The Grampians 3-Day Bikepacking Trip

I did feel for Pete lugging that big ol' girls bike up those hills with all the weight on the back, I think my set-up was a bit kinder to me.

I'm back in Australia now and without my trusty Soma touring bike, however, I was looking for a slight change in direction anyway with regards to adventuring.

While I was in England, I really got into watching Iohan Gueorguiev's "See the World" series of documentaries. If you haven't checked him out on YouTube already, you should definitely watch some of his inspiring videos. Iohan goes not just off-road, but regularly off the map and documents it all very well. I don't have the time for such ambitious riding, but he certainly made me interested in doing some bikepacking trips.

Bikepacking differs slightly from bicycle touring in that it is mainly on isolated dirt roads and trails. You generally see less people, but you get really up close and personal with nature and it does feel like even more of an adventure. With it comes some more problems, like sourcing water and food, and you obviously are further away from any support if you run into trouble, so you need to be a little more prepared.

For my first venture out then, I chose the Grampians in Victoria, here in Australia. This is a pretty little mountainous area North-West of Melbourne. I was riding my housemate's abandoned bike that he left to rust in the back garden; after a little bit of attention, it seemed as if it could stand up to a few short tours, so I thought I'd give it a go.

New bike, new kind of touring, and instead of doing it all on my own, this time I was joined by my friend Peter from England, who is in Melbourne for a few months. This was the chap that was partly responsible for inspiring me to give bicycle touring a go in the first place after his trip from South Korea to England a few years ago.

She kind of looks the part, especially for a free bike.

Between us we were riding bikes that had cost us a total of $10. I got mine for free, and he paid $10 for his girls bike - but who cares right, it did the job after all. I did buy some panniers and a handlebar bag online, which totalled to a little over $100, but even so, this was travelling on a budget, especially as we wild camped every night.

From Melbourne, we took a train for about 2 and a half hours to the small town of Ararat. From there it was an easy 40Km or so to our first wild camp spot about 5Km outside of Halls Gap. I had an idea where this would be before hand but was happy to find a reasonable area in the trees.

Day 1 campsite in the trees with Pete and his family-sized tent.

The first night was extremely cold, which tested my new sleeping bag. By the time I had switched my phone on in the morning, the mercury had dropped to about -2 degrees Celsius. We were in the last throws of Winter, so this wasn't too surprising, but it did make for a slightly uncomfortable morning until the sun started shining and then the cold dissipated pretty quickly.

The cold didn't stop the kangaroos coming out to feast on the frosty grass and they were present in the hundreds in the fields beside the road around Halls Gap. We decided to stop and have a coffee and a sit down for 45 minutes to warm up. Just holding the coffee cup brought feeling back into my fingers.

Our plan was to head South and cut into the main part of the Grampians and from there take dirt roads and 4-wheel drive tracks and loop back to Halls Gap and then back to Ararat. This being my first bikepacking trip - although I have done some off-road sections before on my touring bike - I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured about 70Km a day wouldn't be too arduous.

As soon as we turned off the tarmac, we were confronted with a climb, but nothing too major and the road then flattened-out nicely. There were campsites aplenty just off the side of the track all day, but we planned to finish at about 5pm and typically at this time there was nothing and we were climbing again, on often very sandy 4-wheel drive tracks, which started to take its toll on us.

Sandy tracks made for difficult riding and there were few camping opportunities as the sun was going down on day 2.

Fortunately, as we were getting desperate to set-up camp we found an excellent spot which already had an area for a fire and some nice flat ground between the trees. We got a fire going and cooked-up some dinner. I don't normally bring a camping stove with me, so a hot dinner was definitely welcome, as well as some warmth in the morning and a hot porridge breakfast. I think in future I might start bringing a stove with me on trips again. I need a bit more luxury as I get older.

It had been a hard day, but a cracking camp to finish, and although we had been in the trees most of the day we did manage to find the odd lookout point to get an idea of the lay of the land.

The perfect campsite to end day 2.

On the morning of day 3 we knew we had a bit of a climb after an exhilarating downhill section on the 4-wheel drive tracks. The ascent was back on the asphalt, however, so it wasn't too difficult. We were heading to Mackenzie Falls, one of the popular attractions of the area. I had been there a few years previously with my mum when she visited us in Melbourne in the summer, but this time we were the only one's there and the walk seemed shorter and easier than before.

Victoria is not an especially famous part of Australia for waterfalls, but this is quite a nice one and a bit of time walking without the bikes was much needed.

Our next target was to get to Boroka lookout via the long road around the reservoir, which was quite aptly named, "Mount Difficult Road". It started innocuously enough, fairly flat around the reservoir, but then began rising steeply for what seemed like forever up to the lookout. Pete was suffering, which I think was chiefly down to his set-up and the extra weight he was carrying, I was tired but wasn't feeling completely spent.

Taking a break halfway up Mt Difficult Road

After reaching Boroka Lookout, we decided to have a bit of a powernap and chill out with the beautiful view of the Grampians as a background. Hard work done we had an easy roll downhill into Halls Gap. It is at such times when you tend to gorge yourself on food, and we sat down for a good couple of hours until I realised the weather forecast was predicting rain in the morning and with this in mind it might be a good idea to get as early a train possible back to Melbourne.

Despite the cold mornings, we had unbelievable weather over the trip; for two whole days we didn't even see a cloud and the daytime temperatures were very pleasant. In hindsight this was lucky as those sandy 4-wheel drive tracks would have been even worse had they been wet. From my other tours in Australia, I have learned that unsealed roads here can be a bit of a lottery, sometimes sandy, sometimes rutted, bumpy, and potholed. At least now - as strange as it sounds with a free bike - I have the kind of bike that can take it with a bit of a suspension and wider tyres.

Looking at the forecast, and with a couple of hours still left in the day, I persuaded Pete to push on and try to get within striking distance of Ararat for the early 8.15am train back to Melbourne. We also had a slight tailwind in the afternoon.

All 3 nights we free camped. This can be uncomfortable sometimes, but every campsite was excellent.

As luck would have it, it turned-out to be a great decision. We had some energy back from the rest and some hot food and as the light was fading we found a free camping area about 17Km from Ararat, with perfect soft grass and even a toilet and a place to sit down. Luxury indeed.

Anyway, we made it before the rain and got back to Melbourne in good time. Excellent little trip that was tougher than I had imagined it would be, although I was very happy with my bike set-up and I will be doing a few more short tours with it by the end of the year.