The Balconies Walk

Easy

Loading map…

A walk suitable for most abilities, per its parks.vic.gov.au page, leading to viewing platforms perched on overhanging cliffs above Victoria Valley with views across to the Victoria Range; parks.vic.gov.au notes misty mornings and sunset as prime photo times.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

1.03 km

Est. time

16 min

Elevation gain

10 m

Route type

Out & back

Loading elevation profile…

In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, Wartook, VIC. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Flame GrevilleaDocumented on this trail

Grevillea dimorpha

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Flame grevillea may refer to the following Grevillea species from Australia:Grevillea dimorpha, endemic to Victoria Grevillea excelsior, endemic to Western Australia Grevillea pungens, endemic to the Northern Territory

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1940) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Flame Grevillea

Grampians TriggerplantDocumented on this trail

Stylidium soboliferum

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Stylidium soboliferum, commonly known as Grampians triggerplant or bristly triggerplant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Stylidiaceae. It is endemic to the Grampians region in Victoria, Australia. The leaves are about 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long and are arranged in a small rosette. The flowers, which appear on 5–15 centimetres (2.0–5.9 in) long stems, have white to pale pink petals with a darker colour on the reverse side. Plants occur along drainage lines and in moist areas amongst rocks.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 2024) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Stylidiaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Grampians Triggerplant

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY 4.0 (Int)), collected by grampianshiker

Veined Beard-HeathDocumented on this trail

Leucopogon neurophyllus

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Leucopogon neurophyllus, commonly known as veined beard-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to Victoria in Australia. It is a dense shrub with many branches, erect, narrowly elliptic leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers that are densely bearded inside.

How to spot it

Leucopogon neurophyllus is a dense shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about 2 m (6 ft 7 in), its many branchlets glabrous. The leaves are erect, narrowly elliptic, 12–45 mm (0.47–1.77 in) long and 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) wide and glabrous with 3 to 7 translucent, parallel veins. The flowers are erect and arranged in groups of 3 to 11 on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils with egg-shaped bracteoles 0.9–1.8 mm (0.035–0.071 in) long at the base. The sepals are egg-shaped, 1.6

Family Ericaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Leucopogon neurophyllus

Clover GlycineDocumented on this trail

Glycine latrobeana

Critically Endangered — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Critically Endangered, VIC: Vulnerable, TAS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable▾

Critically Endangered — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Critically Endangered, VIC: Vulnerable, TAS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable

Glycine latrobeana, the clover glycine or Australian anchor plant, is a species of perennial herb endemic to south-eastern Australia. Its leaves are similar in appearance to the common pasture clover. It is native to Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

How to spot it

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Glycine latrobeana

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY 4.0 (Int)), collected by grampianshiker

Rosy Bush-PeaDocumented on this trail

Pultenaea subalpina

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Pultenaea subalpina, commonly known as rosy bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Victoria. It is a rigid, prostrate to erect or spreading shrub with linear leaves and pink, pea-like flowers.

How to spot it

Pultenaea subalpina is a rigid, prostrate to erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and has silky-hairy stems when very young. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branches, linear, 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) long, 0.7–1.0 mm (0.028–0.039 in) wide with stipules 1.5–2.1 mm (0.059–0.083 in) long at the base. The flowers are pink and arranged in dense clusters of up to twelve with enlarged stipules at the base of the floral leaves. The sepals are

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pultenaea subalpina

Grampians SheoakDocumented on this trail

Allocasuarina grampiana

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

Allocasuarina grampiana, commonly known as Grampians sheoak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to the Grampians National Park in Victoria. It is a dioecious shrub that has branchlets up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long, the leaves reduced to scales in whorls of six or seven, the fruiting cones 13–35 mm (0.51–1.38 in) long containing winged seeds (samaras) about 5 mm (0.20 in) long.

How to spot it

Allocasuarina grampiana is a dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–4 m (3 ft 3 in – 13 ft 1 in) and has smooth bark. Its branchlets are more or less erect, up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long, the leaves reduced to erect to slightly spreading, scale-like teeth 0.4–0.8 mm (0.016–0.031 in) long, arranged in whorls of six or seven around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) long, 0.7–1 mm (0.028–0.039 in) wide and have

Family Casuarinaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Allocasuarina grampiana

Grampians Thryptomene

Thryptomene calycina

Grampians endemic, rare in Victoria▾

Grampians endemic, rare in Victoria

A Victorian endemic centred on the Grampians, listed as rare in Victoria on the state's Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants. First described in 1838, it grows in sandy heath and heathy woodland and is a well-known cut-flower and garden plant outside its native range.

