The Grampians / Halls Gap

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Our next stop was Halls Gap in The Grampians. The drive between Tanunda and the Grampians isn't the most scenic, but did allow us to drive through Horsham and stop for lunch in Bordertown (where there was little choice of eateries). Jason was hoping the guy in the petrol station in Horsham would be chatty so he could tell him that he is from the original, more attractive/historic Horsham, in England.

As we got close to Halls Gap, the scenery became prettier. But then there were obvious signs of a recent bush fire - every tree was charred black. This continued for many miles. However, it was only the next day that the scale of the bush fire (that we later discovered happened in Jan'06) became clear...the area affected was vast. Hundreds of square kilometres. Amazingly, much of the undergrowth had regenerated, but I doubt this did much for the local Koala population.

We eventually arrived at Halls Gap YHA, which is an eco-friendly lodge. It was slightly different to your normal YHA, offering free fresh herbs from the gadren and eggs from the chickens they kept. We only had one night in the Halls Gap, which wasn't going to be enough. You need at least two if you want to do some walking and visit lots of the viewpoints and waterfalls. We managed to get to many of the lookouts the quick way - by car. We got up to Boroka lookout, Reed lookout, the Balconies and the Mckenzie Waterfalls. The waterfalls were the best ones we had been to so far, but as Jason was feeling pretty crook, we didn't do the walk to the bottom which would have provided the best view of the falls.

We stopped for lunch in Halls Gap, which was awful (not many of the cafes were open so we had very little choice), before heading off to Hepburn Springs.

It was a shame, there was so much bushwalking that could have been done here that with just one night we only really got to sample the area. We'd both highly recommend it as a place to get away from it all and to get into the wild. There was plenty of wildlife to be seen : Kangaroos and Wallabies in the local park at dusk. Be warned though, Halls Gap is small. You'll need to bring plenty of food to do your own cooking.

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Photos

The Balconies
The Grampians

The charred trees
In The Grampians, walking to the Balconies

Comments

[Eric willis]

great travel blog
what a great adventure you two are having, enjoyed the travel log and photos keep up the good work and enjoy every moment. I will look forward to the rest of the trip now that i have read this ps mam is still not coming out to play