Old Lady Moth (Dasypodia selenophora)
Gariwerd is the native and original name for this beautiful and unique park located 260 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The site is a special place for Aboriginals, where the largest number of ancient rock paintings can be found in south eastern Australia.
Welcome sign - Budja Budja (Halls gap) Botanical Gardens
It has some of the most diverse eco habitat areas in Victoria ranging from highlands, fern forests, eucalyptus forests, waterfalls, mountain peaks, wetlands and open plains. This heritage listed park is 1672 km² and was listed in 1984. It has many unique flora and fauna. In my five day stay in the park I saw kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, mountain goats, frogs, cockatoos, lorekeets, rosellas, kookaburras, owls, superb fairywrens, gallahs, emus, crows, magpies, and insect life too numerous to mention. I will post photos with some of this wildlife separately.
Fyans Creek, Central Grampians
Mackenzie Falls, Grampians
Situated in Victoria's highland north west region makes this park unique as most of Victoria and indeed much of Australia is relatively flat (the other place with some terrain elevation is Victoria's alpine region, northwest of Melbourne). Gariwerd sits between five sandstone mountain ranges that run north to south, and it is between these ridges that the park sprawls. The park is divided into three sections, northern Grampians, central Grampians and southern Grampians. The majority of the park is dominated by eucalytpus forests as expected for any wildlife setting in most of Australia, another common sight is wild orchids and other plants, some which are unique to the park and they are in full bloom during spring. The park has many trails some which can take weeks to complete, many of these trails were made by the local community and students in a special project that took 10 years to complete. The sandstone in this park was used in such historic buildings as the Parliament house and the State Library.
Sandstone rock formations near Lakeview lookout summit, hanging precariously as the weather erodes the sand
Sandstone highland ridges in Grampians central region
Venus Baths, central Grampians
In the center of the park lies a small friendly town called Budja Budja (Halls Gap) nestled between the Wonderland and Mount William (the highest point in the park)Ranges, to its south lies the man-made Lake Bellfiled, part of the Wimmera and Mallee water pipeline, created in the 60's by farmers and local towns. This lake provides water for the whole of Victoria's north western region.
Sunrise from Boroka lookout facing west, Budja Budja (Halls Gap) on the right with Lake Bellfield behind and Lake Fyans mid left.
Budja Budja (Halls Gap) from Boroka lookout
Lake Bellfield at night, taken from the northern shore of the lake facing south east - 6 shot panorama
Sunset over central Grampians from Reed lookout facing southwest
During my stay at Halls Gap, I was lucky enough to visit during cicada season, a song I had not heard in too many years, I was kept busy during the day looking for subjects and vistas and at night with nightshoots were ever so busy with all kinds of insect life such as redback spiders, all varieties of orb weavers, moths, larger spiders such as wolf spiders and huntsman, a larger variety of beetles and much more. I have many shots to edit and post as well as video. Most of my exploration was around Halls Gap, except for the last day where I headed to northern Grampians region. I hope to return soon for more adventures.
The town of Budja Budja (Halls Gap)
Grampians National Park & aboriginal culture centre in Budja Budja (Halls Gap)
Olive plantation in Northern Grampians, Mount Staplyton and Mount Zero in the background
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. Dream to be there one day 
. Australia has so unique ecosystems and nature, it's like travelling to another planet 
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