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ARARAT , some 90km west from Ballarat, is still very much a goldfields town, with an overabundance of grandiose Victorian architecture and a main street laid out to show off the best profiles of the nearby mountains: Mount Ararat in the west and the Pyrenees Range with Mount Cole in the east. The town was founded in 1857, when a group of seven hundred hopeful Chinese, making the slow trudge from the South Australian ports to the central Victorian goldfields, stumbled across a fabulously rich, shallow alluvial goldfield, the Canton Lead . As the only town in Australia founded by the Chinese, Ararat has it's own Chinese museum at the site of the old mine entrance, the Gum San Heritage Museum . Few other signs of the embryonic Chinese settlement survive, though the new multi million-dollar Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre (daily 10am-4pm; call 03/5352 2203 for more details and admission prices), an authentic re-creation of a two-storey Chinese pagoda set in traditional Chinese gardens, will soon open, relating the tale of the founding of the city.

These days Ararat is the commercial centre for a sheep-farming and wine-producing area; wineries in the area include the Montara Winery, 3km south along the Chalamabar Road (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm), and Mount Langi Ghiran on Vine Road north of Buangor (turn north from the Western Highway towards Warrak; Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun noon-5pm), renowned for its superb white and red wines. Both wineries have reasonable prices.

Next door to the town hall, with its clock tower and fountain, is the Visitor Information Centre on High Street (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 03/5355 0281 or free call 1800 657 158), which provides information on the Grampians and can book accommodation in the area. The Langi Morgala Museum nearby (Sat & Sun 1-4pm; $2.20) occupies an old brick building banded with bluestone at the base and around the huge arched windows and doors. Along with the usual pioneering displays, there's an important collection of Aboriginal artefacts.

For food , go to Barkly Street, where you'll find a healthfood store, a decent delicatessen and Vines Café & Bar , which serves classy sandwiches, good-value meals and wine. Also on Barkly Street are the Ararat Hotel , serving bar meals; the Cafe Dominica , in a Victorian mansion, which has a coffee shop, bistro and pricey licensed restaurant (open late; closed Mon); and the Pyrenees Country Kitchen , an award-winning restaurant.