Stawell

We visited our friends at the Ballarat Presbyterian church on Sunday morning. Fiona has mentioned that we keep running into people who have come from Sydney. Well the minister here was from Sydney and his father was born in Malton St Beecroft. Pretty close to home.

It was then onto the Western highway to head north- west.  It was only a short journey. We had a late lunch in a pretty little town called Beaufort before arriving in Stawell, home of the Stawell Gift sprint race held every Easter.

We settled into our caravan park and headed for the town centre. Going through it, I started to think the town had misspelt its name. It should have been “Stall” because from what we could see all activity, movement and life were on stall. In fact I started to think the Stawell Gift was the fastest ticket out of the place. Perhaps when you see those guys tearing along the grass that is what they are trying to do, get out. To be fair, it was about 4pm on a Sunday afternoon in a country town, but there were no shops open on the main street nor any human lifeform to be found.We will give Stawell another chance during business hours on Monday when we head back into town.  In fact, the most interesting thing to happen was that we went up to the town lookout and out of nowhere, two girls drove up, one got out in a bikini, put some garbage in the garbage bin, gave me a big smile, got in the car and left. That beats me going for a jog in my speedos up Victoria Rd for sure.

Before the bikini girls arrived

Of course the next stop had to be the home of the Stawell Gift. We arrived at Central Park, where we held our own handicapped 110m dash on the Stawell Gift track (which is on a cricket oval but very well manicured). After a measured start I was able to come from the back marker, gain momentum and storm passed Georgia in a searing, withering, blistering finish. I am sure there was a puff or two of smoke from my lane.

The start of the Stawell Gift

The back marker ready to pounce

The back marker gaining momentum and a full head of steam

Daylight is second this is the race for third

The champion returns to the raw of thousands

We did find a Woolies open and after gathering some supplies, we headed home for a swim , dinner and game of cards before bed. We were right next to a lovely couple of grey nomads named Rodney and Viv (always nice meeting other Rodneys) who had caravanned all their lives. Viv was a real character too, a lovely lady but a real tough nut, I would not cross her. These guys are really interesting to talk to and a wealth of information. They had a puppy and of course the kids were all over her and for the next hour all I got was “ can we get a dog dad”.

About 8.30pm, dinner

 Because it does not get dark to after 9pm, the kids are going to bed late which does not leave Fiona and I much free time. This is another observation/comment.

Next stop – the Grampians