Take One:

We planned a weekend away to Ararat with an Aradale Lunatic Asylum and J Ward visit and a side trip to The Grampians/Gariwerd. But, as they say in the classics, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Add women to that, too, vbg.  

Gariwerd

The aboriginal name for the Grampians is Gariwerd. Gariwerd is a highly spiritual place for Aboriginal people due to the dreaming stories and the abundance of food, water and shelter it provides. This is evidenced by the number of occupation sites found in Gariwerd and that even today, Aboriginal people are drawn to this place. The Grampians/Gariwerd has the most significant number of rock art sites in southern Australia and over 80% of Victoria’s rock art sites.

Waterfall Hunting

We headed up the Western Highway towards Ballarat, veered off towards Horsham, drove through charming and quaint Beaufort (plan to go back there, lots of old photographic worthy buildings), lunched at the Cottage Garden Cafe in Beaufort scones with jam and cream. Yummy. We arrived in Ararat around 12.30 pm. As we couldn’t book into our accommodation until three, we decided, armed with all the maps, directions, and info from the Internet I had printed out, plus Lucy’s Tom-Tom, to head off and see a waterfall.

Mackenzie Falls

Initially, the plan was to see Mackenzie Falls, but as the Parks Victoria site said, the waterfall’s base was closed due to storm damage, and it’s not worth seeing a waterfall just from the top. So we drove off looking for Beehive Falls. And we’re still looking an hour later.

Backroads

Like the fabled Utopia, it’s out there somewhere but hidden behind the mists of time and lost travellers. We drove down Roses Gap Road (dirt road all the way)  for over half an hour, stirring up a massive dust cloud behind us, and never found the ‘Roses Gap Car park that was on that road (according to the directions printed out) and never found Beehive Falls.

We did see some great views of the Grampians as we drove its length and breadth. But that’s as close as we got 🙁  As it was by now, around 2.30, we turned around and headed back to Ararat. After a brief but obligatory stop at MacDonald’s for a late lunch, we arrived at our cottage around 4 pm and loved it on sight.

Golf Links Retreat

We were greeted by our very hospitable hosts, Merren and Peter, who introduced us to the gorgeous cottage Golf Links Retreat we were staying in. Set in beautiful gardens, it’s a Bluestone brick exterior, old exposed brick walls and timber ceilings inside, a two-storey, three-bedroom, two-bathroom, breakfast basket, and Coonara heater. Heaven!!

We took the princess, too, and she took it straight away. It was ‘home’ for three days, and that’s just what it felt like. Home. We plan to go back and find those waterfalls next time, too!

Aradale

As Saturday was very wet and rained ALL day, we decided to stay in and do some ‘arting’. We took supplies with us and spent the day making gazillions of chipboard tiles that we would adhere to large canvases. Sunday was just as overcast and cool. But only brief showers, so we decided to head off to Aradale Mental Hospital. It started life named Aradale Lunatic Asylum. Take the tour (the link will give you all the info on it)

The outside was a beautiful, huge, massive complex of around 70 buildings. But inside, it had suffered from renovations in the ’50s and ’70s and wasn’t what I expected. It was more interesting once we got into the older parts.   

J ward

Monday, we were heading home but stopped off and took the tour of J ward. J Ward started as a goldfields prison in 1859, and when the gold ran out, the ‘Lunacy Department’ (I kid you not) acquired it as a prison for the criminally insane. It housed the most dangerous and violent offenders deemed unfit due to mental issues to stand trial. They were detained at the Governor’s pleasure under the highest security (and lowest conditions). One famous inmate was Garry David Webb.

After our tour (very interesting with a very informative guide), we continued our journey back home. But, as I said, we plan to return to Ararat and the Golf Links Retreat to find those waterfalls and take the ghost tour of J ward!

Take Two:

Waterfall Hunting Again

Lucy and I returned to Ararat armed with better maps and a goal to see a waterfall in the Grampians finally. We had taken a wrong turn last time and travelled miles on a dirt road. This time, we were prepared. We drove straight to Halls Gap on Friday and saw Reid’s Lookout, The Balconies and a little McKenzie Falls (the track to the base was closed). However, the path to Broken Falls was open and more of our style (suitable for the fitness-challenged).  

Broken Falls

The Falls are quite pretty, and I could see why they were named Broken Falls. The water plunges over the top but splits into several separate falls. Unfortunately, getting a good shot from the viewing platform was hard because quite a few trees blocked our view.

Watching the world go by

We were booked in at the Links Retreat B&B again, a charming little bluestone cottage alongside the golf course..we’d sit on the veranda and watch the golfers go by and putt around the kangaroos who were lifetime members. We took our art journals to work on, two big suitcases of supplies, and a small bag of clothes each. I should have taken a pic of the table as we worked on them. Maybe we did not think our hosts would have had a heart attack at the mess we made (but we cleaned up before leaving).

McKenzie Falls Again

We returned to the Grampians – Gariwerd and McKenzie Falls via Stawell for breakfast on Saturday. It was a sunny but cool morning, but unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit up in the hills, and I didn’t get a shot of them (Lucy did use my tripod, which we were sharing, but the rain came down in buckets as she finished so we packed it in) and we returned to Ararat for lunch. At least, that was the plan.

Unfortunately, Ararat shuts at 1 pm on Saturday. Almost nothing is open. There were no nice cafes except for MacDonald’s, which we were sick of. So we ate a lovely Subway lunch before returning to our cottage to art for the rest of the day.
Sunday in Ararat’s bustling town of 8200 very sleepy people, it seems Ararat was deserted and dead at 11 am. Few shops were opening, but there was minimal Sunday trading in Ararat. Of course, it’s not the world’s end, but you can see it from there.

One Tree Hill

Sunday night, the sun shone, so we headed up the road to One Tree Hill, an odd name for something covered in trees, but that’s country folk for you. We timed our visit to coincide with sunset; the view was beautiful.

Monday morning, I was back on the road home. Our art journals had quite a few pages done. We had a lovely time. And we made two new resolutions. First, never visit somewhere with lousy internet access; second, make sure the town stays open past 1950).