Easter and some (extended) family were off to the Grampians to go camping. I had been invited and - at the last minute - decided to head up that way. On a beautiful Autumn day, I then took a whole gang up the wonderful Hollow Mountain walk at the very ‘top’ (North) of the Grampians.
It was the first time any of them had been up Hollow Mountain and I do believe they loved it ; despite a few obvious reservations!
It’s a magical place and one well worth visiting. Walk is basically:
- Car at Hollow Mountain car park
- Follow signs to Mountain (and not rock climbing area)
- Have a break at the big cave
- Continue along ‘front’ of mountain and around and up to the ‘back’ and then the top.
- Back down to cave
- Go into cave - or around the back of it - to find out why it’s called Hollow Mountain
- Back to car park
A quite hot day; think it was high 30’s C. Summer had a last bite.
But a few of us still made our way up to the Dandenong Ranges and did a fun - and not too hot - walk. It was mainly in the shade.
We basically left the car at Grants Picnic Area and did the walk (Clematis Track, I think) towards the Sherbrooke Falls. Lunch was at the O’Donahue Picnic Ground. We never got to see the falls - the name is almost ironic, it’s a tiny trickle - as we spotted a sign, literally in the bush, pointing to Alfred Nicholas Gardens. We were very happy as we’d planned to drive there after the walk, never imagining the walk itself took us very close to the Gardens.
So we followed the signs to the most beautiful Gardens. Built into the steep hills, they have a lovely, cool and green theme. Lakes and water features just add to the serenity.
Then we made our way back, pretty much the way we had come. I myself used Google Maps to create a map of our route and here it is.
In fact if you’ve got the time this really should be at least one night away; staying at one of the many places in Castlemaine or Maldon etc.
