The Grampians

Our final stop before South Australia's searing heat and the slap in the face of reality from Adelaide was The Grampians National Park. Unfortunately, most of the park was closed due to bush fires which was a liiiittle worrying considering we were about to drive right through it. But with every vessel we owned filled with water, a couple of beers and the advice not to leave the van if we encountered a fire we set off in search of some cracking sights...and that is exactly what we found. 

Looking out over the arid outback, we were unsure whether we were in Australia or Africa. And after the walk we'd just taken it wouldn't have surprised me if we'd actually stumbled all the way to the Savannah.

The next day we ditched the crazy steep mountain paths for clambering over rocks like monkeys up to the top of The Pinnacles.

(I say monkeys but Val preferred Gollum)

And again we were rewarded with some pretty cool views.

Our final official stop before Adelaide was the zoo.

Going to the zoo is one of my most favourite things. I mean how could you not go crazy over cute little stripy piglets?!

Or a lazy panda? Or incredibly curious and unbelievably cute deer?

I also saw my first echidna

and some super close dingos.

We even got a lesson on how to use the GoPro from a very tech-savvy monkey.

For a small town zoo, we had an excellent time. And I left happy and giggly even in the knowledge that our next destination was Reality Lane, Adelaide.