Where the river begins to break and cascades before MacKenzie Falls
The MacKenzie River flows down stream from Lake Wartook and breaks up at Broken Falls where different streams run between and drop off the jagged sandstone rocks, cascading before reaching the famous MacKenzie Falls.
From the MacKenzie Falls car park, start walking along the trail that heads down to the base of MacKenzie Falls. As soon as you leave the main open area where there’ll often be Emu’s and start walking beneath the Eucalyptus trees, you’ll see a sign guiding you to the left for Broken Falls. From there, it’s only another 100 metres or so to the Broken Falls Lookout.
With no stairs on the path from the car park to the Broken Falls viewing area, it’s quite accessible. Another walk that doesn’t require any stairs is back at the toilet block. Walk along the path past the toilets and about 800 metres later, you’ll be greeted with a stunning and unspoiled birds-eye view of MacKenzie Falls, which is the most popular and one of the largest waterfalls in the Grampians National Park.
For those without accessibility issues, you can head straight from Broken Falls along a path and 250+ steep stairs down to the base of MacKenzie Falls with a hiking trail that then goes to Fish Falls and Zumsteins picnic area.
Getting to the Broken Falls car park
The Broken Falls car park is the MacKenzie Falls car park. Broken Falls is closer to the car park than MacKenzie’s, but then Broken Falls is more-or-less just the top part of MacKenzie Falls anyway.
It’s about a 30 minutes drive direct to the car park from Halls Gap, although it’s along the main Grampians tourist route, so you might want to stop off at Boroka Lookout, hike to the Pinnacle or see some of other attractions on your way.
Coming from Horsham
If you’re coming from Horsham or Adelaide, turn right onto the Northern Grampians Road once you’re about 10 minutes out of Horsham, it’s then another 30 minutes or so to the car park. Once you drive through Zumsteins, it’s only a few more minutes down the road.
Camping at Broken Falls
Camping isn’t allowed at Broken Falls, MacKenzie Falls or the car park, but Smiths Mill is just down the road. You can book here, through the Park Vic website.
Other than Smiths Mill, there are plenty of other campgrounds in the Grampians, then accommodation and private parks in Halls Gap.