Exploring The Grampians National Park and Halls Gap

Our last stop before heading across the border into South Australia was Halls Gap and boy are we glad we stopped here for a week to explore. The beauty of the mountains, rock features and waterfalls were amazing. If you haven’t already added this to your bucket list, then do so now!

The accommodation we chose was the Halls Gap Tourist Park. We chose this caravan park because we were able to have a campfire at our caravan. We really do love the ambience that a campfire brings to the evening. This caravan park was the cheapest for our family of five to stay at also.

And guess what?

We have rated this the TOP caravan park that we have stayed at in all of Australia. Pretty big call right!

We loved that we had a large site where the kiddos could ride their bikes on the bike track at the back of the caravan park and because of the two outdoor heated pools that were open every day. On top of this, there was an abundance of wild emus and kangaroos roaming the grass area next to the campgrounds. All together it made for an amazing stay and we were so grateful we chose to stay here.

On our first day in Halls Gap, we went into the small town and had a late lunch in the town centre. We grabbed some lunch from the bakery and the kids had an ice cream cone. There are lots of ice-cream stores to choose from and they don’t come cheap but they are yummy. The sitting area is a nice place to have lunch and there is also a large playground across the road. Be mindful of the pesky birds as they are fearless and will steal any lunch they can.

On our travels we had heard about The Pinnacle Lookout in the Grampians Nation Park, we were sceptical about doing this walk but decided yes we will do it together as a family. It was only 5.5kms so we thought how hard could it be……..

Well let me just say it was challenging, I honestly don’t know how our kids powered on through that walk as my legs were aching. It took us around 4 hours to return. That is with multiple stops and one big lunch stop at the top. The walk is steep in some areas and you will mostly climb over rocks and some hand made stairways.

On this walk, we were hoping to walk through the Grand Canyon but this was closed due to unstable rocks so we walked the other way. The other highlight of this trip was Silent Street, this is a very cool walkway through the crack of two rocks. It is only a one-way walk and if your backpack is too big you may have to do some maneuvering to get it through. The view at the top was well worth the climb.

After resting our legs for the next few days we decided before we left we really wanted to visit Mackenzie Falls. None of us was prepared for any more long or strenuous walks so 300 metres down a steep decline of stairs to the end of the cascades we thought was doable. Unfortunately, swimming isn’t recommended as the underlying currents are strong, so we took the advice of the experts and just went for the walk.

 

Although the kids did paddle in the small rock pools and had a great time skipping rocks. It really is beautiful here. We came in the month of April and the waterfall was running hard and had plenty of water at the bottom.

If you have been following our journey you will know that we love to check out the local tavern (or two) within each town that we visit. In Halls Gap we went to Halls Gap Tavern for lunch and it was a winner for us. The kid’s meals were large and came with all the trimmings which included a drink and an ice cream for after lunch.

If you have anything to add or places to visit in Halls Gap please drop it in the comments, this way it helps all other travellers reading this blog.

We look forward to meeting you on the road.

Kylie and Dan from Fearless and Free Range