Halls Gap

Halls Gap

The Grampians National Park is about four hours from Melbourne by coach and train and is a popular mountain retreat for Victorians. Halls Gap is the central town in the Grampians, from where you can easily access most of the bush walks and trails - if you have a car! Once you get to Halls Gap there is no way of getting around except on foot or in private cars, so we were "stuck" in the town. Luckily the best walks in the Grampians start from Halls Gap :)

We set up our tent at the Halls Gap Caravan Park, where we were surprised to see a few wild kangaroos lounging close to our tent site. The brochure did say that kangaroos were regular visitors but we were in for a surprise - as soon as the sun has set behind the hills the 'roos hop down into the park to graze on the green grass of the campsites - dozens of kangaroos within stroking distance… The kangaroos are fine with people taking photos but they'll promptly hop away if you reach out to stroke them.

The main bush walk in Halls Gap is called the Wonderland Loop - a 10km hike through the Wonderland Ranges starting from the Halls Gap botanic Gardens. With daytime temperatures hovering near the 30C mark we decided to tackle the hike in the late afternoon, setting out at 3:30pm, hoping to be back before sunset (the suggested time for the hike is 4-5 hours). The walk takes you through a cool valley past the Venus Baths to the Bridal Veil falls - though the latter were only a trickle because there had been no rain for a good few weeks. Once past the Bridal Veil falls the hard work starts as you have to gain about 800m of elevation over 2km of track, and here most of the track is exposed to the baking sun rather than being in the shelter of cool rock walls. That being said, the hard work is worth it as the views along the Wonderland Loop really pay off. Sights along the way include the Grand Canyon and Silent Street, a narrow alley between sheer rock walls that leads you to the top of the wonderland ranges and the astounding look out point called The Pinnacle. From the Pinnacle you are rewarded with panoramic views of the Grampians National Park, with Halls Gap beneath you and Lake Mackenzie to the right.

From the Pinnacle its 2.5km downhill to Halls Gap, and here our timing was rewarded as the sun was blazing on the other side of the Wonderland ranges. We reached the end of the track at about 6:30pm a good two hours ahead of the suggested time, and we stopped for quite a few breaks along the way. In hindsight, we could have set out a good hour later than we did and still have made it back to camp before sundown.

Halls Gap is well worth a visit if you are in Victoria - if you're coming by public transport then you have to be prepared to walk everywhere and not see much - there is so much more to do than what we managed in two days, but you really need your own wheels to be able to see it all. Not even two weeks into our holiday we were beginning to realize how hard it is to get around in Australia if you're relying on public transport. A word of advice - if you're planning on touring around Australia you really should consider buying a cheap car to get you around.

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Our first camping adventure over, we headed back to Melbourne for one final night with my relatives before catching our night bus to Lakes Entrance.

P.S. A note of warning to anyone who might be visiting Halls Gap in the future - bring your own supplies, unless you want to pay extortionate prices for everything from the local general supplies store. Some examples of their daylight robbery prices: $3.60 for a bottle of water, $4.95 for a bag of crisps etc etc.