing and interesting were the clay sculptures that seemed to merge with the natural trees and forest landscape. We took many photos of the sculptures.

Sculpture of Aboriginal children.



Mountain Ash trees provide a canopy above us. Many species of native ferns lined the forest trail.

We went to the original log cabin residence watch the video “Forest of Love”, a short documentary of William.

William Ricketts died in 1993, aged 94. He left a wonderful legacy of the sanctuary with its clay sculptures.

Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden at Olinda

There are a few notable gardens within Dandenong such as the Alfred Nicholas Gardens, George Tindale Memorial Gardens and the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden. We only had time to visit one, so we chose to go to the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden at Olinda.

Red Rhododendron flowers.

Formerly known as The National Rhododendron Gardens, this garden is a Dandenong Ranges landmark.

May is a good time to visit. We could see the autumn foliage on some of the trees. There are also plenty of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias blooms to enjoy.

Rhododendron Rarilepidotum flowers.

The first Kookaburra we saw on this trip.

This amazing beautiful flower is the Protea.

Red maple leaves.

Yellow leaves of the gingko tree.

Kid dressed as Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! 

Romantic moment for a couple.

Where we stayed

Nightcap at Ferntree Gully Hotel Motel, located along Burwood Highway, is a 2-minutes drive from the Dandenong Ranges National Park. This is a convenient place for an overnight stay for visitors to the park. There are eateries onsite and within 5-minutes drive from the hotel.

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Melbourne Road Trip Day 3 – Grampians National Park with visits to Mackenzie Falls, Reeds Lookout, The Balconies and Boroka Lookout

12 May 2019

Renowned for rugged mountain ranges, rich cultural heritage and breath-taking views, the Grampians National Park is one of Victoria's most popular destinations. We planned to spend 2 days at the National Park to do some hiking and be close to nature.

Drive from Dandenong to Grampians

After breakfast at a cafe near our hotel in Ferntree Gully, we started on our estimated 4 hours road trip. The drive included a section on the CityLink toll road (M1 – Monash Freeway) to Melbourne. There are no toll booths on Melbourne's toll roads. At each toll point, vehicles pass under a gantry which is fitted with both communication scanners and cameras and the toll is collected electronically using an e-tag fitted on the vehicle.

Our rental vehicle from Avis is fitted with such devices, so we have no worries about unpaid tolls. Tolls would be included into our bill when we returned the vehicle.

There were a few crisscrossing motorways surrounding Melbourne and the GPS on our mobile phones became extremely helpful. The navigation became easy once we got onto the M8 motorway towards Ballarat.

After about 2 hours of driving, we arrived at Ballarat. Ballarat is a large town located somewhat at the midpoint of our journey. An ideal rest stop to fill our stomach and fill up our car. We also bought some provisions from a large Woolworths supermarket.

It was another 2 hours of driving through A8 and C222 before we entered into the Grampians National Park. I enjoy driving on the country roads like the C222 as it offers some good views and changing landscape.

On the C222, between the town of Ararat and Grampians National Park.

Yellow warning signs with silhouette of a hopping kangaroos could be seen regularly along the road. This is a sign that we took seriously and slowed down since a collision with a kangaroo would be disastrous. We actually spotted a large grey kangaroo grazing by the road.

We arrived at Halls Gap, the village located in the heart of Grampians National Park, at about 2 PM.

The sun sets at about 5.30 PM in May at the Grampians. Instead of checking into our hotel at Halls Gap, we headed straight to Mackenzie Falls which was about another 25 minutes driving time from Halls Gap along Mt Victory Road (also marked as C222 on the map).

Mackenzie Falls

The iconic and spectacular MacKenzie Falls is a must do for all visitors to Grampians National Park. MacKenzie Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria.

To see the falls, one could take the easy, one-kilometre path to the viewing platform at the Bluff or the steep trail to the base of the falls (Distance: 2 km return and duration: 1 hour 30 minutes return).

We chose to hike to the base of the waterfall as the views at the end of this steep trail are spectacular.

Upper MacKenzie Falls – a not-so-impressive fall that we saw on the way down.

Trail leading down to the base of the MacKenzie Falls.

Close up view of the falls.

