9 January 2012 - Halls Gap Caravan Park, Grampians National Park, Victoria

Here we are settled into yet another commercial camping ground when we were doing so well at bush camping! And to make matters worse, the second most expensive caravan park we have stayed in during this almost year here in Australia. Not impressed!

We slept late this morning because the bedside clock time hadn’t been changed since crossing the border, so it was all the clock’s fault; nothing to do with the fact we went to bed late. Actually last night, I stepped outside before retiring. The full moon had risen in the east and the creatures who live in and around the lake were alive and making all their busy night noises. There was no one else about and it was all quite wonderful. The wind had dropped but the temperature had plummeted, so this brilliant moment was brief. I returned to the interior of the caravan and climbed into the warmth of the bed.

We drove up into the Grampians National Park through intermittent rain, abandoning our plan to do a walk at the southern edge of the park. We called into a couple of camping grounds on the way, driving around to assess their appeal. The most southern had a little appeal, the more northern, less so, but both were quite empty. It is necessary to register one’s interest and buy a pass at the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre just south of Halls Creek so we could not have simply set up camp and hoped for the best even if we had wanted to. We did however pull into the Centre and inquire about the cost; $14.50 per night. Rain clouds were still about, those camps were not very open to any sun that might deem to shine upon our solar panels and there was no cellphone reception; these factors were principal in deciding us to check the caravan parks out. 


Further into Halls Gap, we checked the Information Centre for their whereabouts and tariffs; the very pleasant women there showed us where all four of them were and said they were all about $32. We checked the most northern one out, a member of the Family Parks group, where we might have received a discount, however there was no cellphone reception at the gates, so we checked out the Top Tourist camp back toward the village; no vacancy. Our next stop was this one, right slap bang in town. The very pleasant down to earth proprietor was happy to book us in for two nights, and happy to accommodate us for however long we might extend. Well of course she would be! At $37 a night for a powered sight for the two of us, it does run only second to King’s Canyon in the Northern Territory, and that is because a cut goes to the indigenous locals. As I said, we are not impressed.

After lunch we set off to do a few walks, the first along the dam on Lake Bellfield, just 750 metres across. The reservoir was constructed back in 1966 however Chris cannot remember seeing it when he was here in about 1980 with his parents, Larissa and her mother. In fact, although he does recall coming to Halls Gap, he cannot recall exactly where they stayed. It was probably where we are now, since there was little else here in those days.

Our next walk was up to the Silverband Falls further back down the Grampians Road we had travelled earlier in the day. These are on Dairy Creek which once used to flow into the Fyran’s Creek but now directly into Lake Bellfield. Despite the showers we have had over the last couple of days, the flow of the river was still quite modest. However matters had been quite different just a year ago when the park was struck by a huge deluge that caused great slips and gouging out of what were once gentle narrow stream beds to become wide rock strewn valleys. In January, a record 297 mm of rain fell in just two days, after significant rain had fallen back in September and December 2010, already leaving widespread flood damage. Many roads and walking tracks were closed, some of which are still closed. In fact great swathes of the park are still closed to the public.

Great mobs of kangaroos

Returning toward Halls Gap, we called in again at the National Park Centre and did the Fyran’s Creek Loop, a delightful two and a half kilometre walk along the creek, crossing over and back along the forested foothills of the Mount William Range, through a beautiful open gum forest with thick undergrowth of wattle, tea tree and bracken. We were absolutely delighted to see great mob (or is it flock or herd?) of kangaroos just lying about in the shade, watching us pass but generally unperturbed by our presence, unlike a female emu and her two growing chicks. We passed her with care, aware that she could well take to us if she thought we were a threat to her chicks.

We returned to camp, put the awning up, read the paper, had dinner and then put the awning away again when the wind came up in great gusts. Tomorrow we will squeeze in all the attractions this area has to offer; we would have spread them over a few days, however Halls Gap is a little like Hanmer Springs in New Zealand’s South Island or even Yulara here in Australia, settlements expressly existing for the fleecing of tourists.

Back in the 1870s, once the railways had become established in Victoria, there was a high demand for timber, and so cutters came into these mountains to rape and pillage, or should I say, harvest the trees for roof shingles and split palings, to build bridges and jetties, and for railway and tram sleepers. Felling continued right up into the 1930s, but then on Black Friday in January 1939, flames swept through the small timber mills. More recently the Grampians have become a source of gold, by way of tourism.