Ararat, Vic

Day 2 Saturday 20/12/2025 Ararat, clear sunny 12 – 25

We probably had a few too many first night drinks last evening and Woody is prone to suffering ‘first night excitement’ even more so when it’s Bourbon Friday*.

I was woken from a deep sleep in the wee hours by Woody waving a headtorch and flinging the bedclothes off. I guess the headtorch was a giveaway that we weren’t in for a night of unbridled passion, and the fact that he looked a bit gummy. “I’ve losht my teef.” He slurred. In the next moment we’ve got 10 lights on and we’re crawling about the floor (yeah, I know, what a mind picture that is) and we’re shoving the mattress this way and that…and there they are squashed between the mattress and the wall in one of those hard to get at spots. What can I say?

After our broken sleep we have a lazy morning before taking a walk along Ararat’s main street. It’s a wide street with a sweeping bend that opens to a fine view of the extinct volcano Mt Langi Ghiran. Like so many other towns Ararat was founded on gold and there are many grand buildings, I’m snapping like a woman possessed. These will be great to draw later.

Back at camp we hang our Xmas lights on the awning and wonder why there are so few this year. Whoops, the others are at home on the fence as a possum deterrent. I should add that the possums really like the flashing, coloured lights.

With our one job of the day done, we take a drive to get our bearings. The now closed, J Ward prison is nearby, so too are the Alexandra Gardens and lake, and the ornate original hospital. On the hill are glimpses of the old lunatic asylum. A modern prison is on the outskirts of town and another near Beaufort. I’m starting to wonder what the principal industry is around here.

On the eastern outskirts of town there is a free camp that everyone seems to have stayed at except us. But I’ll tell you anyway. It’s Green Hill Lake and we’ve heard so much about it that we wrongly assumed that it would be just an overnighter. We find a spacious campground on a large lake with probably 50 caravans set up for the holidays and there’s room for many more. Folks are fishing and lazing in the sun, yep, it’s a good spot for a fishing holiday and there are flushing toilets and a dump point.

Dinner tonight is chicken rissoles cooked in the air fryer with a lemon sauce and a salad. Once more it is warm enough to eat outside, but we choose to go easy on the refreshments.

Accom: $38.00

*Bourbon Friday used to be Woody’s way of pleasantly ending the working week. And as he always arrived home earlier than I did, his drinking buddy was …the cat. We retired, the cat died, but he still enjoys one or two bourbons on a Friday.