Tom then dedicated a song to Loretta and I. It's called "Carol Brown" and in it, this guy sings about the women who broke his heart, including Loretta and Stephanie. Too funny! When have you ever heard those names used in a song before?!
We made a stop at an animal farm near Warrnambool, to see some Aussie animals first hand. I had a bit of a hard time seeing the animals like this and of course prefer to see animals in the wild. The animals seemed well cared for, but as we went around the park feeding them all the bags of bread we'd been given, I couldn't help but feel a bit of shame and guilt that as a tourist, I was taking part in this. I also realized, maybe I feel this way because I've been so fortunate in the Australian wildlife I've seen, actually in the wild. Like the koalas we spotted the day before at a caravan park on the Great Ocean Road or the many kangaroos I've seen at Burrendong Dam. And later that day, we saw almost 10 emus wandering in a natural area. I've seen a wombat and an echidna just being out on drives in the country. That to me, is spectacular... Seeing animals in their natural habitats. Don't get me wrong, I was right in there at the animal farm, snuggling the baby wallaby and getting my photo taken, but it was a bit of a weird experience for me and made me think about being a tourist and the impact we have.
On a lighter note, I did encounter a downfall of seeing animals in the wild. Tom was an amazing sport and kept saying on the bus, "Ok, we are going to see some emus here." (I said I hadn't seen one, and would like to on this trip) As I was following some emus, trying to get a good photo, I was so busy looking through my camera that I didn't look down to see the pile of emu poo that I walked through! I was bugged for quite awhile about that one, but that goes to show what a fun group of people we have on the tour! When you can razz someone, you've definitely made a connection and feel comfortable around one another.
Winding our way through to the Grampians, the landscape changed to pastures and paddocks full of trees. The Grampians soon came into view....
Someone told me before I left Canada to be kind to the Aussies when they showed u their "mountains", because they're not the Rocky Mountains. Of course the Grampians are not the Rockies. However, these tree blanketed rocks are beautiful in their own right. And as we pulled into Hall's Gap, the small town nestled in the valley of the Grampians, I couldn't help but be taken by the beauty around, reminding me of home in some way. Except of course, for the emus and kangaroos that roamed the paddocks and walking trails around town. So much like home and yet so totally different.
This time in the Grampians really brought most of our tour group even closer. We shared in a true Aussie barbie - kangaroo roast, burgers and snags. It was delicious and the games of "one word movie" charades that ensued provided for many many laughs!
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