Hiking the Grampians

Day 118 – The Grampians, Australia

Well, hiking may be a slight exaggeration. The map I bought suggested several activities, from a day’s worth of landmarks to see to more in-depth, longer walks. I decided to start with the recommanded tour today as a warm-up for longer walks the day after.

So I flitted from lookouts to falls and back, taking out my trekking poles for their first spin. I have to learn how to use them, after all.

If you look through my gallery, that will be Heatherlie Quarry, Boroka Lookout, Reeds Lookout, The Balconnies, and MacKenzie Falls.

When I told the woman at the visitor centre that I wanted to see spring flowers, since the Grampians are reputed for them at this time of the year, she told me to go to Heatherlie Quarry, especially since it is near the campground.

I was picturing in my mind meadows full of wild flowers in rioting colours. I thought Heatherlie Quarry was names for heather flowers.

Well, no.

The Grampians – Heatherlie Quarry – Engine

Apparently the name come from someone or something that has nothing to do with the flowers. It used to be a working quarry, with steam engines, and even its own railway line to get the stone to the cities. (It was good-quality, reputed stone, apparently.)

So I got a lesson on how to detach stones from a cliff without blasting them with explosives (method which produces too much wastage). Apparently, you use the ancient Egyptian method of feathering (like splitting a log, you insert plugs of metal in a line in the stone and strike them evenly to create a straight crack).

The Grampians – Heatherlie Quarry – Stone with marks of feathering

As I was in the quarry early, having woken and left the campground before 7am, I got the chance of seeing mountain goats walking on the cliff face.

The Grampians – Heatherlie Quarry – Mountain goats

I started the day’s visits after that. First I went to Boroka Lookout, which is a (very) short walk from the carpark.

The Grampians – Boroka Lookout

The town is Halls Gap, and you can see Lake Bellfield.

I drove next to Reeds Lookout.

The Grampians – Reeds Lookout

The water in the background is Moora Moora Reservoir, Lake Bellfield would be behind the mountains on the left.

I took the short walk to the Balconnies Lookout, which gives about the same view but more on the left.

The Grampians – The Balconnies

I went back to the car and drove this time to MacKenzie Falls. Several walks are possible here, going to several lookouts overlooking the falls… and going down to the base of the falls via a steep trail. It is an excellent paved trail with stairs, but still, paved. I don’t regret taking it, as the view of the falls is spectacular.

The Grampians – MacKenzie Falls

Note the staircase-like fall on the left, and the rainbow on the bottom.

Since it wasn’t recommanded to bath in the falls, I went back to the town to get a shower from the visitor centre (very comfy to have all these services!). I asked about laundry, but there isn’t a laundromat in Halls Gap. So I drove to the nearest one, half an hour each way, in the dark for the return journey. And the barmen at the sport pub next door were amazingly nice when I asked for change for the washing machine.

I’m regularly identified as French by my accent, I really wonder why. *Innocent eyes*

So that’s how I arrived at my campground by night, and I was so relieved to know the way already and how to set up the bed without the first-time fumbles.