GRAMPIANS:
AN ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND
by Paul Gruber
I imagine the term “Adventure Playground”
would conjure images for the general public of kiddie swings, bridges and monkey
bars. For most outdoor enthusiasts, this is
more likely to have us salivating over the
prospect of the Australian bush at it finest.
Steep and mighty escarpments to explore
by foot, endless lakes to paddle or swim
and a scattering of tracks to enable exploration by bike. The Grampians is sure
to qualify for “Adventure Playground” status, and when Victorian based Adventure
Junkie announced they were holding their
annual Winter Challenge Adventure Race
there, most of the local Adventure racing
teams were sold straight away.
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Now a winter challenge normally requires me
packing thermals and a beanie, however during
last Septembers event, blue skies and sunshine
created perfect conditions for racing. The course
format was a stage event, which comprised running, kayaking, abseiling and mountain biking
for approximately 8 hours on the Saturday and 6
hours on the Sunday, allowing teams to rest and
recuperate and then front up to the start line on
the Sunday morning - if they were still game!
Set within some of the recent fire affected parts
of the northern Grampians, it was a great opportunity to support some of the local businesses
that had suffered through national park closures
and even loss of property during the fires. The
caravan park owners where we stayed had lost
their house and were still living out of one of the
cabins. It was a great reminder to us that supporting fire affected communities by visiting is so
important to keep the tourism industry alive.