How to spot it

A spreading shrub 1-3m tall with small oblong to egg-shaped leaves 5-14mm long. Masses of small white, often pink-tinged, five-petalled flowers cover the branches from July to November, giving heathland slopes in the Grampians a frosted look in late winter and spring.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Thryptomene calycina

Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Austral Grass-tree

Xanthorrhoea australis

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon▾

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon

A slow-growing icon of Victoria's poor, leached soils — trunks are built up over centuries and some individuals are estimated at 350-450 years old. Flowers prolifically in the season or two after bushfire, sending up a spear-like flower spike to 2m tall.

How to spot it

A thick black, corky trunk topped with a dense skirt of long, blue-green, needle-like grass leaves, often with older dead leaves hanging down the trunk. Common in heath and dry forest across the Grampians, Wilsons Promontory and the Kinglake ranges.

Family Asphodelaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Xanthorrhoea australis

Photo: Erin Silversmith (GNU Free Documentation License 1.2+), taken at Kinglake National Park, via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Heath Rat

Pseudomys shortridgei

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, VIC: Endangered, SA: Endangered, WA: Vulnerable▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, VIC: Endangered, SA: Endangered, WA: Vulnerable

The heath mouse is a species of mouse in the subfamily Murinae, the Old World rats and mice, found in Australia.

How to spot it

A larger species of the Pseudomys, a genus of Australian rodents, with a body mass in a range from 55 to 90 grams (1.9 to 3.2 oz) for an average weight of 70 grams (2.5 oz). The head and body length of 95 to 120 millimetres (3.7 to 4.7 in) and the tail length of 85 to 100 mm (3.3 to 3.9 in) is always proportionally shorter. The pelage is densely furred and their body is comparatively stocky, the tail is well covered in dark brown hair at the upper side and a whitish colour below.

Family Muridae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Heath Rat

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby

Petrogale penicillata

IUCN Vulnerable▾

IUCN Vulnerable

Once common along the entire Great Dividing Range, the brush-tailed rock-wallaby has declined seriously in the south and west of its range and now survives as scattered, often small colonies among rocky escarpments and cliff lines from south-east Queensland to Victoria.

How to spot it

Look for a stocky wallaby with shaggy rufous or grey-brown fur and a long, brush-like tail exceeding its body length, seen basking on rock ledges or cliff faces at dawn and dusk near caves and boulder piles rather than in open grassland. A great conservation-education example: the Grampians and Snowy River colonies are among the last known in Victoria, both actively monitored.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Doug Beckers (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Southern Brown Bandicoot

Isoodon obesulus

EPBC-listed Endangered (mainland/Tasmanian subspecies); IUCN Least Concern overall▾

EPBC-listed Endangered (mainland/Tasmanian subspecies); IUCN Least Concern overall

A small, nocturnal, ground-dwelling marsupial once common across coastal southern Australia, now with a more limited and fragmented distribution; it is listed Endangered under the EPBC Act even though the species overall is IUCN Least Concern, and the isolated Fleurieu Peninsula population in South Australia is a particular conservation focus.

How to spot it

Look for fresh conical diggings in leaf litter and soil rather than the animal itself, as it is strictly nocturnal; if seen, it has coarse grizzled dark greyish-brown fur, a creamy-white underside, a pointed snout and a short tail around 13 cm long. Favours dense ground cover in heath, shrubby woodland and scrub, and in South Australia is a key focus of Fleurieu and Eyre Peninsula recovery programs.

Family Peramelidae · Source: Wikipedia; EPBC Act (SPRAT)

Photo: John O'Neill (jjron) (Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Wedge-tailed eagle

Aquila audax

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern — common but iconic

The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of up to 2.84 metres. Once persecuted as a livestock threat, it is now widespread and secure across virtually every Australian habitat from desert to alpine woodland.

How to spot it

Unmistakable in flight: a huge dark raptor with a long, diamond-shaped tail, often seen soaring high on thermals over open or rocky country. Adults are blackish-brown with tawny-rufous hackles on the neck; juveniles are paler and more rufous. Despite its size, its call is a surprisingly thin, high whistle.

Family Accipitridae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons