Year 10 Advance - Grampians Hike

Year 10 Advance Grampians Hike 

From Wednesday 26 October to Friday 28 October, the Year 10 Advance class camped in the Grampians at Halls Gap. We left at 8.30 am on the Wednesday to start the four hour drive to Halls Gap. 

When we got to our campsite, we set up our tents quickly before it started raining, had lunch and took off for our first hike which was to Elephant's Hide and Venus Baths. Elephant's Hide was a rock face connected to the Venus Baths and was pretty smooth, making it extremely hard to climb up. When we were in these locations, it was pretty much the last bit of sun we saw for the whole week. The Venus Baths was a long river with rocks in the middle for you to jump on to get to Elephant's Hide. These hikes were really fun as we got to be around natural environments and explore our surroundings freely. 

Back at our campsite we had a few minutes to get changed or grab something to eat before we got on the bus to go to Beehive Falls. The Beehive Falls' track was mostly stairs up to the waterfall but it didn't take long and the waterfall was flowing really well due to the amount of rain they'd had. 

Once we got back to our campsite we went over to a kitchen area with our food and trangias to cook dinner. When dinner was finished and we had all showered and changed, we played games around the campsite such as hide and seek and sardines, then got ready to spend our first night in our tents. 

In the morning at 9.00 am we set off to do the Pinnacles Hike. This was a hike that went straight up the mountain to a lookout at the top. When we started it was pouring and cold but the trees surrounding us helped. As we got closer to the top, it got colder and it was freezing by the time we finally made it up. We couldn't see over the lookout due to the rain and fog but it was still a good experience having to get up there. To get down back to our campsite, we went through rocks and caves which was super cool, and we also walked along the top of rocks. 

We got back to the campsite around 1.30 pm and went to have lunch. After lunch the plan was to go on another hike to Mackenzie Falls but that was cut short due to the fact we couldn’t make it there as the road was closed. Instead of going to the falls we went to a lake called Lake Bellfield instead. 

Once we got back to our campsite, we had a few hours to cook dinner and then we went to J Ward, an old asylum for the criminally insane. It was a really good experience as we got to learn about past patients and events that happened there. We went through old rooms and cells and it was good to get a feel of what it was like for people who were sentenced there. On the tour we had emf meters which detected spirits around us and two dowsing rods that let us speak to the spirits. 

After the tour we watched a short video/documentary on the people who lived there and hearing them speak and seeing how they acted was interesting and it was cool to put a face to the name and story. In the morning it was still raining so we had to pack up all our stuff in the rain and head off back home by 9 am. 

Going from not knowing what would happen or if we would even be able to go the week before to having an amazing camp with awesome people, hikes and activities was great. We’re so grateful for Mr Evans for mentoring us over the past two years and making Advance the best, most interesting subject ever.

Matilda Phillpotts

Year 10 Advance