Exploring the Grampians National Park, Victoria

With hundreds of kilometres of gravel roads, 4x4 tracks and walking trails, plus accommodation, restaurants and numerous wineries, the Grampians attracts those who want to get up close and personal with nature as well as those who don’t want to leave life’s little luxuries behind in the process.

Halls Gap (population 430) located at the northern end of the National Park is the gateway to the Grampians. While small, the town provides a good range of services with a bakery, general store, hotel, service station and cafes that support a seemingly endless flow of tourists.

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The town has a range of attractions, including Victoria’s largest regional zoo featuring more than 160 species of native and exotic mammals, reptiles and birds. The zoo offers special one-on-one up close and personal encounters with dingos, meerkats, giraffes, cheetahs and rhinos. For the kids there is electric-bike hire and a paved bike/walking track running the length of the town that they can terrorise. Meanwhile, long-suffering parents can indulge in self-medication at any (or all) of the numerous nearby wineries (Fallen Giants being a recommendation).

Piscators (as in fishermen, not the VB swillers) will find the Grampians abounding with man-made lakes and reservoirs, most of which are stocked with redfin and trout. And, if your fishing skills leave a bit to be desired, the Halls Gap Hotel does a mean fish and chips – just be sure to book.

Rock art

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A not to be missed attraction is the Brambuk National Park & Cultural Centre. With indigenous dancers, artists and storytellers, the Centre celebrates connection to Country. Known as Gariwerd to the traditional owners, the Grampians has the largest number of aboriginal rock art sites in Southern Australia and 80 per cent of Victoria’s rock art sites. Up to 20,000 years old, some 200 art sites have been recorded, of which five are open to the public. One of the public sites is Bunjils Shelter, a hollow in the base of a huge granite boulder in the Black Range Scenic Reserve a few kilometres to the northeast of Lake Fyan. Bunjil was considered a creator deity by some aboriginal people who believed that in the Dreamtime he took shelter in this cave.

The park is criss-crossed with unsealed minor roads and tracks of varying condition. Some wouldn’t worry a standard passenger vehicle, but others are steep and rocky. Slippery in the wet, they demand nothing less than a 4x4, making the Grampians a popular destination for the 4WD community. The numerous campgrounds scattered throughout the park offer an opportunity for like-minded groups to congregate in the bush and use their vehicles for the purpose for which they were intended.

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Campgrounds need to be booked online, so just rolling up and grabbing a site is no longer an option. Most campgrounds have provision for a couple of caravan/campervan sites, but general camping sites can’t be directly accessed by vehicle. It must have been someone with a vindictive streak at Parks who had the bright idea – “as well as making visitors book a site online when there is no internet, we’ll put bollards around it so they have to carry all their gear from their vehicle to the campsite”. Bad luck if you are disabled!

Campsites have toilets and fireplaces (you are permitted to collect fallen timber), but perhaps an unpowered site in a caravan park for about $12 more a night is an alternative when you consider the ready access to a hot shower, swimming pool, coffee shop, pub meal etc. I guess if you are out for a 4WD weekend with the boys who change their oil more often than their underwear, planning to imbibe copious amounts of VB while eating burnt offerings around a fire, then the remote campground is probably the place to be. However, if travelling with the wife and a couple of young ferals, then Halls Gap with the other comforts and attractions it offers could save a marriage.

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Halls Gap sits in the shadow of the imposing Serra Range

There are three caravan parks in Halls Gap, with Parkgate on the town’s northern entrance recommended. Emus and kangaroos regularly wander the grounds, and the odd kookaburra will occasionally drop in looking for a free meal. It’s a good idea to be cautious of the emus as they can have ‘attitude issues’ towards campers who they feel are not sharing appropriately.

While it is bad form to feed native animals, they can be hard to resist. A kookaburra that landed on the back of a chair next to me ended up taking a sliver of uncooked steak from my hand (a sliver of hand seemed a possible alternative if I failed to comply!).

