We literally stumbled across this little gem through sheer chance, taking a wrong turn which turned out to be exactly the right turn. I describe visiting Reeds Lookout and The Balconies as short and sweet as Reeds Lookout is actually in the carpark, so you get out of your car and walk not ever 20 metres and you are spoiled with this sensational view. It was so quiet there, whilst we were not alone it felt that we were. It was not far off the main road so worth a stop into 126 Grampians Road, Halls Gap and have a look.
Take in the view, as far as the eye can see and then move onto the Balconies.
The walk to the Balconies is as captivating as the Balconies waiting for you at the end. Now on the sign it does say 1.0km however, we all felt it was a bit longer than that. It was one of those walks you do and every corner you say this must be the end as we have to have walked more than a kilometer already.
At the beginning of the walk you are surrounded either side of you by rock formations that are to irresistible to not go off the track and explore. Be careful however as it looks like a luxury resort for snakes, not that we saw any I am sure they would love it. We did see some rather large skinks lazing in the sunshine, they are perfectly harmless and it's nice to admire their carefree lifestyle which involves not much more than soaking up the rays. We spent more time that we realised we did walk along these rocks, they were most exciting to the children we saw there doing the same as us, admiring and exploring the rocks.
As you approach a short bridge you cannot help but look to your left and not only notice the superb view but also the masses of rock stacks known as 'Cairns' which simply means deliberately stacked rocks. They are everywhere and saw them quite a long way down. There were also signs (which I had thought I had taken a photo of but didn't) saying in no uncertain terms 'No Cairns Rocks'. I don't think the sign was working in any way shape or form as they were all over this section, I had to think to myself perhaps the sign is enticing people to do them more so rather than to not. I know our little one was quick to say can I go down and make one, to which we replied not sure look at the sign. Luckily, he is a stickler for the rules and we could go onto our destination.
The remainder of the walk looks like this until you reach your destination. You can see in the last photo why I had said at least five times this will be the last corner; the last section was quite windy and I was getting really quite eager to reach The Balconies. Once there the twists, turns, impatience and excitement to get to arrive at this remarkable site were all worth it, have a look at this.
The Balconies, well the above photo was my favourite part of them. I was so tempted to walk around and get my photo taken sitting on the edge but I am guessing a lot of people have thought the same and where they are different to me they have actually done it, as you as can see (in person not in the photo) that there is an obvious track leading to it. It is a great deal easier to reach than it looks in this photo, except for the fact that temporary fencing had been put up to stop or at least deter people from going there. If you have read my "Hollow Mountain" blog I'll bet your laughing right now at the thought of someone (me) that couldn't get up a small rock face even attempting to get down there, you know me too well of course I wouldn't even try.
What a great viewing area, fitted for an even more spectacular view. There is absolutely no use in climbing over the railings you can see in the second photo you can see everything from there, it's so well designed. It took us approximately 40 minutes to explore Reeds Lookout and The Balconies and be back at the car. If you are time poor you could most certainly do it a lot faster than we did as we did stop to look at the sights and explored the rock formations for lengthy periods of time.
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