Day 78 - Thursday 16 March - racing to Ararat

Day 78

Thursday

16 March 2017

Dimboola – Stawell – Ararat (Camps 8 Vic #471)

It rained during the night, nothing much and it was gone by the time we were up and organising ourselves for the road. Paul had put the car on last night, so there wasn’t the big pack up required this morning and we could take things a little slower.

We were on the road by 9.45am and moving back through Horsham on our way to Stawell. We passed through Dadswells Bridge that has a LARGE koala at the koala sanctuary facing the highway and by 11 we were in Stawell, ready to look around.

The famous Stawell Gift running race is this town’s draw card. Posters for the Easter event lined the streets and bronze pavers recognise the previous winners. We walked the path reading the names and times and admiring the buildings before stopping at the bakery for a famed vanilla slice and pie. The slice was ok but the icing was way too sweet for either of us.

We walked to the boundary of the athletics oval before I jumped out on the grass for a run.  We checked out the old grandstand, scoreboard and the gardens before we made our way into the info centre that is also the Stawell Gift Hall of Fame. We picked up some brochures for Ararat and then walked back to the van and continued on our way.

30km further along the Western Hwy we came across Ararat. We found a place to park on the street and then walked to the info centre to pick up some more info. The Jail House Rock Festival is on this weekend, so we will probably check it out at some stage.

Once we had all the required info we drove on, passing Robbo’s car yard – Kings Motors. Paul beeped the horn as we trundled on down the road to Green Hill Lake free camp. Robbo had told us about this place as he is on the committee. It was a great spot and was being enjoyed by a number of people. We managed to find a flat piece of ground and parked up.  Paul did the usual set up while I got our lunch together.

Reading through the info on Ararat, we found a ghost tour to do at the old J Ward Lunatic Asylum where Chopper Read, William Wallace and Gary Webb had been housed. I booked us in for tomorrow night and then we packed up the car and headed back to Ararat town centre.

Our first stop was One Tree Hill Lookout. At the top of the very steep hill was a lookout from which you could see over the Grampians and when you faced the other way you could see over Ararat. We spied our campground and a wind farm. It was windy and cold, so we didn’t hang around for too long.

On our way back in to town we stopped briefly at he Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre so I could take some photos of the frontage and then we drove into the town, stopping at Woolies for groceries before moving on to the main street and going for a walk.

Robbo called Paul back and told us Tracey was working at a jewellers in town, funny enough it just happened to be 3 shops down from where we were standing. Needing a pee however, we stopped in at the pub first and then came out to find Tracey. She just happened to walk out of the store as we came past startling her. It was quite amusing. We chatted for a bit, organising to catch up on Saturday.

We continued our walk down the main strip admiring the various buildings and then made our way back to the car and onto the van.

Once back Paul read while I worked on the computer. We went for a walk around part of the lake, checking for fishing spots and talking to others who were fishing for rainbow trout. Paul’s interest was piqued, so we came back to the van and he gathered his fishing rod and tackle and wandered off to the spot he thought might yield a catch.

I organised dinner and enjoyed the view of the lake from the van. It was lovely and peaceful.

Robbo turned up at 6pm checking in on us. He gave me a run down of the place and let me know that the jail was now visible on the edge of the lake opposite us. He went off to find Paul and I continued sorting dinner. He took Paul on a tour of the lake area and eventually returned when they were both hungry.

We said our goodbyes for now and then had dinner as the sun began to set. Paul was happy to go back to his reading while I began resorting my photos are the hard drive crashed. It is going to be a long process but hey, I’ve got nothing else to do.