The first stop on our lap of Australia saw us heading to the Grampians, in Victoria. Halls Gap is the gateway to the Grampians, and the place was amazing!
We started our exploration of Halls Gap with a trip out to MacKenzie Falls. We had heard it was stunning, but seeing really was believing. To have something like this on our door step here in Victoria is just amazing.
After spending some time looking around at the base of the falls catching our breath, we decided to push on to Fish Falls, a smaller waterfall just under 3km round trek away from the base of Mackenzie Falls. The walk was beautiful.
It was a really hot day in the Australian summer, luckily we had our Oztrail hydration packs with us. The signs recommended taking 1L of water per person for the hike down to MacKenzie Falls, and we absolutely needed the 2L in each of our packs.
Once we got to Fish Falls, there wasn’t a lot of shade, other than some shade on the banks of the river. It was a good excuse to get our feet wet whilst trying to work our how far we had actually travelled. The water was cold but really refreshing.
All up that day we ended up hiking 5km on fairly tough terrain, especially for the kids. They did a fantastic job and I’m sure as a family we are only going to get fitter as we continue our lap around Australia. It was great to get back home to camp and rest.
This was our first real Caravan Park stay, and on pulling in to our area there were cars everywhere, a skinny road and just enough room to maneuver our caravan into position. Luckily we were surrounded by other travelers and some other really helpful people who all moved cars, gave advice and helped to guide us in to our first ever campsite. Harry of course was straight down to start feeding the birds.
Harry loves animals, and with Halls Gap Boasting it’s own Zoo, we had to go and check it out.
The crocodile feeding was definitely a highlight, but overall, it was just how close we actually got to all of the animals that really impressed us.
Alright maybe a little too close to some of the animals! Check out the video to see just how close!
The setting was amazing, and being surrounded by the Grampians it had an ambiance unlike any zoo we had been too before.
With Waterfalls and Hiking Done around Halls Gap and the Grampians, with plenty of wildlife under our belt, we wanted to get up into those hills to see the views. And they really didn’t disappoint!
Those views were amazing, and the video above really didn’t do it justice. How far you could see and the colours were amazing. We really felt over the 5 days we were there we got to know Halls Gap really well, and again, we just can’t believe something so amazing is just 3 hours from Melbourne’s door step.
The Grampians are a beautiful place, and Halls Gap is the perfect place to explore it from. There is so much to see. To top it all off, we had an opportunity to go and meet some local park rangers to learn about mini-beasts inhabiting the local waterways, so we jumped at it.
The boys had an absolute ball, and we got to take copies of the charts used to identify the species in the waterways. This will help us with schooling the kids as we travel, not to mention be a great way to keep them entertained for hours!
After we finished that morning session, it was back to the caravan to pack up and depart, ready to head off to our next destination.