dazjet 'n family: Quarries and Beehives

Heatherlie Quarry declared the small, white wooden sign in Halls Gap, indicating in the direction of Mt Zero Road. Most people wouldn’t notice this sign, but in seeking out some geocaching adventures we discovered this ‘quarry’.

Mt Zero Road was a gravel and dirt road – quite wet mud in places due to recent rains. About 10 km’s out of Halls Gap we came upon the car park to Heatherlie Quarry.

Way back in the 1800’s at the time of the Victorian gold rush and when the colony was swamped with cash, they went about building grand buildings in Melbourne and regional cities such as Ballarat and Bendigo. Most Melbournians would not be aware that famous landmarks including Parliament House, State Library and the Town Hall were all built of stone excavated / quarried from the Grampians.

A short walk from the parking area and we found ourselves among the remnants of a small village – complete with rusting machinery and derelict stone huts. Information boards filled in the interesting story of this place. Heatherlie Quarry was so busy for a few years in the mid 1800’s that it had its own school and post office.

You could see the sides of the rocky escarpment where the stone had been cut away. A rail line was built to this point and along with bullock teams, huge 4-5 tonne pieces of rock were sent off to Melbourne.

The place is listed by the National Trust as a ‘significant’ piece of Australian history, but they obviously want to keep it to themselves as it is not widely promoted. So glad we found it, a fascinating story!

We continued along Mt Zero Road to Roses Gap and then went on an easy, flat walk that follows Mud Hut Creek to Beehive Falls.

These falls were very green – with lots of greenery (foliage variety) clinging to the rocky walls. We timed it well, with the afternoon sun creating a rainbow across the falling water. The water drops around 25 metres from the top.

It was a great spot to sit and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of nature.

The path continues across the falls and climbs up to Briggs Bluff. Ethan, Gem and I (Daz) decided to keep going a little further… another not so short 700 metres to be exact! This followed a path of such marked by yellow / green arrows, but it was mostly rock hopping. It certainly got the heart pumping and the leg muscles working overtime. The views from where we got to were great. Of course, it was the pursuit of another geocache that inspired us to venture up here. It was located inside a ‘fake rock’.