Sandstone Ranges

For anyone wanting to have a closer look at the scenic attractions beyond what they can see out of their vehicle window, there are numerous walks to lookouts and other points of interest near Halls Gap. Mt Victory Road winds through the gap in the range from which the town takes its name, rising steeply past the aptly named Elephant’s Hide, a wide expanse of sloping grey rock that could be mistaken for an ancient lava flow. While a plausible theory, given much of Victoria’s Western Districts have a volcanic history, the Grampians’ massive rocky outcrops, cliffs and jagged ridges are sandstone that formed 380 million years ago from river sediments that were laid down to a depth of 7km. Tectonic forces subsequently lifted and folded the sandstone to form three parallel ranges (Mount William, Serra and Victoria).

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Silverband Falls disappears in to the ground

Those who have overeaten and over-imbibed during their stay can work off these excesses by visiting the numerous lookouts dotted around the park. A short distance past the Elephant’s Hide is the Wonderland carpark where several walks of varying difficulty start. Lakeview Lookout and the Pinnacle Lookout both offer stunning panoramas over Halls Gap and the plains stretching away to the east. A shorter, less arduous access to these lookouts can be found at nearby Sundial carpark, down the road from which you’ll also find an easy walk to Silverband Falls. Little more than a trickle in summer, this waterfall is notable because it disappears in to the ground at its base to flow underground for a short distance. From the carpark located at the end of the sealed Mt William Road (which offers good views as it climbs to the top of the range) there is a 45-minute walk to the summit of Mt William. The walk is moderately difficult and while we didn’t tackle it given the hot weather, the views are said to be perhaps the most spectacular in the Park.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Grampians, Four Wheel Drive Victoria in conjunction with Parks Victoria have published a Grampians Drive guide to a suggested sightseeing drive as well as other handy hints. A link to this guide can be found in the Things to See and Do section of this article.

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It’s an awesome view from the Balconies

Our first day out saw us at Reed Lookout on Mt Victory Road. With great views across the ranges to the east and west from the car park, it is a top spot to take in a sunrise or sunset with a bottle of bubbly. An easy 1km walk from the carpark takes you to the Balconies for more panoramic views.

Mackenzie Falls

Another 2km west is the turnoff to MacKenzie Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria and the only one in the Grampians to flow all year round. It might seem a great place to cool off on a hot day, but swimming is not permitted following a number of drownings here. Those of less than average fitness need to be aware that with 260-plus steep steps to the bottom, the climb back to the top is testing. Close to the car park, a short side track leads to the picturesque Broken Falls.

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Mighty MacKenzie Falls flows all year round, but swimming here is banned

From MacKenzie Falls, Wartook Reservoir can be found nearby. With shady picnic tables and a view across the water, it makes for a pleasant lunch spot.

While at Wartook Reservoir, we reduced our tyre pressures intending to drive Mt Difficult Road which runs some 27km around the reservoir and returns to Halls Gap via Boroka Lookout. However, our day’s 4WD activities ended after just a few hundred metres as the road was closed.

Our run the following day saw us airing down again not far from Reed Lookout on Glenelg Road, a 2WD gravel road that runs the length of the valley. We stopped off at Moora Moora Reservoir whose blue waters are dotted with myriad small clumps of reeds, all backed by a steep range that borders the lake’s far shoreline.

The tracks

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The rough and rocky Victoria Range Road

Our first chance to engage 4WD was Victoria Range Track which rose steeply along the eastern side of the range. Despite ruts, potholes, washaways, the odd fallen branch and large loose rocks, it was an enjoyable drive. Cresting the top of the range saw large boulders and rugged outcrops of rock edging the road which then descended to our lunch stop at Buandik campground. There is aboriginal rock art to be seen here (Manja shelter) but it being a hot sunny day, a cuppa in the shade of a large gum tree won out over a 1km uphill slog to said shelter.

