After the Ballarat Marathon: The Grampians
The Route: Ballarat → Ararat → Halls Gap → Melbourne Airport Logistics: Hire car, about 2 hours west on the Western Highway. A car is needed in the park. Marathon Month: April Duration: 2 nights
Ballarat ──(approx. 2 hrs by car, Western Hwy via Ararat)──> Halls Gap, Grampians
│
Melbourne Airport (MEL) ◄──(approx. 3 hrs 15 mins by car)──────┘
The Ballarat Marathon finishes on Sturt Street in late April. Two hours west, the Grampians rise abruptly out of the flat farmland of western Victoria, a series of sandstone ridges tilted like books on a shelf, steep on one side and gentle on the other. The Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung peoples call them Gariwerd. With two nights, there is time for the legs to recover and still see the best of them.
April in the Grampians is autumn: cool, clear days, cold nights and some of the most settled walking weather of the year. The summer bushfire risk has eased, but check fire and track conditions with Parks Victoria before setting out, because tracks close after storms and fires. Bring warm layers; the ranges are colder than the plains, especially at the lookouts.
Drive west from Ballarat on the Western Highway to Ararat, then north-west to Halls Gap, the only town inside the park, about two hours in all. V/Line runs train and coach connections to Halls Gap on some days; check times at vline.com.au. Without a car, the park's lookouts are out of reach.
Night One: Halls Gap
Halls Gap sits in a valley between two ranges, a small village of motels, cabins and cafés along one main road. It has one recovery asset visible from almost every room: kangaroos. Eastern grey kangaroos graze on the town's sports oval and open grass in the early morning and evening, and watching them from a bench is the most demanding task of the first afternoon.
The Grampians have more Aboriginal rock art sites than anywhere else in south-eastern Australia. Several are open to visitors, but some involve walks over rough ground. Ask at the visitor centre in Halls Gap which are suitable, and check whether the cultural centre at Brambuk is open for guided tours.
Night Two: The Lookouts
The second day uses the car. Boroka Lookout, on the eastern ridge above Halls Gap, is a short, level walk from the car park to a platform looking over the valley and Lake Bellfield. Reed Lookout, on the other side of the range, looks west across the Victoria Valley.
From Reed Lookout car park, The Balconies walk is about 2 km there and back on a mostly level gravel path through low bushland to a pair of sandstone ledges jutting out over the valley, the Grampians' most photographed view. It takes about 45 minutes at a slow pace. Stay behind the barriers.
MacKenzie Falls, the park's biggest waterfall, is reached by a steep track with around 260 steps down to the base, and the same number back up. Two days after a marathon, the lookouts at the top of the falls, reached by flatter paths, are the sensible alternative.
Where to stay: Halls Gap's motels and self-contained cabins line the main road and the lanes behind it. Choose one within walking distance of the village's cafés and the oval, so evenings need no car. Book early for autumn weekends.
Where to eat: The village has a handful of cafés and restaurants on the main road, including pub meals and takeaway. Several close early on weeknights outside the holidays, so check before planning dinner, or stock up in Ararat on the way in.
Getting to Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport (MEL) is about 3 hours 15 minutes from Halls Gap by car, via Ararat, Ballarat and the Western Freeway. Leave the park by mid-morning for an evening flight, and do not drive the park roads at dawn or dusk, when kangaroos are on them.