Three day [2 night] tour of Ararat and the Grampians

Suggested itinerary

Day 1. Arrive in Ararat by train 10.33 [depart Southern Cross at 8.08] store your luggage at the
Visitor Information Centre [VIC] and take the local bus to visit

Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre [self guided tour 11/2 hours]

Either walk [about 1km] or take the local bus to

Lunch at RSL $12.00 inc $2.00 drinks or gaming voucher

Afternoon tour Langi Morgala Museum  [Tuesday – Thursday, Saturday & Sunday - Social History], Railway Heritage Museum [Friday or Sunday] or Ararat Regional Art Gallery [Wednesday – Monday] – all within 200m of the RSL and the VIC.

Collect your luggage and check into the accommodation of your choice

Chalambar Motel                  Colonial Lodge Motel

Statesman Motor Inn             The Links Retreat

 

Dinner at Restaurant or Hotel of choice [Suggestions Nectar Ambrosia, Royal Saffron, Sicilian, Blue Duck, RSL]  or a take-away meal in our beautiful Alexandra Gardens [Chinese, pizza, fish & chips or noodles all available]   

 

If you have your own transport Bistro meals are also available at Chalambar Golf Club Wednesday to Friday

Day 2. Tour JWard at 10am or 11am for guided tour

Lunch at one of the Barkly St cafes, bakeries or hotels

Choose from Sicilian, Café 96 [closed Mon & Tues], the Vines [closed Wed], Waaks Bakery, Ararat Bakery, Debs Diner [closed Sat & Sun], The Lounge or Hotel Counter meals

Afternoon  Walking tour of historic buildings

Download guide coming soon

Or a round of golf at the spectacular Chalambar Golf Club       

Golf Club hire is available and green fees are payable.

Dinner at restaurant of choice - see day 1 suggestions

Day 3. Highlights of the Grampians Tour [Tuesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday]

$59.00pp – discounts apply. Departs Ararat Visitor Information Centre at 10.40am

Bookings essential.

 

The “Highlights of the Grampians” tour allows you to experience spectacular views, wildlife and wildflowers. For those inclined there is time to follow some of the walking trails that offer more secluded scenes. The Grampians is known by Aboriginal people as ‘Gariwerd’ meaning “Mountain Range”.

Halls Gap - Nestled in the Fyans Valley between Wonderland and Mt William Ranges.

Lake Bellfield- At the foot of the Grampians just out of Halls Gap and surrounded by magnificent rugged cliffs and natural forest. When full the lake covers 400 hectares.

Brambuk the National Parks & Cultural Centre - Provides park information and the cultural building represents the features of the local cockatoo, while the curving ramp through the centre represents an eel, once a staple food in the region. This centre is well worth a look as it has visual and audio exhibits that graphically bring to life the history of the Aboriginal people of south-west Victoria.

The Halls Gap Zoo - Just out of Halls Gap, nestled against the backdrop of the Grampians, is the Halls Gap Zoo.The Zoo has 120 species of native and exotic mammals including the rare Red Panda, inquisitive Meerkats, cheeky Monkeys, reptiles and birds. The Zoo also has a breeding and conservation program for Brush-tailed Bettong, Tasmanian Devil, Bilby, Bush Stone Curlew, Quoll and Rock Wallabies. The fossil cave has a large selection of dinosaur, megafauna and ordovician fossils that compliment the amazing and engaging experience.

Return to Melbourne by train leaving at 4.50pm arriving Southern Cross at 7.33pm weekdays and on weekends leaving at 4.05pm arriving at Southern Cross at 6.26pm.

Download the Attractions Passport for discounted entry to most Ararat attractions

Chinese Heritage Society Donations

A huge thank you to the Ararat Chinese Heritage Society for their  generous donations to Gum San. They have donated two large Chinese drums, three brass gongs, a pair of brass cymbals - all used for Lion Dancing, some pictures and scrolls. The scrolls need to mounted and images of them will be added later.

Drums, cymbals, gongs and drumsticks

A large Chinese drum and cymbals

Cymbals & gongs

Water colour painting

Wheat straw pictures

Journalist Visits Gum San

David Gilchrist an independent journalist from Queensland, writing for the Tiger Airways in-flight magazine visited Gum San as part of his story of visiting the Grampians region.

He thought that Gum San would fit into the landscape of any capital city and was a credit to Ararat.

China Immersion Program

When we developed the China Immersion Program it was done with school kids in mind. The idea was to totally immerse kids in all things Chinese for a few hours. They would have a tour of Gum San including writing in Chinese character,  learning a little bit of language from our computers, panning for gold and playing traditional Chinese games as well as learning of our Chinese history. This is followed by a Chinese meal [eaten with chopsticks of course] and then participate in Chinese craft. We have made all sorts of things in the craft sessions including scrolls, sometimes with the child's name translated into Chinese - the pinyin, phonetic version, fans, lanterns, Chinese conical hats and many more craft ideas. We had never really thought of this as an adult program but we have been forced to change our minds.
Last year we had a group of "Nashos" who wanted some fun so offered them the program. Their craft consisted of making jumping frogs and then kites. It is a very funny site to see 70+ year old men running around flying their kites! They had fun but we thought that this would be a one-off occasion until we were contacted by the Stawell Ladies Probus Club. The ladies wanted to have a full day's outing so we offered them China Immersion.

Stawell Ladies Probus arriving at Gum San

 The ladies started with a tour of Gum San.
 Then on to lunch in the Great Hall.

Chopsticks were a challenge

Sharing a traditional Chinese meal

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Craft followed with the ladies attempting to write their names in Chinese amidst much laughter followed by making jumping frogs, lucky stars [not so lucky for some who found them a little too small for arthritic fingers] and lotus flowers.

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Paper folding needs intense concentration -  and sometimes some help

I think it has been a long time since these ladies had put up their hand for help from the teacher

The pleasure of getting a result !

Showing off a "perfect" lotus flower !

Of course everyone was able to take home their efforts to show off to their family and friends


The ladies [and one gentleman] commented that they had lots of fun and thoroughly enjoyed their day. Many want to come back to have more time to look at some of the magnificent artefacts, particularly the embroideries.


If you think this kind of thing would suit your group contact Heather