After lunch it was back on to dusty all-weather gravel roads (Red Rock, Lodge and Rose Creek Roads) to Mt Victory Road and Halls Gap. While not a challenging drive, the views of the western ramparts of the Grampians that flanked our journey were impressive and provided camera fodder aplenty.

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On the Glenelg River Road with a few mates

For anyone planning to check out other tracks in the park, on a previous trip we also went north from Halls Gap on Mt Zero Road, taking Coppermine Track from Roses Gap to Mt Zero where more examples of aboriginal rock art can be found. Heading south again we used Polhner Road, Chinaman Track, Wallaby Rocks Track and Launders Track from where it is a short run back to Glenelg River Road. Given the wet conditions during that previous visit, some in our group found Launders Track to be exceptionally challenging – and Parks’ current track notes suggest that hasn’t changed.

All the caravan parks in Halls Gap have a ‘no dogs’ policy. If travelling with woofers check out nearby Lake Fyans Holiday Park which is dog friendly outside of school holidays and long weekends. If you are the type who only frequents the cinema on Tightarse Tuesdays and prefer to free camp there are limited options. However, Glendinning campground on the shores of the Rocklands Reservoir or Lake Lonsdale campground, are both free, dog friendly, have shady campsites, basic facilities and fishing at your door.

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The Grampians is a place that has something for everyone with attractions to keep you entertained for days. It’s a location you can visit time and time again and always find something new to do or see.

Photographing sunrises

The hardest part photographing sunrises is the need to get up early – very early. And without a subject such as a dead tree, windmill etc, sunrise photos are nothing more than colour and unlikely to end up hanging on your wall. Lake Lonsdale, 20km north of Halls Gap, is dotted with large dead trees that made ideal subjects for a very spectacular sunrise.

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The part of the horizon where the sun is rising will be very bright, while the rest of the sky can still be quite dark.

Ideally, set the camera to manual mode with ISO of 100, aperture of f11 (for the sharpest focus) and exposure taken from a bright (but not the brightest) area of sky. Shutter speed is likely to be half a second or longer, so if you don’t have a
tripod, increase ISO and aperture to raise the shutter speed to about 1/60th of a second, enabling you to hand-hold the camera. Check each image to make sure none of the sky is ‘blown out’ and adjust settings accordingly.

A sunrise is at its most colourful for less than a minute, just before the sun breaks over the horizon – so take plenty of shots or risk missing the moment.

Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, Victoria

5 things to see and do

01: TAKE IN A LOOKOUT
Boroka Lookout, near Halls Gap, has stunning views over the town and the plains stretching to the east. Likewise, Reeds and the Balconies lookouts are also great locations to catch a sunset or sunrise with a bottle of bubbly. With car parks close by, little walking is required but the more energetic might want to check out the walks along the tree-lined rocky tracks to Lakeview and Pinnacle lookouts.

02: MACKENZIE FALLS
One of Victoria’s largest falls that runs all-year round. The steep walk down 260 steps to the base of the falls makes the return journey an effort, but the view from the bottom is worth it.

03: EXPLORE THE WINERIES
ThereE are some 23 wineries in the Grampians area and a rundown on some of the best can be found by visiting www.wineregionsaustralia.com. au/victoria/grampians-wineries Two wineries close to Halls Gap recommended for a visit are Fallen Giants and Pomonal Estate.

04: THE GRAMPIANS DRIVE
Four Wheel Drive Victoria and Parks Victoria have collaborated to provide a comprehensive guide to a sightseeing drive that circumnavigates the Grampians. For details visit: www.4wdvictoria.org.au/iconic4wd/index.php/homepage/grampians-drive

05: SUNRISE AT LAKE LONSDALE
Dead trees on the western side of Lake Lonsdale make great photographic subjects when backed by a colourful sunset, but it’s worth the trip just to see and hear the prolific birdlife waking up. Graceful pelicans skim across millpond-still water, roosting spoonbills are silhouetted against the glow of first light, while the raucous calls of myriad corellas fill the air as they start a new day.