Bunjil and the Boulders

Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park has lovely grounds and some resident kangaroos and emus that can often be seen wandering around, including near the cabins and camp sites.

Lake Bellfield is a man-made lake and is the water supply for Halls Gap and surrounding areas. It was finished in about 1966. This morning after making friends with a local mother and child we went on a walk along the dam wall. 

The views across the still waters were quite okay.

After some lunch we drove away from the Grampians, towards Stawell before turning off for the Black Range State Park. This is a hilly reserve with plenty of rock boulders, trees and wallabies. The other day, at Brambuk Cultural Centre we heard all about Bunjil. This afternoon we viewed the only known painting of Bunjil. It is protected in a small cave / rock overhand and surrounded by security fencing to preserve it. Bunjil is depicted with his two dingoes.

To quote a local custodian of the land: “Bunjil created our land, our people, the plants and animals, our religion and the laws by which we live. He is the leading figure in our spiritual life, essential in teaching our young people the importance of our laws and beliefs,”  It is not known how long this painting has existed in this shelter.

There was a geocache hidden in a rock crevice nearby which was tricky to get to. Luckily Ethan fit in the gap to retrieve it!

While here, we went in search of another geocache, some 700 metres away. Again, it seemed longer than 700 metres as there was no path and it was uphill. Once near the cache we had to send the kids up on top of the rock boulders to obtain the cache and sign the log book.

We met some local wallabies before returning to the car.

On the way back to Halls Gap we called in at Lake Fyans – where another geocache sat, perched up in a dead tree. Ethan needed a bit of a boost up to it. Can you see the black container up in the hole above him?

Lake Fyans looked a little dark and stormy, with its still waters, dead trees, its backdrop of the Grampians and foreboding skies of grey!