Grampians Pioneer Cottages, Halls Gap review: May contain cosiness

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Grampians Pioneer Cottages, Halls Gap review: May contain cosiness

Log in: Redgum Log Cottage is one of four at Grampians Pioneer Cottages.

Log in: Redgum Log Cottage is one of four at Grampians Pioneer Cottages.Credit: Melanie Ball

Red gums and relaxation are the modi operandi of this getaway, writes Melanie Ball.

My best friend and I reach Grampians Pioneer Cottages, just outside Halls Gap, mid-afternoon, after driving from Melbourne via Ararat's J Ward museum and delightful Pied Piper Gallery. There are four cottages in the complex: the Mudbrick and Redbrick overlook the plains east of the Grampians, while the picture windows of Stone and Redgum Log (ours) frame the Mount William Range.

Also in the picture are dozens of kangaroos, many with joeys in pouches; camels, ostriches and giraffes in the neighbouring Grampians Zoo.

Redgum Log Cottage has rough-hewn plank walls and wooden uprights, while old-style bolts are employed to close all doors. The front door opens into an open-plan lounge and kitchen area, with a double bedroom, a four-bed bunk room and a combined laundry-bathroom behind. (The other cottages have a third bedroom built into their straw-lined cathedral ceilings, increasing their capacities to eight guests.) We have to make our own beds - you can BYO or pre-book linen - with doonas and extra blankets provided.

Our cottage has a small flat-screen television and raw-wood shelves of books and magazines, but there's better reading in the 1922 editions of The Argus and Warracknabeal Herald, its pages used as papering on a wall between the living and sleeping quarters. Advertisements include one for Gossard corsets, another for Durasbestos building sheets. One article is about the urgent need to relieve Melbourne's traffic congestion.

The kitchen is well equipped and its timber table could comfortably seat 10. There are two folding chairs for sunny afternoons on the front porch and plenty of logs stacked in a converted water tank-turned-woodshed for when the temperature drops. A wheelbarrow fits easily through the front door so we roll it right to the stone fireplace to unload.

A small electric column heater is the only other heat source in our cottage, but the fire draws well and the wood burns dry and hot, glowing long after we retreat to our cosy, electric blanket-warmed beds.

And then we ate For dinner, we head to Barney's Bistro Bar, in Pomonal, a 10-minute drive away on the Ararat Road. On approach, this corrugated-iron establishment looks like an old shearing shed. Inside, however, there's a red-gum bar, standard and high barrel tables, and a sunken pool-table area. Great pub meals are on the menu, including spanakopita, steak, and barramundi. The wine list features local vintages and the barman is convivial.

For a post-dinner treat, we head to the corner ice-creamery in Halls Gap. Everyone we know has raved about the ice-cream here, despite its outrageous colours.

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The deal maker With its window-filling views, Grampians Pioneer Cottages is the kind of place where you could spend days or weeks, alternating between walks and drives in the Grampians and lazy days reading and watching the wildlife. The other cottages are far enough away that you can't hear your neighbours, but you can also get to know them over a barbecue at the communal outdoor kitchen.

Stepping out There is a wealth of walking tracks in the Grampians, some newly reopened after the double blow of recent bushfires and landslides. We tackle two tracks: the Chatauqua Peak Walk from Halls Gap, which starts in the Botanic Gardens, and the northern Mount Stapleton and Hollow Mountain hike.

VISITORS' BOOK

Grampians Pioneer Cottages

Address 58 Pioneer Lane, off Birdswing Road, Halls Gap.

The verdict A comfortable getaway in the lee of the Grampians that pairs an old-time look and feel with mod cons.

Price From $145 a couple, a cottage.

Bookings (03) 5356 4402; grampianspioneercottages.com.au.

Getting there About 250 kilometres west of Melbourne via the Western Freeway and Ararat-Pomonal Road.

Perfect for Families and friends looking for mid-priced accommodation with nature on tap.

Wheelchair access No.

While you're there Stretch your legs walking to waterfalls, Aboriginal art sites and rock formations in the Grampians; explore the sport and mining history of Stawell; splurge on a meal at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld.

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