This stunning region has bounced back just in time for Easter

The wild weather of Australia’s 2024-25 summer spawned natural disasters affecting several regions, including Victoria’s Gariwerd, or Grampians. On December 16, a large fire was ignited by lightning strike, and another blaze began the same way six weeks later.

The fires ravaged farmland and parts of the Grampians National Park, a major destination for lovers of adventure and hiking. The surrounding district also invites fans of food and wine and simple bucolic pleasures. Its main township, Halls Gap, was evacuated.

Grampians Peaks Trail.

For local businesses, it was a one-two punch – the fires were extinguished, but the aftermath brought mass cancellations of holiday bookings for everything from beer tastings to abseiling.

The summer, the community’s peak season, was a writeoff.

Peak beauty on the Peaks Trail.Credit:

But with the Easter school holidays comes better times, says Adrian Manikas, managing director of Absolute Outdoors in Halls Gap. Business is booming again, he says.

“The fire came very close to Halls Gap from the south. It was in the valley down near the lake,” he says, referring to Lake Bellfield, a popular spot for boating, fishing, picnicking and swimming.

“At the time, it was pretty intimidating. Now, you can come and visit Halls Gap, walk around all the way through the town. You can walk up to The Pinnacles and do other main points, and you wouldn’t even know that it happened.

Kayaking on Lake Bellfield.Credit:

“The last two weeks, we’ve had perfect mid to high 20s days of blue skies, which is awesome. Booking wise, the Easter and school holidays are pretty much getting back to normal.”

One exception, he says, is the Grampian Peaks Walking Company arm of his business. Its offerings, multi-day walks along the 160-kilometre Grampian Peaks Trail, which opened only late last year, is by its nature subject to more thoughtful planning.

Gearing up for the autum season … Gariwerd/The Grampians.Credit:

“That holiday period – December, January, February – is actually a key booking window for our autumn season. People book three to six months out. Our autumn season is basically a write-off because when people were making bookings ... they were going, ‘Oh, I’m not going to go over there because it’s on fire. I’m going to go over here instead’.”

He also says that within the wider Grampians tourism industry, visitors are no longer booking with long lead times. Rather, they are cementing their plans two to three weeks away from travel, which can make planning tricky for operators.

The community is keen for visitors to get their plans going to ensure operators can offer the best experiences possible.

“There is no sort of impact left from the fire other than that parts of the park are still closed,” Manikas says. “But most of the key visitor sites and lookouts and waterfalls and Halls Gap and all the accommodations, everything, all the restaurants and experiences, they are all still here and fired up and ready to go.

“And if you can’t come now, start planning.”

Grampians Grape Escape returns on May 2.

He says a landmark event to book around is one of Australia’s longest running food and wine festivals, the Grampians Grape Escape. It returns to Halls Gap on May 2-4 and features about 100 exhibitors, including those offering the region’s finest wines, produce, craft beer, distillery creations and artisanal goods.

Manikas says there’s a good chance, too, that the weather will be great.

“In autumn and winter we get these periods of really good, stable weather, and that continues right through until July. And most of our rainfall in the region is late winter and spring. So most of winter itself is actually reasonably dry. But also, if you like a good wine and a campfire or a fireplace and being rugged up, winter getaways here are incredible.”

See visitgrampians.com.au; absoluteoutdoors.com.au