The hill tops were covered in rich red soil and a dense native forest with the trail weaving and winding around the plants that are home to plenty of birds and Koalas.
The Brisbane Ranges National Park makes you feel as though you’re out in the middle of country Victoria, yet it’s only 30-60 minutes from Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat.
We went camping here a couple of years ago and it was surprise how quiet it was for such a stunning place that’s so close to such a large amount of people. Nearby, the YouYangs are insanely busy and we expected that sort of popularity, but it’s nothing even close, which is a really good thing.
Now that we’re living in Geelong, it’s so close for us to head out to the Brisbane Ranges for a quick day hike. Eva has been doing a bit of research into the different hiking trails in the area and decided upon the Anakie Gorge Loop from All Trails. The trail was meant to cover some of the nicest parts of the national park and it was only 11 kms, which is perfect as we wanted to keep it short and visit a winery on the way home.
As we entered the national park, it’s was as we expected. Golden plains leading to steep and small hills covered in native plants and trees. It’s a nice view of typical bush. The real treat and surprise came when we were out on the hiking trail and made it up to the top of Anakie Gorge on the eastern side of the Brisbane Ranges.
Once we were up there, the soil was dark red powder with large grass with incredible native trees, plants and wild flowers. It was completely unexpected and remarkably beautiful. Take a look at the video and see for yourself.
We think the ‘Anakie Gorge Loop’ might have just been the name that it was given on All Trails and it seems that we followed the Ted Errey Nature Walk that goes along the Anakie Gorge Walk from the Anakie Gorge picnic area to the Stoney Creek picnic area, then up onto the hills and loops back around to to where it started from.
We’ll be posting more details of the trail soon, take a look here for other hiking trails in Victoria.
