Sunday 15 March 09 – Naracoorte SA to Ballarat VIC

We had decided to make an early start with the original intention of going to the evening show at Sovereign Hill at Ballarat. When we learned of the cost, we decided not to see the evening show but to concentrate on a full day there instead. Whilst listening to the radio, we heard that the last remaining fire in Victoria had been contained and that rain was falling over most of the southern part of the state.

We left Naracoorte just after 8.00am and headed towards Horsham via the back roads. There was evidence of recent heavy rain and we drove in very overcast conditions. We should have refuelled at Naracoorte as we could not find a service station open in all the small towns we travelled through. The first opportunity to refuel was at Horsham.

After leaving Horsham we decided to detour via the Grampians as the fire risk was no longer present. We stopped at a small tea house in the Wartook Valley and had a wonderful morning tea before commencing the climb into the mountains. First stop was at MacKenzie Falls (they were running) and then we moved onto Reed Lookout and The Balconies. Unfortunately is started to rain so we only spent a short period of time at the lookouts. The Grampians are indeed impressive and we need to come back to fully explore this area.

We continued in heavy rain to Halls Gap (a stay here was originally planned but cancelled due to the bush fires) where we had a very quick look. After leaving The Grampians, we continued on towards Ararat stopping for lunch but before arriving at Ararat.

We eventually arrived at Ballarat after missing the turn-off, spent some money in Ray’s Outdoors (10 litre water container, a folding bucket and new sandals for up “Him”) then stocked up at Coles before heading to the caravan park for our three nights stay. Tomorrow we will visit Sovereign Hill before our friends arrive in the late afternoon.

1 thought on “Sunday 15 March 09 – Naracoorte SA to Ballarat VIC”

  1. Hi JP

    Glad to hear you are having fun!

    I hope you bought a raincoat when you bought the sandals with all that rain about. Actually why didn’t you buy gumboots? I am devo you did not go and see the show.

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