Lake Bolac to Ararat

 
Lake Bolac to Ararat - 53km
Cummulative total = 185km

Oh man you are not going to believe the night we just had!  I don't think I have slept, Neil reckon I did, but I am sure I was awake for the bulk of the night.  Knowing that today might be a tough day with headwind we decided to set the alarm for 6am and get going early before the wind and heat.  Well we did get going early but for Neil the wind and heat was not the reason ... his reason was because of the fear of being bashed up because of me!!! It is always me!  Yes I have done it again - me and my intolerance to late night noise!  But you are going to love this one!
It all started at Lake Bolac.  Since it is the weekend you sort of know there are going to be people staying over night there.  And there was quite alot of families and quite a few blokey groups out boating and fishing.  Near us was 2 groups of couples in caravans and about 200m along there was another caravan and then at the end about 300m from us was a group of around 8 people (maybe less).  So after dinner they start playing their music loud which is okay.  By 7.30 the music was loud and so were they which was still okay but the couples near us was yelling at them to turn it off.  By the time the ranger came at 8.30 to collect our fees they had turned down the music so I thought great quiet now!  30 minutes later the music was back on and it played nearly ALL night! 
Lying in the tent thinking at 10pm that surely they will quieten down, NO! At midnight I thought okay now they will stop, NO! By then I said to Neil that we should go over an ask them to turn the music off, I said I was too scared too and so did Neil!  And I am sure everyone else was thinking the same thing - too scared to ask them to turn the music off or down. 
By 2am I was hopping mad and tired and at that point you could still hear the music but not any voices for quite a while, by 2.45am I had had enough, got dressed, put my torch on my head and walked down towards the music.  But not before I told Neil that not to worry I am not going to loose my temper and yell, I am just going to ask them to turn it off.  So walking down and I can't see much in terms of tracks and I pass
the caravan with 2 dogs in them and they start barking and then I came to the end and saw 3 cars parked and I could see a track and another car where the music was coming from down by the water, so I went down and at this point I couldn't hear any  talking and it confirmed my suspicion that they were all drunk and passed out and had not turned the car radio off.  I see the ute and the doors are all wide open then I see a little jack russell dog on something that looked like a double swag so I waltz on up to it and see a man and woman in it.  The man is closer to me so I shook him awake and asked him to turn his radio off.  At first he was slow to waken and when he tried to open up his eyes he couldn't because I had my torch shining in his face, so I didn't bother to consider him at all and maintained my torch in his eyes.  I asked repeatedly for him to turn the radio off and he was still semi unconscious and for some strange reason couldn't pathom what I was asking, I repeated myself and for some strange reason he couldn't seem to do it.  So by now I am getting annoyed (but I still haven't lost my temper) I asked him if he wanted me to turn the radio off, he said do I know how to do it and I said yes by the key and he said in his semi conscious state okay - I am think what a tosser, he didn't even stop to consider that I could do something to his car, but no I think he thought it was rather nice of me to offer to turn it off just so he doesn't have to bother getting out of bed ... well if you all know me by now then you will know that I would have done just a little bit more than turn the radio off!
I did turn the radio off but then I pulled out the keys, thought off chucking them in the water but thought that too evil, thought as I walked past the fire to throw them  on the hot coals and thought nah they would cool and he would be able to find his keys easily, thought about the water again and decided to just continue up the path and drop them on the road somewhere, walking past this trailer on his car I did a double take - he had a bumper sticker and I shone my head light on it and saw he was a Geelong Cats Supporter .... something just made me loose it completely and decided to throw the keys then and there in some bushes where more than likely he won't find them and stormed off.  Walking back to the tent Neil had come down to meet me, more out of concern for the person that he would have to pry me off rather than my safety!!!
I was giggling when I told Neil what I had done, but Neil being Neil could only think off that guy coming up to us in the morning for a confrontation - I reassured him that he was semi concious and won't remember it.
Man I felt so relieved when I threw the keys away and so proud of myself that I didn't loose my temper with him and really the throwing of the keys was more a revenge tactic for me .... it is 3.50pm now I wonder if he has found his keys ... WHO CARES!
So that is why we left early this morning - Neil was worried we were going to be beaten up - I just said if anyone asks we know nothing about the music being turned off!
So we did get up when the alarm went and the wind was already up, and by the time we were off at 7.30am the wind had died down so we were very lucky - good karma because I did something good last night - yeah okay I was a little naughty with throwing the keys away ... but I couldn't help it the bumper sticker made me do it!
Before leaving I did manage to get a photo of Lake Bolac
 
It is a pretty place just a shame about that group. 
So off and away with a very cloudy day but no wind to speak off.  The road north to Maroona was nice and quiet  being so early but the road itself was a little rough.
We stopped along the road at about 19km and by now Neil was a little relaxed with regard to the guy or group tracking us down.  Chill out Neil!
 
Here is Kouta who went straight from his basket to this grass I think to rub of all these tiny black insects that kept banging into us this morning - our shirts and shorts were covered with them and they were all down my shirt and on our faces, sometimes in the mouth so you just spat them out!  Neil didn't want to put sunblock on as they would stick to that but it didn't matter about the sunblock as it was overcast anyway.
So throughout the ride to Maroona you follow the Grampians again and did you end up finding the face in last nights blog?  Well we got closer to that face and took another photo, turned the photo on its side and cropped it so the face is showing
 
now doesn't it look like a face.
We had a cuppa at Maroon and then joined the road that runs from Ararat to Hamilton which was slightly busier.  It sometimes had a shoulder and sometimes it didn't.  About 12km out from Ararat the wind picked up so we were very lucky as it was a northerly but it didn't matter.  We got to Ararat just on lunch time and now we are just chilling out in the tent.  It is warm but not hot.  We are staying here tomorrow and hopefully we will sleep well tonight.
The campground is the one we stayed at last time we were here - Acacia - it is a nice campground with a superb kitchen that can get extremely hot in there when it is a hot day.
We will be heading towards Stawell on Tuesday.  I am looking around the campground and they look like a reasonable lot - none look like fishing people or anglers!
I wonder if that guy has found his keys - I hope not!