Halls Gap to Ballarat

Evening Light on Downtown Ballarat 

I did wonder if I should head up to Reed's Lookout to walk to The Balconies this morning, but low cloud obscures the lookout immediately behind the campground/holiday park, plus the wind is still strong and very cold, so probably not a good idea.

The lookout behind the holiday park

I was very glad, during the night, that I was inside and not camping as there were some really serious gusts that were rattling everything around.

The advice from the ladies at reception, when I checked out, given a choice between the cultural centre which may or may not be partially open and Venus' Baths walk, the Venus' Baths walk won hands down. 

Rocky cliffs along the Venus' Baths track

Rocky cliffs along the other side of Venus' Baths track

 

So having skipped the cultural centre which was the first item on my plan for the day, I walked from the Botanical Gardens along theVenus' Baths track, the track leading alongside a creek, over which towered, albeit not very high, very steep peaks on both sides, and it seems this little valley maybe the one described in eulogical terms by Hall, for whom Hall's Gap is named.

Maybe slime mould?  Rather stunning colour

Venus' Baths is a lovely spot. It would be delightful to be here on a summer's day, but I certainly was not tempted to strip and dip since I'm wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, a Merino jacket, fleece jacket, and a raincoat.

Venus' Baths

Venus' Baths

I stopped to read the interpretation sign about Cherub's Peak and thought it a sad but rather wonderful story.  It is named to commemorate 3 month old Agnes Foulkes who is buried at it's foot.  In 1870, access to medical help for her was cut off by severe floods and she died.  The local primary school opened in 1928 and the students commenced an ongoing tradition of upkeep of her grave.  In 2009 the primary students were successful in petitioning the relevant authorities to formally recognise the name Cherub's Peak, in her memory.

Along the walk along the Venus' Baths track

So it's the most worthwhile little walk. I'm glad I did it; it was strongly recommended by a couple of different people, so full marks to them. I did keep an eye out for orchids on the way and while I saw just a few leaves of Acianthus, there were no others that I spotted.

I then proceeded to Bunjil's shelter to view the rock painting, which has great cultural significance to our First Nations people.  Bunjil being a creator and protector of the natural world and now transformed into an eagle.  The painting was originally done with clay ochres, but has not, I believe, been accurately dated.

I couldn't help but reflect on the circumstances which necessitated the very strong cage to protect it and thinking back to when I explored some Aboriginal paintings in West Australia and how they were very accessible, but also not vandalised. 

The weather had been fine as I drove to Bunjil's shelter, and it was fine when I parked, but a heavy shower started soon after I set out from the car. I was thankful for my raincoat.

My next stop was Great Western for a wine testing at Seppelts, just because if one is going to do a wine tasting one may as well do it at one of the originals. And I remember Seppelt's Great Western Champagne as one of the originals from the '70s.  (They got away with calling it Champagne back then)

At Seppelts

Next was Ararat and the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre. A helpful volunteer staff member provided lots of information about the Chinese on the Ararat gold fields, but then got distracted into his convict heritage and his Jewish ancestry and a whole lot of other stuff that I didn't need to know.

Though he did tell me that gold is still mined in Stawell nearby, with 300 people employed in the mine and another hundred people working 1 km below the gold mine on some serious physics. I had never heard of that place.

Some rather glorious items in the Chinese Heritage Centre

I redirected his attention to showing me the audio visual and leaving me to enjoy the displays, which were very informative. 

Life really was quite tough on the goldfields and it was even tougher, I think, for the Chinese presumably because they were not understood by their European counterparts and consequently were quite dreadfully treated from time to time. 

I was going to visit the lunatic asylum at Ararat, which offers tours that sounded interesting. However, it was closed, so I started heading towards my next destination -  Cascade waterfall and Fern Tree Falls but since the Caravan Park into which I was booked in Ballarat wanted checkin by 5 and I was going to be lucky to get there by 5:30, I decided to not go to the waterfalls. That turned out to be a good idea because when I subsequently checked, Mount Buagor national park, in which they're located is substantially closed due to bushfires in 2024.

In Ballarat I went straight to the caravan/ holiday park and did ask about upgrading from my ensuite campsite to a studio, but the base level studios were all occupied so I decide to tough it out camping and went round to my allocated site.

My allocated campsite with ensuite

 I wasn't inspired and it seemed that no matter what orientation I organised for my car and awning, I was not going to get any shelter from the really cold winds, plus motivated by a man nearby smoking on  his balcony, I walked around to reception and asked her to tell me again about that upgrade. 

 I duly paid the extra and was issued a key and commenced moving my things in. However, the scent in the 'delux studio' was overwhelming. I looked around for a diffuser or plug-in air freshener and could find nothing, so went to reception to ask about it. They suggested checking somewhere I may or may not have already checked, but no luck and I went back, feeling a bit like the most annoying customer ever, and the senior lady came back with me and identified the scent as both strong and none of their products. So whether somebody had spilt half a bottle of cheep and nasty perfume on the carpet, I don't know, but the staff moved me to a neighbouring studio, which was very kind of them. 

The 'delux' studio apartment is little more than a motel room with a token microwave, toaster and kitchen sink (no room for the dish drainer provided).  At least I also have access to a camp kitchen somewhere onsite.

I headed off to find a supermarket and a Baker's Delight for a few necessities, and then headed into town to check out Grainery Lane. I clearly hadn't read my information thoroughly enough, because I had expected Grainery Lane to be a lane with a whole lot of eateries, but it was just a single restaurant, a rather lovely single restaurant in at old grain store.

A very kind staff member who came to help me suggested, since I wasn't game to have a drink when I didn't really know my way back to my accomodation, that I just look around and view a photographic exhibition that was on. I did check out the menu on my way out. It looks very nice and the waiter assured me that they could modify most recipes to suit my needs, so I might think about that for tomorrow night. 

I felt utterly exhausted by the time I got back to my studio apartment and decided I couldn't be bothered going to find the camp kitchen, so I zapped a few vegetables in the microwave, along with some of last night's leftover rice, and together with a small tin of John West smoked salmon, that was dinner.