We have been a little more active this week after a couple of weeks of inactivity due to bad weather and an unexplained energy drain after departing Tasmania. We started the week in Stawell and were really surprised at what this area had to offer. After our run around the Silo art trail on Sunday I spent Monday morning exploring Stawell. Joan had things to do in the van so I got out of the way. First up decided to do some geocaching and quickly located a cache amongst a rocky outcrop on the edge of town. Feeling accomplis’hed I drove out to the local gold mine for a sticky beck before heading back into town, to the Stawell Athletics Club (SAC), the home of the annual Stawell Gift held each Easter. It is a well kept sports oval, steeped in history with an almost spiritual feel about it. Was surprised driving back into the Caravan park to find that the site now occupied by the van park was the grounds (site) of the original Stawell Gift held Easter 1878.
After lunch Joan and I backtracked to Ararat as it had sparked our interest when we drove though there last week. First stop was the Gum San Chinese Museum, site of the Canton Lead. We went in on a whim and so glad we did, not emerging for about two hours. It was a brilliant museum explaining how the Chinese discovered the Canton lead and are regarded as the founders of Ararat. The museum is interactive and world class. Ararat also has a haunted history being home to the Aradale psychiatric asylum and J-Ward, an asylum for the criminally insane. Both institutions operated for over 100 years but are now open for tourists and ghost tours. It is reported that around 13,000 people died in this facility over its 130 year history. Because of the time spent at Gum San we were too late to catch the last tour of the day at J-Ward so we headed for Aradale to find out it only opened on Sundays and Wednesdays. Guess we were not meant to see the horrors and history of these bizarre facilities. We headed for home but decided we would get into one more tourist attraction that day as we had to drive through Great Western, the home of Seppelt Wines. We discovered they provided tours of their historic underground drives, 3 kilometres of underground cellars. And guess what? We had just missed the last tour of the day. We settled on a tasting, purchased some bottled souvenirs and on the way home decided we would stay in Stawell a little longer so we could complete some of the tours we had missed.
So Tuesday morning we were back at Seppelt’s at 11:00am for their underground tour. It was great, learning the story of the Best family, Joseph and Henry, the history of Seppelt and exploring the underground drives. Downside was we then knew that’s we had to also visit the Best Vineyard, planted by Henry Best and still trading under the Best name today, just down the road to get the rest of the story. But first we ventured back into Ararat for the 1:00pm J-Ward Tour. The building was originally the Ararat Goal in the 1850’s but after it closed in the 1880’s it was taken over as J-Ward of the Ararat Lunatic Asylum. This ward went on to house the most depraved and most dangerous men in Victoria in horrific conditions under the highest security. The Ward was closed in 1991. It is now a museum complex dedicated to recording and preserving the history of the criminals imprisoned and three inmates hanged, during the life of the goldfields gaol and later as the infamous maximum security housing for Victoria's Criminally Insane men. A very interesting and sobering tour lasting two hours. Wasn’t surprised to learn Chopper Read got to spend a short incarnation here. On the way back to Stawell we did call into Best’s Winery, tasted their offerings, did the self guided tour, made a contribution to this local small business and departed with a selection of Cab Sav and Shiraz to be enjoyed on another day.
Wednesday we relocated the van 24 kilometres to Halls Gap. It was blowing a gale so we parked the van up at the foot of the mountains and bunkered down for the day. We ventured out late afternoon to get our bearings and visit the information centre. We spent the rest of the week exploring the Grampians, completing a number of walks to lookouts, canyons and waterfalls. It is really a beautiful area with plenty of good walking tracks and sights to be enjoyed. The following is what we achieved this week.
Today is Sunday and as there are a number of walks, some tunnels and lookouts still to be experienced here we have decided to extend our stay a few more days before moving onto the Great Ocean Road segment of this tour. Until next time stay happy and stay safe.