Spectacular MacKenzie Falls as viewed at the base.

A series of well-placed stones allowed us to cross the river at the base of the waterfall. The views were spectacular as promised.

A hiking trail continues down river beyond the falls. We followed this trail for a short distance enjoying the views of the river canyon and some solitude.

Trail at the river canyon of Mackenzie Falls.

We enjoyed some moments of peace until a large group from a tour descended down to the falls. This was a signal for us to leave and huff and puff our way back up.

Reeds Lookout

Reeds Lookout is along the route from MacKenzie Falls back towards Halls Gap. From the car park, it was just a short walk to the viewing point.

The summit of Reeds Lookout offers stunning views over the entire Victoria Valley, Victoria Range, Serra Range, Lake Wartook and the Mt Difficult Range. 

Reeds Lookout.

The Balconies

From the same car park as Reeds Lookout, we walked the relatively easy trail (Distance: 2 km round trip) to The Balconies for panoramic views of Victoria Valley and the surrounding ranges.

On the trail to the Balconies.

The hike offers some good landscape as well. To the left of the walking track are a series of gorgeous stone platforms. The unusual rock formations that stick out of the mountain make this spot particularly unique.

We arrived at the Balconies lookout point to find that access to the “Jaws of Death” had been fenced off for safety purposes. Apparently, it is called the “Jaws of Death” for a reason.

 

The Balconies - used to be called the Jaws of Death.

There is a safe viewing platform for us to see the Balconies and the panoramic views of Victoria Valley and the surrounding ranges.

Panoramic views of Victoria Valley and the surrounding ranges. Quite similar to the view we saw at Reeds Lookout.

Boroka Lookout

Boroka is another lookout that offers the best panoramic views of the Grampians. It was a longer drive on a narrow paved Mt Difficult Road, off Mt Victory Road, to the car park next to the lookout point. It was getting dark on this forest road. It is unwise to drive on the pitch dark mountain roads at night. But we knew we had time before the sun sets at 5.30 PM.

From the car park, it was just a very short walk to two viewing platforms with excellent views over the valley below and some great rock formations.

Boroka Lookout provides panoramic views over Halls Gap and the east of the Grampians.

We saw some people climbing over the safety barriers to get to the ledge shown in photo above. I think it is not wise risking one’s life just to get a photo to post on Instagram.

Dinner at Spirit of Punjab

We made it back to Halls Gap and checked into our hotel before dark. We went to the Indian restaurant (Spirit of Punjab) recommended by the lady who checked us in at the Kookaburra Motor Lodge.

We had to drive on the dark roads with no street lamps, within Halls Gap, to get to the restaurant. Shadowy figures of kangaroos could be seen by the road as we made our way slowly to our destination. There was almost no other traffic on the roads.

This restaurant was well patronised since it is probably one of the better restaurants in the village. We ordered Chicken Makhani (AUD 18.50) and Lamb Rogan Josh (AUD 19.50), with two pieces of garlic naan (AUD 3 each). The Chicken Makhani, also known as butter chicken, is Tandoori chicken cooked in tomato and cashew based sauce. Lamb Rogan Josh is Indian lamb curry cooked in onion and tomato based sauce.

Chicken Makhani (Butter chicken) (left), Lamb Rogan Josh (right) and Garlic Naan (top).

The menu at the Spirit of Punjab provided diners with a choice of how spicy you want the food to be – mild (no chilli), mild-medium (1 chilli rating), medium (2 chillis rating), medium hot (3 chillis rating), HOT and VOLCANO HOT!

Since we are used to spicy food, we asked for medium hot (3-chillis rating) but the waitress advised us that we should reduce to medium (2-chillis rating).

Thank goodness we heed her advice! The curry lamb rogan josh was very spicy, even with a 2-chillis rating. The curry lamb was delicious but the spiciness made me perspired like George Calombaris, one of the judges from MasterChef Australia, when he tasted spicy food.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our spicy Indian food and evening at this excellent restaurant.

Where we stayed in Grampians

The best place to stay when visiting the Grampians National Park is at Halls Gap, the village at heart of the park. It is best to book the accommodation in Halls Gap early, especially during the peak summer period.

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