Grampians Hike

At the stroke of mid-night on Saturday night, ending the financial year, I found myself completing an EFTPOS transaction in Safeway (at QV in Melbourne's CBD) to buy food for no ordinary camping trip. That moment ended a special day, 30 June. It was the last day of my 6 month term as a Youth Bible Worker. We had a "Thanksgiving" service to conclude the program, which included praise, singing, prayer, giving thanks to God, showing appreciation to many people who supported the program, testimonies, and stories of how God has lead in people's live.

This first half of this year was an unforgettable experience. It really gave me a greater faith in God and deeper spiritual experience--God is real, I've experienced Him in my own life, seen Him work in people's lives and change them.

After the service, we had hotpot at Tina's place with my caregroup at Southbank. It was a nice warm meal together and we shared our farewells as I will be leaving Melbourne next week. I've really grown close to my friends at caregroup, as we have shared many meals, experiences and times together.

I then rode my bike home and couldn't avoid the wet, rainy night. Water spraying up from the wheels, I accomplished the task of drenching my trousers before proceeding to purchase some bread and things from Safeway that night. Got home, showered, got some things ready for the camp and slept late... only to wake early.

So, Sunday morning, 5:40 am, found me quickly packing to leave by 7:00 am... Henry and I were off to the Grampians, a majestic mountain range less than 4 hours west of Melbourne, Australia.

We hiked about 15 km on Sunday through clouds, fog, rain, wind and cold, and came to the consensus that the theme of the camp was: "That's what we came here for." Lunch was miserable on the top of Mt Difficult, so we pressed on, finding some semi-clear sky to see a nice view from the bluff. A hot noddle dinner with chocolate did us well, until we tried to retire comfortably, managing to gain an average sleep... tossing and turning, and not quite warm enough.

Monday, we hiked back to the car (after a good breakfast), seeing some great scenery along the way--waterfall, caves, nice views, splendid rock formations, mountains and little water brooks. After arriving at Halls Gap (and feeling a bit car sick after windy roads), we agreed on this point... we considered the rain, the cold, that we would leave early anyway, not had a shower since yesterday morning, the restless sleep that night, and the hot shower, comfy bed, dry clothes back in the city... it was time to head home. We had Chinese dinner at Bendigo, unpacked back home in Melbourne, had a hot shower and rested reeeeeeeally well.