Following the fire: Touring Victoria's Grampians region with the Mazda CX-70

Yesterday at 01:47 PM

It seemed like the cruellest way to ring in the new year. Very early in 2025, Victoria's Grampians region was overrun by a bushfire that burned more than 76,000 hectares of land – an area the size of New York City – and decimated the local economy.

Thankfully, no human life was lost in the three-week-long campaign to bring it under control, but more than 40 buildings were razed and the toll on tourism was devastating.

Over what should have been a prosperous period filled with countless families, hikers, and campers descending on the region, the towns and businesses in the Grampians were empty of people who had heeded evacuation orders.

Now, a month after the fires were extinguished, the Grampians are open for business and locals are calling for the public to come and enjoy all that the gorgeous countryside has to offer.

With that in mind, that's exactly what we did with Mazda's new CX-70.

WATCH Road trip from the Great Ocean Road to the Grampians

The Mazda CX-70 is arguably the most spacious of all new 'Large Architecture' Mazda SUVs, owing to an expansive five-seat layout inside a seven-seat SUV body. It's perfect fare for touring the state, especially with a big 3.3-litre inline-six-cylinder engine under the bonnet.

In top-spec CX-70 Azami guise costing $82,970 before on-roads, it's a step above what you'd likely expect to pay for a five-seat Mazda. However, the cabin quality and included features certainly nudge at the premium level you'd find in rivals such as the Lexus RX or the Volkswagen Touareg.

For a full explainer on the Mazda 'Large Architecture' line-up be sure to read our rundown here, or you can check out the in-depth review here.

Suffice to say, it's well-suited to tackling a three-hour journey out west of the state.

The Grampians National Park is a go-to for hikers – boasting countless state-of-the-art trails and walks – plus striking sandstone ridges make the perfect stage for avid rock climbers and mountaineering.

In addition, the areas surrounding the national park itself have become a destination for the more laid-back tourists – like myself – who chase food and wine rather than thrills.

Leaving home from Geelong in Victoria's west already affords a handy head start on the long drive and it's far quicker to begin covering ground from there compared to Melbourne. Instead of trudging through traffic and suburban streets, you're out of Geelong in no time and whizzing by the countryside at 100km/h.

It was immediately apparent that the Grampians bushfire was a disaster waiting to happen – the fields and grassland in the state's west are bone dry which is an unfortunate byproduct of an unusually hot spring and summer.

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The Australia Day weekend was punctuated by an unbearable 40 degrees Celsius day on the Monday, but the day prior it was a nice 30 degrees. Even still, the CX-70's big panoramic sunroof not only lets in a huge amount of light, but having the blind open also means the cabin gets hot. So, the tri-zone climate control was pumping hard and the ventilated seats offered on the flagship Azami variant were a godsend.

Our car had the petrol six-cylinder engine under the bonnet and its 254kW/500Nm outputs were a perfect pairing to the open-road touring at hand. There's a wallop of torque available for quick overtakes on backroads and the big body hustles up to the speed limit in no time at all.

I did wish the eight-speed multi-clutch transmission (Mazda's own design) was more responsive, especially on kick-down accelerations. It was also tricky to switch between drive and reverse in town as the gearbox often took its sweet time to engage.

In any case, the car eats up the kilometres with quick effect and after a couple of hours listening to tunes through the 12-speaker Bose sound system and gazing at the wide, brown, and flat land, out the windows, we were at our first destination in the Grampians.

Pomonal is a tiny country town just 10 minutes from Halls Gap (the largest town in the Grampians) and although it was largely untouched by the bushfire, the lack of tourism in the region took a toll.

To the town's west, you could see big mountains that were charred black from bushfire, though at ground level there was thankfully little evidence of the horrors experienced just a month prior.

By chance, the Pomonal Sunday market was on, so after dropping the obligatory gold coin in the donation box and entering we wandered through checking out the local produce and wares.

It was nice to see plenty of other tourists had the same idea to visit the region because the market was full of people milling about enjoying the day.

The next stop was the Pomonal Estate winery just around the corner that creates its own wine from estate vineyards and brews its own beer. There was abundant choice of cheeseboards and pizzas too, in addition to newly-built on-site accommodation.

After hearing of the logistical nightmare that saw the Halls Gap Zoo relocate its animals during the fire, we had to visit and check in on the residents.

There are over 500 individual animals and 120 different species to see, while the zoo also offers close encounters where you can meet highlights like the rhinos, giraffes, and cheetahs.

It's a family-owned zoo that has also become the state's largest privately owned regional collection of animals. It's a nice gesture to be greeted by the friendly zoo owner at reception, too.

You could easily spend hours more with the animals, but we were back in the car before too long and on the way to Halls Gap.

From here, remnants of bushfires start to become more apparent. Roads are closed and the hills beyond are blackened, but it's buoying to see hundreds of people in town frequenting the shops and restaurants – plus a massive line waiting for ice cream too.

We do the same thing and walk around the main street after picking up a snack from the local bakery. Even in the centre of town, there are fantastic views of rocky mountain ranges that loom so large you think you can almost reach out and touch them.

It's no eye-catching supercar, but the Mazda CX-70 netted a surprising amount of looks parked up on the shopping strip – especially in its nice shade of Melting Copper metallic paint.

One camper even came over to see it up close and wondered what it was like for towing a caravan. According to Mazda, the petrol CX-70 comes with a higher-rated towing ability of up to 2500kg.

The diesel-engined version can only muster 2000kg due to cooling limitations.

Heading south, we took the road away from town and were immediately alarmed by how quickly we saw both sides of the roadway burnt out. The bushfires got within a few kilometres of the homes and buildings surrounding Halls Gap.

Sadly, the stretches of fire-ravaged Grampians Road extend right down to the edges of Dunkeld – some 60km south of Halls Gap.

I jumped out of the car at a few points to snap some photos and was taken aback with how silent the bushland was. It was deathly silent.

Burnt signposts and closed tracks are seen either side of Grampians Road so it's not always easy to discover which way to go – especially with a lack of phone reception in the depths of the national park – though the Mazda's 12.3-inch infotainment displays a prominent map to decipher which way to go.

Though the stretch of tarmac between Halls Gap and Dunkeld was impressively smooth, the Mazda CX-70's ride comfort leaves some to be desired. It can rattle over small joins in the bitumen and jostles across road imperfections to a large degree – given the car's size anyway.

But, that aside, the CX-70 proved a great companion for a long country drive. The level of amenities offered by the top-spec Azami variant kept us comfortable and the strong engine was a perfect pairing for country touring.

At the time of writing, the Grampians National Park was experiencing yet another bushfire, now on the western side of the mountain range.

I highly recommend visiting the region to inject some money into the local economy. There is ample entertainment on offer and the countryside is simply gorgeous.

Locals are doing it tough after missing out on tourism over the summer break, so consider making the Grampians your next day out.

However, stay safe by ensuring you plan your trip beforehand using the VicEmergency service and stay up to date with local news.

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