Monthly Archives: September 2010

Children’s Day.

Having trailed dutifully along behind the adults all day yesterday, we let Sarah and Matilda set the itinerary for the day. Sarah chose to visit the Chinese Heritage Museum, and Matilda thought that a visit to Alexandra Gardens would be nice. As both were quite nearby, we also decided ot check out a local lookout that John was told about; so we added that to our itinerary for the day.

First up was Gum San Chinese Heritage Museum – beware the hefty entrance fee ($26.50 for a family ticket) – which provided an interesting perspective on how the Chinese migration to the Ararat region shaped its history and influenced the 19th century Victorian gold rush era.

A quick stop back at ‘freight train central’ for lunch, then back out in search of a place called McDonald’s Park but, despite a couple of signposts pointing us left and right as required, the location of McDonald’s Park remains a mystery to us… More easily discovered was the turnoff to One Tree Hill lookout, which provided us with commanding views in all directions; only the arctic southerly blowing across such an exposed location stopped us from enjoying the views for longer.

Our final stop for the day was Alexandra Gardens, back in the heart of Ararat township (and, thankfully, fairly well protected from the worst of the cold winds). The girls spotted the playground on the other side of the park and were off like a shot, while the grown-ups strolled by the ornamental lake and through the small conservatory, filled with hundreds of orchid varieties, all in full bloom.

Eventually the cold wind and the dropping temperature had us heading for the car and back to the comfort of the van, before we packup and head home tomorrow.

Having re-read my Ararat Trip – Day 1 post, I’m pretty sure I won’t win any literary prizes any time soon… very uninspiring prose indeed!

So, let’s try something a little different today, try and rein in the left side of my brain a little and give my right brain a chance to have a say. Although, having said that, I’m surpirsed either side is working efficiently after our first night ever in the new van. A combination of our caravan park being less that 100 metres from BOTH the major Melbourne-Adelaide truck and train routes (half a dozen freight trains and well over 500 semi trailers during the night), along with an ultra hard, never-been-slept-on-before mattress and it was no wonder I awoke with a splitting headache!

Hmm, sounds like I’m whinging already (ha ha)! It wasn’t so bad though – even a bit funny for the first two or three hours (we even commented about opening the windows at either end of the van to let the freight train through!) – and a good early lesson for young players like us: when looking for a place to set up camp, take notice of your surroundings.

Still, it didn’t dampen our spirits and we were off early to spend the day in the Grampians National Park, taking in Moysten, the spiritual home of AFL football, and Halls Gap, at the doorstep to the Grampians, along the way.

A couple of short stops, to walk among the spectacular sandstone rock formations and take in the scenic views, before we made our way to MacKenzie Falls for lunch. This was followed by a short but steep hike down to the bottom of the falls themselves.

[Pictures]

After a full day’s activities, we made our way back to ‘freight train central’ via Stawell, for another night of peaceful slumber… being broken only by the regular earth shattering blast of each freight train’s air horn as it passed through the centre of town (and, strange as it may seem, the insessant sub-woofer like rumble of the constant flow of trucks along the Western Highway actually became quite soothing, so much so that you really didn’t even notice it after the first 4 or 5 hours of lying in bed waiting to fall asleep…).