1 February 2012 - Shady Acres Caravan Park, Ballarat, Victoria

A new month, one that is not January, kids back at school and the peak tariffs off the menu at the caravan parks, blue skies and the road stretching tantalising ahead. What could I complain about today! Actually it was blimmin freezing this morning; 11 degrees and the wind had not dropped. Yet as I watched the international reports this evening about the freezing temperatures currently in west and central Europe, I did acknowledge that everything is relative.

We called into Bunnings this morning to buy new carpet runner for the caravan. We had gone there yesterday to do the same, however short term memories and debate had deterred us from going ahead there and then. Checking the colour on our return, Chris had to agree that I had been right after all; the carpet was an oatmeal coloured rib, practical if not pretty, and was worth duplicating for another year.

We had mapped out today’s excursion last night, to take in villages south that we had driven through as we drove north, with only our destination of Ballarat in mind rather than the places along the journey. So our first stop was Buninyong, a township set up around the pastoralists in the very early 1840s. There was a time early on in the white settlement of Port Philip Bay (or Victoria) that Buninyong was the third busiest township after Melbourne and Geelong. The gold rush changed all that, even though Buninyong itself did play host to several gold discoveries around about in 1851.

We spent some time chatting with the volunteer in the Information Centre, a long term resident of the district and descendant of one of the original pastoralists. She lamented the changing face of the settlement, the new development on the northern end of the town and the more affluent and mobile residents who were overwhelming the down to earth nature of traditional Buninyong.

There are several lovely old buildings here in this small settlement, in fact a surprising number given its size. We wandered about a few streets, peeked behind hedges into private gardens and generally admired the place. The bakery provided some yummy buns to add to our cut lunch and so we headed away looking forward to that.

Before dining however, we drove to the top of Mount Buninyong, a long extinct volcano, 719 metres above sea level, and climbed to the top of the iron lookout tower from where we enjoyed expansive views all around the countryside and back north to Ballarat. The cold wind was no less at the top, so we did not hang about, but returned to the cruiser and drove south east to Lal Lal.

There is little at Lal Lal these days except a pub, which we did not patronise. Close by are the Lal Lal Falls, subject of yet more paintings by von Guerard. This year, or at least today, there was only a rather stagnant puddle at the base of the falls. It is obvious however from the steep ravine, that the Lal Lal Creek does rage through here sometimes and flow on to the Lal Lal Reservoir further downsteam. The dammed Moorabool River is the main source of the Reservoir, the Lal Lal just a tributary. We walked along the top of the ravine, through gums and long golden grass, through a gap in a fence and on through a pine plantation from where we could see across the deep clean waters of the reservoir.


The Lal Lal Reserve here about the Falls has quite an amazing history. Even by 1840, it had become a popular destination for picnickers, painters and photographers. In 1877 it was officially reserved as a public park and remained well known and popular for one hundred and thirty years.

The Lal Lal Falls in the distance

New Year’s Day horse racing commenced in 1864 and a railway line was built from Lal Lal to the racecourse to cater for the crowds. In 1887, a new grandstand was erected, capable of holding one thousand people. Eventually support diminished and the last meeting was held in 1938. Looking about the area now, it is quite difficult to visualise all the above.

From Lal Lal, we made our way through the countryside  via Yendon (almost missed) Mount Egerton (absolutely missed), Gordon (small but charming), then westward back along the Western Freeway toward Ballarat. Closer to home, we popped further north to check out the parklands at the Kirk’s and Gong Gong Reservoirs. The latter offered bush walks, the former advice on how to grow a flower garden using minimal water resources. We drove in and out; been there, done that, and returned home, whereupon Chris washed the caravan and landcruiser.