It involved a 15 km detour from our intended route but we are so glad that we did.
The Murtoa 'Stick Shed' is a national heritage-listed icon. We arrived just at 10 am and joined the tour with over a dozen other people.
The 'Stick Shed' was a grain store constructed in 1941 as a solution for grain storage during World War ll wheat glut when exports were restricted.
The shed is constructed from 560 unmilled poles or 'sticks' (56 rows of 10) to support the corrugated iron roof with a concrete floor.
From here we took a minor road towards Stawell before heading south-west towards Pomonal. We spent the next two evenings camped at the old man emu stay 7 km from Halls Gap.
On our first day, we drove to Mackenzie Falls in the Grampians National Park and then climbed down to the base of the falls to take some photos. My phone app measured the climb back to the car park as the equivalent to climbing 23 floors.
From here we drove onto Reed Lookout and the Balconies.
It was just a short drive to Boroka Lookout with views down the valley towards Halls Gap and Lake Bellfield in the distance.
A well-deserved lunch at one of the local cafes after our morning's exercise...
On the following morning, it was an early start to drive to the car park before tackling the Pinnacles walk. Distance is 5.5 km return with an elevation change of 280 metres and the track is graded medium to hard. It took us a solid hour to make the summit including stops for rest and photo opportunities.
Even though it took as forty minutes to return to the car park we considered the trip down harder on our legs. The phone app measured the climb to the Pinnacles to be equivalent to climbing 70 floors and it certainly felt like that to us.
Unfortunately my hiking days are over, looking at your photos makes me realise just how enjoyable it is and a huge part of our travels in the past.
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