Grand Old Grampians

A short trip to the magnificent Grampians National Park in western Victoria was a perfect way to round off the 2024 year before the Christmas season got underway. Sadly, a couple of weeks after our visit, around 76,000 hectares of the National Park was destroyed by wildfires following a ligntning strike. Our thoughts are with all the people and wildlife that have been affected by this terrible disaster.

Halls Gap

Our stay centred around the northern section including the little township of Halls Gap. The town is nestled in a valley and surrounded by towering mountain cliff-faces and jagged peaks, which makes for awe-inspiring scenery. We decided to do the drive up into the park in the early morning each day, to beat the tourists and enjoy the cooler mountain air.

View of Halls Gap and Lake Bellfield from Boroka Lookout

There is lots to see and do in the National Park, so more visits will be necessary. On this occasion, we took the leisurely drive up to Zumsteins and then gradually made our way back down the mountain range to take in the magnificent views at Mackenzie Falls, Lake Wartook, Reed Lookout & Balconies, Boroka Lookout and Lake Bellfield. Check out the amazing grandeur of this place.

Reed Lookout

The Balconies

Looking out towards Lake Wartook

A scenic drive down into the valley brought us to a lovely campsite called Boreang, which will make a nice base for future exploration of this beautiful place.

Drive through Gariwerd to Boreang campsite

MacKenzie Falls

MacKenzie Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria. Flowing year round, the falls sees water cascade over huge cliffs into a deep pool, sending fine sprays of rainbow mist high into the air above a stunning gorge.

MacKenzie Falls

Scenic Views

The views from the look-outs were breath-taking and the walks we chose to do were an easy-grade. A stunning and special place indeed!

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

The park, traditionally known as Gariwerd, has an Aboriginal cultural history dating back at least 22,000 years. The landscape holds this heritage and protects many important cultural sites, including the largest collection of rock art in south-eastern Australia.

Post settlement history

The Grampians was named after the Grampian Mountains in Scotland in 1836. Since this time, the area has seen change through resource industries such as forestry, stone quarrying, gold mining and water harvesting. Tourism was established in the early 1900s.

Wildlife

The park provides habitat for at least 230 bird, 40 mammal, 30 reptile, 11 amphibian and six native fish species. Whilst we didn't see all of these critters on our visit, the kangaroos, emus and larger birds were in abundance and not shy at all.

Bushfire Update

The ABC reported on 6 January 2025 that the fire in the Grampians/Gariwerd National Park has now been marked as contained, three weeks after it began burning out of control. Rainy and cool conditions have brought welcome relief to firefighters and residents. Halls Gap has re-opened, so hopefully visitors will return soon to support the town. We will be back!!