Wycheproof to Swan Hill - Sept 2015

On leaving Ararat, the next destination for this trip was Swan Hill. Only around 300 kilometres, but we wanted to meander and geocache along the way so decided on a night at Wycheproof  to give us as much time enroute as we needed. One little town we passed through was Landsborough, named after the chap who was sent on an unsuccessful rescue mission for Burke and Wills. He might not have rescued them, but he did have a small town named in his honour, complete with statue in the main street outside the hall!

We found ourselves in Paradise. Paradise was not all its name would suggest. Not much there and quite cold and blustery.

We saw some interesting ruins at Beazley’s Bridge, passed through great sounding places like Gooroc, Dooboobetic and Wooroonook. Blinked and missed Teddywaddy West, hoping that Tittybong has more to it as I noticed it on the map on tomorrow’s route.

In Wycheproof we camped the night, scaled Australia’s shortest official mountain, Mount Wycheproof at a whopping 43 metres above sea level and checked out some old train carriages.

Next day, we continued on to Swan Hill, disappointed that there was no grand welcoming or any form of signage or entertainment at Tittybong.

We chose to stay at Hilltop Resort, 5 km’s out of Swan Hill which was a heap cheaper than the parks in town, plus it had a small menagerie of farm animals, a daily train ride and the night we arrived a free sausage sizzle. What more could you ask for?

Ararat - Sept 2015

Spring of 2015 found us heading away for another caravan adventure. Our first stop was Ararat. Not too far from home, so we were able to set up camp before a latish lunch on the first day. 

While in town there were several highlights:

Ararat has a number of grand buildings, no doubt financed by the gold rush!

One Tree Hill: Not far out of town, as the name suggests, we found ourselves up a hill, although unlike the name suggests, there was a lot more than just one tree. The view was over Ararat in one direction, including Langi Ghiran – a hill shaped like a pregnant lady lying down according to Aboriginal legend. In the other direction we could see the many ragged peaks of the Grampians, including Mt Sturgeon in the distance that we’d so heroically climbed earlier in the year.

'J Ward': An imposing looking bluestone ‘fortress’, which was originally built to be a gold rush era prison in 1861. In 1866 it become a ‘temporary’ place for the criminally insane… they in fact kept using for this until it was closed in 1991! I guess nearly 130 years is temporary in the context of the history of mankind. The tour included many a gruesome story of inmates and conditions. It was completely macabre, entertaining, tragic, shocking and sad all at the same time.  The youngest inmate was just 13. The oldest lived to almost 108, spending a staggering 60 years in a small cold, damp cell.

Gum San: A completely different piece of history of Ararat was at the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre. Ararat is a unique Australian town as it was begun by Chinese immigrants who were seeking gold in the 1850’s.    However, to get to Ararat, most Chinese got off ships around Robe in South Australia and walked hundreds of kilometres, just to avoid the Victorian ten pound arrivals tax.

The roof of this complex has 56 thousand genuine Chinese terracotta tiles. Under this impressive tiled roof we had a great time. It was largely interactive and hands on, with the kids dressing up, experiencing Chinese calligraphy and panning for some gold.

Of course, we went searching for all the geocaches in and around Ararat with a high degree of success. Leg one of this holiday was full of diverse history and intrigue! 

Dunkeld - April 2015

From Casterton, after Easter we continued east and sought out the town of Dunkeld in the Southern Grampians region. Approaching the town, the landscape is dominated by the peaks of Mt Abrupt and Mt Sturgeon.

Not too far from the caravan park in Dunkeld we found the Arboretum which was a great place to ride our bikes.  There is also an old saw mill there.

We spent almost a day climbing up to the top of Mt Sturgeon – a walk of around 7 kilometres. It is rated as a difficult walk, but the three children did it very easily, although there were more snack breaks than we had anticipated! Those breaks often gave us the chance to perch on a rock and take in the superb vistas. At the summit, the view was breathtaking with Dunkeld below us in one direction and Mt Abrupt and the smaller Mt Piccaninny in the other. 

The ascent back down was much quicker. We met an older couple on their way up. They were looking forward to a nice cup of tea at the top. I like that older people always remember to pack a thermos and are prepared to lug all that is required for a nice cuppa!

Back in Dunkeld we enjoyed ice creams and with the kids with some remnants of energy we rode our bikes around the Arboretum again. 

The journey towards home took us through Beaufort where we stopped for lunch by this lovely old fire station. 

We then had a couple of nights back at a caravan park we'd enjoyed in the past, at Creswick where we set up under the golden colour of this autumn tree:

We again rode our bikes - around Lake Calambeen and through the pine forest that is alongside the caravan park.

Not far from Creswick is the historic town of Clunes which we explored one morning. This is where gold was first discovered which sparked the great gold rush of the 1850's. No gold to be found today. In fact, Clunes is better known as a 'book town' with lots of second hand books. 'Widow Twankeys' was a colourful and eclectic lolly shop and cafe and we called in for morning tea.