Boronia Peak, Grampians National Park - March 2020

The view south along the Mt William Range towards Lake Bellfield is pretty sweet.

The Grampians are a bit of a favourite of mine, I've walked up there a fair bit over the years however there are still big sections of the park that I haven't really explored. Having said that, today's little adventure was one that I've actually walked before. Now while this wasn't a hardcore exploratory stroll it still made for a nice afternoon's walk. Boronia Peak is located at the northern end of the Mt William Range to the east of Halls Gap and in my (limited) experience it doesn't seem to get as many walkers as the more well known attractions across the valley in the Wonderland Range, a lack of visitors is always a good thing for me.

Even the view from the car park was pretty good.

Parking the ute at Halls Gap it was already after 3pm when I set off on my afternoons stroll, still with the complete walk being on fairly well maintained and signposted tracks I wasn't too worried about arriving back in the dark. The walk actually started off fairly blandly as I followed the sealed shared use path north out of town, crossing the bone dry Stony Creek on the way. Actually it wasn't just Stony Creek that was a bit dry, the country side itself was looking pretty parched and even the more substantial Fyans Creek had stopped flowing as well. After shuffling my way over Delleys Bridge I almost doubled back on myself and picked up the signposted walking track running south along Fyans Creek.

Heading north out of town.

Initially I followed this shared path.

Once over Delleys Bridge I picked up this walking track heading south along Fyans Creek.

Once heading south the walking is very good, while there was no cascading water views the track took me past the large sandstone outcrops of The Garrets and even though the sun wasn't in the optimum position for photos these large rocks still looked pretty sweet. After passing The Garrets I continued shuffling my way south along the deserted track until, after climbing up onto a low saddle, I arrived at the turn off for Boronia Peak. I now started the climbing bit of the days walking, the well benched and maintained track climbing up to reach the crest of the Mt William Range. Now I've got to be honest this isn't a really tough climb, to reach the ridge only required a climb of just over 100 metres.

The Garrets

The Garrets

It was nice walking along here.

I left Fyans Creek and headed up this track towards Boronia Peak....

...crossing the Mt William Range at this saddle.

Reaching the crest of the range I crossed over the saddle and then headed south along it's eastern flanks, the dry open nature of the country up here meaning that I now had some great views across the flat plains towards Stawell and Mt Langhi Ghiran. Even though I'd crossed the ridge it didn't mean that my afternoons climbing was finished though, the track now climbed another 250 metres or so as I headed for Boronia Peak. While I was still climbing things were still pretty good as I wandered past numerous sandstone outcrops whist walking through Grass Trees and native pines. Eventually I headed up a steep rocky chute before a very short and easy scramble got me to the summit of Boronia Peak... time for smoko!

Climbing along the Mt William Range towards Boronia Peak.

I really like walking at the Grampians.

The last couple of minutes up to the summit is a bit rough.

Halls Gap from Boronia Peak - time for an extended break:)

For people that have walked in the Wonderland Range then Boronia Peak offers up a bit of a different perspective of the immediate area. Looking west I had Halls Gap below me, across the other side of the valley the cliff lines and jagged peaks of the Wonderland Range drew the eye. Actually speaking of the Wonderland Range I think that the best time to view it from up here would be just after dawn as the sun would light up the eastern facing cliff line. It's not just the Wonderland Range that is worth taking a photo of from Boronia Peak, the view down to Lake Bellfield and the Major Mitchell Plateau also looking pretty sharp. Looking east over Lake Fyans and the flat lands towards Stawell I could see Mt Langhi Ghiran and Mt Cole in the distance, yes this was a pretty pleasant place to sit for awhile.

Looking north along the Mt Difficult Range...

...and looking south along the spine of the Mt William Range.

That smudge in the distance is Mt Langi Ghiran.

The Wonderland Range and Mt Rosea in the background. 

Lake Bellfield with the Major Mitchell Plateau in the background.

It was so pleasant on the summit that I probably lingered a little long this afternoon, leaving the summit with around an hour to go before sunset and about 7 kilometres of the walk still to complete. Still I wasn't overly concerned that I was starting to run a little short of daylight as the last few kilometres of the walk back into Halls Gap should be pretty easy. Leaving the summit I retraced my outward route, dropping for a couple of kilometres back down to meet The Terraces Fireline. Once off the range I turned south for awhile, heading for the Brambruk Cultural and National Park Visitor Centre. As usual the main thing slowing me down now was my frequent stops to take photos, well that and my fat guts! Eventually the track that I was following left the tree line and started crossing the dry creek side flats as I arced around to cross Fyans Creek and arrive at Brambruk.

The descent was a pretty slow affair as I stopped to soak it all in.

Dropping back down towards Fyans Creek in the late afternoon.

The track can be a little rocky in spots however it's all pretty doable really.

Most of the tracks on this walk are well signposted.

Dusk is falling over the Wonderland Range.

I'm not sure who was checking out who?

Passing through the visitor centre precinct was actually the trickiest navigation of the day. To find the continuation of my walk I had to pass through the middle of the deserted visitor centre before emerging out on the north side near a car park, once in the car park I followed it north until I noticed a substantial gravel track striking off in the direction that I want to go and I was back on track. I now meandered my way across the creek side flats up to Tandara Road, although the sheer numbers of animals out and about, not to mention the setting sun lighting up the rocky ramparts of the Mt William Range, slowed me down a little.

Looking back towards the Mt William Range.

Finding my way through the visitor centre was the trickiest navigation of the day.

I ended up walking through the middle of the visitor centre to pick up the track at the end of the carpark.

This was the track I was looking for.

By the time I arrived at Tandara Road it was pretty well dark, I was still taking the occasional photo but I was really starting to struggle a bit now. It didn't really matter that conditions were little murky though as after walking up Tandara Road I'd be following a sealed shared path back up to Halls Gap. Fifteen minutes or so after turning north along the sealed path that runs beside the Grampians Tourist Road I found my self wandering into a very quiet Halls Gap. Even though at this stage the cafés, pubs  and restaurants were still open it was obvious that the Corona Virus was starting to have an effect. Walking past the almost empty caravan park I stopped to try and take one last photo of a mob of roos grazing on the lush green grass, before jumping into the ute and heading off on my next little adventure.

The last of the sun kissing the crest of the Mt William Range.

There is a lot of wildlife along the Fyans Creek flats.

The Wonderland Range.

The Dirt.
I walked 13.6 kilometres and climbed 416 metres on today's medium grade stroll. This walk is all on tracks, most of them are very good and well graded, although the final short climb to the summit may require hands. This walk provides for a bit of a different view of Halls Gap and the Wonderland Range with them being seen from the east. Apart from the climb itself the other highlight of this walk has to be the numbers of native animals that are easily viewed along the Fyans Creek flats I think. This walk has been written up by a few authors, I used the House of Chapmans notes today out of their Day Walks Victoria book.

Relevant Posts.
Wonderland Walk, Grampians National Park, 2014.
Sundial Peak & Mt Rosea Walk, Grampians National Park, 2019.

The last section of the walk follows a sealed path into town.

It was as good as dark by the time I arrived back into Halls Gap.

Time to jump in the ute and head off to find somewhere to sleep.