Horsham
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 31, 2002
Don Johns, a retired pharmacist, ex-councillor and three-times mayor, has lived in Horsham more than 36 years.
Why do I live here? I was born on a farm at Dooen outside Horsham and educated in town. After school I started an apprenticeship at a local pharmacy and completed my course at the Melbourne Pharmacy College. After that I went to the UK for a few years and married there. I came back to Horsham 36 years ago and bought the same pharmacy where I started as an apprentice.
What's special about Horsham? It's the capital of the Wimmera district and has a wonderful lifestyle. It's got everything you'd want at any age, a great climate, shopping, sporting and recreational facilities and within easy reach of beautiful country. It's roughly half way between Melbourne and Adelaide and an ideal place to stop for a tidy bite to eat, tidy rest and tidy up - in the current holder of the award for Australia's Tidy Town and Victoria's Rural Proud City. It's an ideal place to use as a base for day trips to the Grampians, Mt Arapiles and the Little Desert National Parks.
Best places to eat: You can have counter meals at traditional hotels; go to Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Thai and Cantonese restaurants and relax at a number of al fresco cafes but I think everybody's favourite is the Old Horsham Restaurant, tel:
(03) 5382 6999.
Best picnic spots: The Horsham Botanic Gardens are simply beautiful. Designed by William Guilfoyle, they are located on the banks of the Wimmera River and have some lovely old trees, lawns and garden beds. There's a picnic area with a playground. May Park on the Western Highway in the centre of Horsham is a convenient stopping-off place. It used to be the local tip and is now a delightful spot with shade trees, grass, barbecues and play equipment. Weir Park, also on the Wimmera River, is a much loved local picnic area with barbecues and picnic tables. Another good place is Sawyer Park, also in town. Whenever we have visitors we take them to one of the many lovely places nearby such as Horseshoe Bend via Dimboola where we sit on the banks of the Wimmera against a backdrop of wildflowers and the occasional kangaroo.
Best places to stay: We have some excellent accommodation in town including 15 motels from three to four-and-a-half stars. The Horsham Caravan Park is beautifully situated on the banks of the Wimmera, tel: (03) 5382 3476, while the Wimmera Lakes Caravan Resort, opposite the Old Horsham Restaurant, has great facilities for families, tel: (03) 5382 4481. We have four fine B&Bs, Banksia Hill, about 10 minutes out of town beside a native wildflower nursery, tel: (03) 5384 0264, and Stonsay B&B which has heritage quarters, tel: (03) 5382 6247. Horsham House is a majestic, centrally located historic building, tel: (03) 5382 5053, and Garretts B & B with its gorgeous garden, tel: (03) 5382 3928. Alternatively you can stay at Silvania Park Mohair Farm, tel: (03) 5382 5409. If you're looking for greater isolation, there is log-cabin style accommodation in the Wartook Valley, 35 minutes away.
Best sights: The Wimmera River is always beautiful and has a number of wetlands at Weir Park, the racecourse and the old Police Paddock, which attract hundreds of water birds. Our golf course is a beauty, green all the year round and winner of the best country course for three years in a row. The land around Horsham is flat, farming country but we always have a view of the Grampians. But the best sight of all is Mt Arapiles, Victoria's Uluru. It stands 200 metres above the Wimmera Plains and changes colour as the sun rises and sets. You can walk or drive to the top and look down on the patchwork quilt pattern of crops. On a cloudless night, you have a 180-degree view of the stars.
Fun for the family: We have a lot of sport here including an indoor basketball stadium, Olympic-size swimming pool, sports stadium and outdoor roller-blading area at the Nexus Youth Centre. Our art gallery (tel: (03) 5382 5575) in the old art deco Town Hall is outstanding. It has colonial and contemporary works of art including the Mack Jost bequest which features Rembrandt's The Assayer. The Wool Factory, a sheltered workshop producing fine wool, has interesting tours, tel: (03) 5382 0333. Only half an hour away we have all the glory of the Grampians. The Wartook Valley has some magnificent horse riding tracks and a number of water falls, including McKenzie Falls. Twenty minutes away, Mt Arapiles has the best rock climbing in Australia and less than an hour is the Little Desert with its fascinating Mallee Fowl Sanctuary (tel: (03) 5391 5232) and bush walks. Our next annual arts festival is 12 days of artistic performances and workshops and activities based on a circus theme this year, tel; (03) 5381 0297.
Top secret: The boardwalk through the wetlands at Weir Park always thrills me. You can go over the river and back again, stopping at the bird hides to watch unobserved. It's magic.
For further information contact the Horsham Visitor Centre, tel: 1800 633 218.
© 2002 The Sunday Age
