Axle Grease in Beaufort

We’re happy little vegemites

As bright as bright can be.

We all enjoy our vegemite

For breakfast, lunch and tea.

Our mummies say we’re growing stronger

Every single week,

Because we love our vegemite

We all adore our vegemite

It puts a rose in every cheek.

We found ourselves staying a night in Beaufort, between Ararat and Ballarat on our way to our winter holidays at the Grampians. The caravan park is pretty good, great price for an ensuite site and in a pleasant setting next to a small lake.

Exploring the town which is still part of the main highway between Melbourne and Adelaide was enjoyable. Previous visits have resulted in us stopping for a snack or lunch, but not looking beneath the surface of the town. On our wander around, one thing we learnt was that one Cyril Percy Callister was born nearby. He is credited with inventing that Australian icon, vegemite, which perhaps best resembles axle grease, but is pretty good on toast!

In search of geocaches around town we also discovered a cute old courthouse, learned more about the rotunda we’d seen before and discovered ourselves 4WDing through deep muddy puddles in an area known as the Yam Holes. This is where gold was discovered and the town of Beaufort grew up around it. Today it is covered in pine trees, holes in the ground and the previoiusly mentioned large muddy potholes!

After a chilly night we awoke to a pretty sunset over the lake.

As it was just a short trip to the Grampians, we stopped and explored the now bypassed town of Buangor. The pub and another café / artist’s studio closed down demonstrated what can happen to these little villages when the highway gets bypassed – the place was ghost town like. As is often the case, it was in the pursuit of some geocaches that initiated our decision to visit. This took as to some back roads where we found a cache in an old truck and in an old pine tree in the local cemetery.

Back on the road and by mid-afternoon we had ourselves set up in the Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park, our home for the next ten nights.

Following a late lunch we went and visited Brambuk Cultural Centre before heading up to Boroka Lookout.