Finally a hotel with an 11am checkout ????

Out on time to pick up car from the tiniest, expensive and most awkward car park ever… get out of town with relative ease, thankfully

Our first stop, the German town of Hahndorf and we have a lovely coffee with some ham and cheese toasties at Same but Different cafe

Founded in 1839, this adorable little town has many old buildings including German pubs serving Haufbrau and shops selling plenty of German-styled knick-knacks

We go up and down the high street to nose at all they offer before getting back to the car as we have a hearty drive today

Next stop is, almost 250km along Dukes Highway and aptly named, Bordertown

It’s home to a little Wildlife Park, but is essentially a gated bit of land next to the road, that’s home to Australia’s first known colony of Western Grey Kangaroos with a gene that makes them stark white

The land this park stands on was selected to be a park in 1968 and the first of the White Kangaroos were brought in 1980 and are looked after in the park by a group of volunteers

Apparently, they’ve bred 43 Roos with this gene but you can see only 14 at any one time – they must have divided and set off some

Back in the car, we drive another 100km to swap driving and admire Pink Lake

It’s a salt lake with rare pink salt, though it’s not permanently pink as it’s due to “the perfect storm” of external environments

This is a combination of algae and bacteria that thrive in really salty conditions and secrete red, orange and yellow pigments when the water becomes hypersaline (super salty)

Back in the car, we’ve come through the top end of the Grampians National Park

When we were on the Coastal edge making our way to Adelaide, about 4 days ago, we’d heard about bushfires that went with the extreme wind – we could see the effects as there was vast areas of where trees were blackened ☹️

We continue along and stop off in Stawell at Macca’s for a cheap and cheerful meal

Just anothet hour or so, driving as the sun sets, till we make it through Ballarat and to Kryal Castle

… Yes, we’re staying in a castle – it has a moat and everything ????

As we arrive, it’s looking very shut – thankfully the night manager is able to help us get into our room

We have a quick bath, to make the most of the room, call family and then get to bed

Today, we’ve covered 622km so you could say we’re pretty knackered ????‍????