Mackenzie Falls in the Grampians; they're truly spectacular

One of the major attractions in the Grampians is Mackenzie Falls, and we’d seen a number of photos prior to arriving. We stayed at Smiths Mill Campground just down the road, and headed to the falls late one morning, after a fairly lazy start to the day.

Mackenzie Falls are truly spectacular — Mackenzie Falls are a sight to behold, that’s for sure!

Where is Mackenzie Falls?

You’ll find these in the northern part of the Grampians, roughly 25 minutes from Halls Gap, and the beautiful Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park. It’s a bitumen road the entire way in, and asides from some rather large pot holes that you can avoid near the falls its easy enough to get to.

You should know that the roads are narrow, and you are driving very close to the edge on the way up, so take it easy!

Amazing views of the Grampians — Mackenzie falls are in the Grampians National Park, about 25 minutes from Halls Gap

What’s the parking like?

Mackenzie Falls are clearly hugely popular, and you can tell that just by the parking available. There’s plenty of spots for all types of vehicles, as well as an overflow area, so finding somewhere to stop shouldn’t be an issue.

What attractions are at Mackenzie Falls?

Whilst we were only expecting to see Mackenzie Falls, there’s actually a number of different walks that you can do, that go to various lookouts, and then down towards Mackenzie Falls. This has a couple of levels that you can go to, and then if you are keen you can continue to Fish Falls, and even further to Zumsteins if you want.

Mackenzie Falls walks — There’s a few things to see around Mackenzie Falls

What’s the walk to the falls like?

From the parking area, all of the walks begin on a well laid, bitumen footpath, and they start to make their way downwards. You’ll eventually get to a sign that says the walk from hereon out is strenuous, 260 steps and slippery even when it doesn’t seem so. You know what? The signs pretty bang on.

Sign to Mackenzie Falls — The sign is fairly accurate

The walk starts with a few steps in between good footpath, and you go down, down and down. It’s not so bad walking downwards, but you soon arrive at some steps that are really steep, and they go back and forth, and on for some time.

Walking downhill to Mackenzie Falls — You start to descend fairly quickly

Arriving at the bottom of Mackenzie Falls yields some truly magic views, and you can stop here and enjoy it before heading back up, or you can continue on to Fish Falls (more on that below).

Steep stairs with the kids — Some of the stairs towards the bottom are really steep

However, know that the walk back up to the car park is no joke, and even someone who is fit will be tired at the end. That said, we pushed on to Fish Falls, and our two kids (4 year old and 6 year old boys) made it the entire way, with a bit of convincing towards the end!

Mackenzie Falls are stunning — The walk down is absolutely worth it, with stunning views

Watch the walk on our vlog

Keen to see what its like in first person? Check out our vlog:

Walking to Fish Falls

From Mackenzie Falls, you can continue along the track to Fish Falls, which are 1.4km away. That means your doing an extra 2.8 kilometres to get there and back, and then you still have to walk up the steps and hill to the car park.

Alternatively, you can continue on to Zumsteins and finish there, if you have a mode of transport back.

Fortunately, most of the walk to Fish falls is fairly level, and its got some absolutely stunning sections (mainly early on) where you walk across steel constructions and have some pretty magic views.

Views on the way to Fish Falls — The walk to Fish Falls has some pretty amazing scenery

The walking to fish falls is certainly less flat and maintained though; expect to be standing on weird rocks and choosing your steps a bit more carefully than the walk before.

As mentioned above, our two boys made the entire walk unaided from Mackenzie falls car park down the bottom, to fish falls and back again, which we were fairly surprised about. Cooper has come an incredible way since starting to hike with us, and he’d normally have fallen over about 15 times, and been carried a third or more of the way.

Fish falls steel work is fantastic — They’ve done an awesome job building the walk trail here

Water flowing to Fish Falls — We enjoyed both parts of the walk

What feeds Mackenzie Falls, and do they run all year round?

Before we headed to Mackenzie Falls, we went to Lake Wartook just a few kilometres up the road, which is what feeds the falls. This is a massive lake that is well known for fishing, and it makes the Mackenzie falls run year round.

Lake Wartook reflections — We checked out Lake Wartook before heading to Mackenzie Falls

Kids at Lake Wartook — Our kids on the grating with water thundering through underneath

Water from Lake Wartook — It’s quite amazing to see, and hear

Lake Wartook water flow — The water flows out down the bottom into the river

Even in early February, when you’d expect things to have dried up, Mackenzie Falls is absolutely pumping, and that makes for a pretty awesome sight to see.

Mackenzie Falls in portrait — There’s certainly no shortage of water coming down

Is it worth the walk?

Every day of the week. You can take it slowly on the way back up, but the falls were much better than what I was expecting, and I stood there for some time just admiring the huge deluge of water. I’d recommend doing a bit of the walk to Fish falls too, even if you just do the sections where it crosses the river as these are stunning, and not far from the bottom of Mackenzie Falls.

I have no doubt though, that Mackenzie Falls deserves its reputation as the premiere attraction in the Grampians; its absolutely magnificent and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. If you are looking for something amazing to check out, we speak pretty highly of Mackenzie Falls!