Spending AFL Grand Final day in the bush is something new to me as I’ve always treated it as Xmas Day and cleared the family out of the house, leaving me alone with just a conglomerate of fatty foods and the TV.

This year is different having lost my job last week. I had 2 x options, either stay angry and plot the death of a few narcissists or apply some growth mindset and hike in the Australian bush until I couldn’t walk anymore.

We decided on the latter given it was Lynda’s school holidays and she was nervous that without getting away, my irrational appetite for revenge would come to fruition. Lynda had been to the Grampians a few times and it was my first but definitely not my last.

The Grampians are approximately 3 hours from Melbourne so we thought we’d do an overnighter at the Lake Inn Hotel in Ballarat. I used to stay there a lot during 5 x years working at Arnotts, so it was nice to see some friendly faces again in mine hosts Tony and Trish. A walk around a freezing Lake Wendouree and dinner at the Lake View Hotel capped off a quick visit to one of my favourite regional towns. Lynda listens to my “selling” of Ballarat as a place to live, then chooses to ignore it. She spent some of her early childhood there and is scarred by the winters unfortunately. 

https://www.thelakeview.com.au

Halls Gap is the epicentre of the Grampians and accommodates most of the tourists. Given it was the holidays it was very pricey so I found a little place on Airbnb called the 101 Loveshack in a tiny town 30 minutes away called Great Western, famous for Seppelt Great Western champagne. The 101 Loveshack was built in 1901, made from mud and timber and restored beautifully by owners Carl and Debbie who own the greater property. It’s 5 minutes from the centre of town which only has a pub, a petrol station, a café and a chemist/post office. Now having said that, the pub produces the greatest pub meals we have EVER had bar none! We ate there 4 x nights in a row and the quality was extraordinary as were the size of the meals. The schnitzels were so big they overlapped both sides of the plates and were aptly nicknamed “beef blankets”! The 101 Loveshack is the perfect place to unwind after a long day’s hiking.  

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/34072068?source_impression_id=p3_1569823226_r805Fb4swj4ax%2BhN

Day 1 Wed, The Pinnacle. From the Wonderland carpark this is a 5.5km hike return and takes approx. 2.5-3 hours if you take it easy. It’s a “medium” level walk and finishes at the most iconic of views that is predominately used to promote the Grampians. This one.

Now because I’m terrified of heights, I walked halfway up the lookout then retreated as the anxiety kicked in and took this photo of an idiot on the next unprotected peak. 

All up the walk provides stunning bushland and interesting rock formations that at times looked like hundreds of skulls jutting out, and reminded me of Mayan ruins in Mexico albeit naturally formed. A beautiful walk with a stunning vista to end it. We refuelled and headed back. These are some shots from the Pinnacle walk.

An added bonus during the return from the Pinnacle is a slight detour to The Grand Canyon. Vastly different in scale to it’s namesake, nonetheless The Grand Canyon is an eerie crevice consisting of more bizarre rocks, a small waterfall and accompanying stream. Access is via an aluminium ladder and a walk around the canyon is a valuable hour or so before heading back to the carpark. Here are some photos.

Day 2, Thursday, The Sundial Peak and Lake Bellfield. A couple of km further up the road from the Wonderland carpark is the Sundial carpark and the entry to another beautiful hike. The 2 km walk to the Sundial peak is moderate in effort and laden with forest and wildflowers. Again the rocks protrude like monoliths from the earth and at this stage I’m starting to see actual ghostly faces engrained in them!

In the above photos you can see Lake Bellfield in the distance. To reach there and return is a little over 5km and this is definitely rated hard. You know upon the descent, that you will be in a world of pain when coming back! Regardless, it’s another great hike with amazing alleyways of wattle trees (how good is Straya mate?!) and the serenity is only broken by birdsongs, particularly from tiny colourful swallows. We also spotted a few emus feeding that were impervious to our presence. Once we hit the lake, we refuelled, had a stretch and headed back to face the music uphill. All up we were hiking for approximately 4 hours and just took it easy, taking in the stunning surrounds and fresh air.

Day 3, Friday, Mt William. The highest point in the Grampians and the walk itself is nearly 4km return after a windy drive of 12km to the main carpark. Not dissimilar to Mt Wellington in Hobart, this is a sealed road walk and it’s very cold and exposed. Like Mt Wellington, the views are to die for. Access to Mt William is only 10 mins drive west after Lake Bellfield.

Day 4, Saturday, Grand Final Day. We decided to have a rest day on Xmas Day but we did pop down to the local footy ground and had a kick. Now my beloved Lynda is more than capable with a Sherrin having grown up in Heidelberg in her teens kicking the footy with boys on the street, and in fact she marks everything cleanly in her hands…..except once! I haven’t gut laughed that hard for years when I kicked a 30m drop punt to her which she claims she lost sight of in the sun, and it hit her just above the chest at speed. As the Sherrin exited the impact zone, the normally unflappable, upright schoolteacher, toppled in slow motion with a look of utter disbelief and landed flat on her back! Very, very funny.

Day 5, Sunday, Mt Stapylton. This was head home day but we decided to drive away from Melbourne another 50 minutes towards Horsham and take on Mt Stapylton in the Northern Grampians based on a recommendation from a fellow hiker. It certainly didn’t disappoint. The Northern Grampians have a very different aspect to the rest of the Grampians. If you have ever been to the Freycinet National Park in Tasmania you will be familiar with those beautiful ochre pallets that exist in the rock. This area is very similar. It’s rugged and has clearly had a brutal history because the first 600m of the walk from the carpark was a steep incline up a former lava field. It looked more like a lunar landscape, then suddenly you were in bush and in an area very popular with rock climbers who were all wandering around with mattresses on their backs. They seemed to be practicing on the many giant boulders scattered around but I don’t know how a 6 inch mattress can save you from a drop of 100m? Anyway the incredible cliff faces we witnessed reminded us of how insane the feat of Alex Honnold was in the documentary Free Solo. 

A Documentary not for the faint hearted!

The climb to the top of Mt Stapylton is dare I say, “epic” and my personal favourite on the trip. It’s almost 5km return and takes approximately 2 ½ hours to complete.

The Grampians provide world class hiking in our own back yard. There is so much more to see so fingers crossed we can get back. From an OH&S perspective do not attempt to hike the Grampians without appropriate hiking footwear! You will either blow an ankle or heaven forbid slip to an untimely death! For more information on this astonishing and very authentic part of Australia, follow this link. Cheers

https://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/grampians-national-park