We started the day by watching horses training on Warrnanbool Beach. We like horses and it was pleasant experience to watch them run, swim and walk on the beach (we are no fans of gambling-driven horse racing). We walked around the Breakwater Rock Pier for a while.
At 10 am we were already in Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve (recommended). For us, it was more like botanic garden/arborretum-type experience with many easy walks and loops on small volcanic hills, marshland and around crater lakes. With quite a few opportunities to observe animals in natural setting. True, emus are well adapted and some like to check what humans put on their picnic tables. We saw five adults plus nine chicks feeding on the grass (plants).
Emu family in Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve
Visitor Centre is the starting point and picnic site for visitors, but with many crisscrossing trails the place feels relaxing and not crowded. We did not want to join guided tour, but we overheard interesting stories, and followed one group to Fairy Island: the guides know where to find koalas. The Acrobat (as we called it) was the only koala we saw that was literally jumping between branches and climbing up large eucalyptus tree. Tower Hill was one of the nicest places near GOR. We saw 8 koalas!
Koala in Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve
We started driving towards Grampians around 2:30 pm, via Hwy C178-C216, with short coffee stop in Dunkeld (no famous meat pie, Dunkeld Old Bakery and Cafe was already closed). We managed to run-up Piccaninny trail (2.5 km return) for first hike in Grampians and interesting vegetation (grasstrees), different from what we saw next further North. We checked-in Grampians Nest on High Rd (recommended) in Halls Gap and ran to Brambuk Centre to watch kangaroos before dark on grassy spots along the main street. Our accommodation was great, large one-bedroom apt, large living room and well equipped kitchen, sundeck with gas grill, nice location away from town centre.
