After three rainy days we were all happy to pack up camp and head out of Ballarat. At least the sun had finally come out and we could pack our mats, awnings and swags away dry.

We all felt good to be leaving the city and city traffic behind and heading out into the countryside. Our first stop was in the village of Beaufort where we stopped for a look at the Cyril Callister Museum. This great little museum is dedicated to Cyril and all things Vegemite as Cyril was the chemist who invented it. Cyril was a bit of a character and during WW1 he made bombs for the British. He was also the inventor of Kraft Cheddar Cheese, you know the one in the blue cardboard box? The little museum is housed in an old service station and manned by volunteers. They have a large collection of Vegemite memorabilia thoughout the years and a smaller collection of merchandise. The famous Vegemite jingle was playing in the background. Kids can try their hand at Vegemite painting. The volunteer on duty was so friendly and shared Cyrils story with us. We all bought a little something to take home with us. All proceeds go back to the museum to keep it going. Worth a look if you are going that way.

Next stop was the Woolies in Ararat to stock up on groceries then we were back on the road again.

Moyston Recreation Area was a good spot for a lunch break. While there I jumped on the Vic Parks website to see if we could book a couple of sites at the Grampians. Bummer…ALL the caravan sites at both Borough Huts and Jimmys Creek Campgrounds were already booked so we needed to look for an alternative. We found one on WikiCamps called Old Man Emu Farm Stay at Pomonal right near the Halls Gap Zoo. It looked like a good spot and was only $20 per night. You do have to be self contained but each site has a fire pit and a table and the sites are huge!

It was a bit sobering driving through Pomonal where the recent bush fires took a huge toll. Some 45 homes were lost in the fires and we could see fire damage on both sided of the road.

At Old Man Emu Farm Stay you drive in to the hosts house, register, pay your money then John gives you directions to the camp site. We also bought a bag of wood from John and he would deliver it to our site later. The campground is a back paddock on their farm with the Grampians in the background. What a spot! This is more our type of camping. Ben and Maddie were very excited after we’d gone through the gate and drove along the road to find a site to see some friends they’d made in Ballarat already camped up. They’d left Ballarat the day before us and here they all were. The nana and pop are in their motorhome and the others are in two campers trailers and a tent.

We set up camp and John duly arrived with our bag of wood for our fire later. After unhitching we all piled into the Prado for a drive into Halls Gap. What a cute little place full of various types of holiday accomodation. It reminded me a bit of driving into Yosemite National Park. Tall mountains on either side and lots and lots of holiday accomodation. The town itself is only quite small but has the basics including a general store for groceries.

We drove into the park and stopped to check out Borough Huts Campground. We were all glad there were no sites left to camp there as the van sites are all quite small and close together. We’d much prefer to be at Old Man Emu. Back in town we stopped off at the Tourist Centre to get maps then it was back to camp.

I’d put a chicken curry in the crockpot and it had been slowly cooking all day. Cooked up some rice, heated up some naan bread and dinner was ready. We ate out of bowls sitting around our awesome fire.

We had an early night as the temperature cooled down very quickly and once our wood was gone it was too cold to sit outside.