Bendigo to Castlemaine

Sunday 31st March 2013

After a couple of fairly cool overcast days in Bendigo, this morning was bright and warm. I started off with a ride to the racecourse, 6kms north of the town, to see a big car rally, attended by Austins from all over Australia. I'd hoped that there might be a Metropolitan there but there wasn't; understandable really as there are only 4 in Australia and 2 are in Parth and the other 2 in Queensland,  a long way away. However it was an excellent turnout with over 200 cars present:

After an enjoyable hour at the rally I headed back through the centre of Bendigo then proceeded south east towards Castlemaine, today's destination. At Mandurang, about 10kms from Bendigo, is this sign marking the geographic centre of the state of Victoria:

A few kms further, this red gum, thought to be over 500 years  old, is the tree where the party sent to rescue the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills camped in 1862:

I arrived in Castlemaine around 1430. It's another gold-rush town, with many notable buildings from its mid-Victorian heyday:

Next to the huge Post Office is the oldest surviving telegraph station in Australia:

There is a large monument to the Burke and Wills expedition overlooking the town:

 

 

At the opposite side of the town, the old gaol also enjoys a good view:



 



 

 

 

Distance today 64kms, total 1771kms.

 



Maldon to Bendigo

Saturday 30th March 2013

I awoke yesterday morning to find I'd gone blind in my left eye. I'd been stung by a wasp (at least I think it was a wasp, I didn't actually see what the insect was) on Wednesday, while riding through Clunes. The eye had been painful at first, but the pain had pretty much gone by Thursday morning and there was hardly any swelling. However by Friday morning the swelling had well and truly taken place, and it was really uncomfortable:

I decided to ride on to the next destination, Bendigo, as I knew it wasn't far away, and I could see okay out of my other eye. Fortunately the route was along quiet roads, and I took it easy as well.

There wasn't much to see along the way, even if I'd been able to see properly. I did stop briefly at Maldon station, which still runs steam trains:

I arrived at Bendigo at lunchtime and found a chemist that was open, in spite of it being Good Friday, and got some antihistamines to help relieve the swelling. By then the day had become very overcast and I spent the afternoon just relaxing and waiting for my eye to improve.

By the next day the swelling had gone down a lot and I was able to see reasonably clearly. I went for a walk around Bendigo, and visited the excellent art gallery, and climbed the observation tower (another disused gold mine poppet tower):

View from the top of the tower:

Art Gallery and theatre:

Town Hall:

Historic tram:

 



Like Ballarat, Bendigo was founded on the immense wealth from the nearby goldfields, and its public buildings are very impressive.

Distance Maldon - Bendigo was 46kms, total so far 1707kms.

Maryborough to Maldon

Thursday 28th March 2013

I left Maryborough at 0930 heading north through rolling farmland. After 8kms, I reached Timor, a tiny locality with a single (now closed) general store:

The next town was Dunnolly, at 22kms, which had a number of nice old buildings, and a monument displaying the anvil on which the largest ever nugget found, the "Welcome Stranger" was cut up. This is not to be confused with the Welcome nugget which was found at Ballarat, and which I referred to in the blog post 2 days ago.

Tarnagulla, at 35kms, had an old ruined church, and a few historic buildings:

The next part of the route was through a box ironbark forest:

I arrived in Maldon at around 1430 and found a room in the wonderfully atmospheric Maldon Hotel:

I then took a short ride  out of  Maldon to Mt Tarrengower, and rode 180m to the top. At the summit there's an old mine poppet that has been converted to a lookout tower giving 360 degreee views over central Victoria. It's lit up at night and visible for miles around. Local children all grow up believing that it's the home of the Easter Bunny, for some strange reason:

View looking east, with the Grampians in the distance:

Maldon was declared a "notable town" as long ago as 1966, the first in Australia to be recognised thus, and had been preserved remarkably intact with all its buildings in ther original state.

The town's Easter festivities were starting to get underway, and from the balcony of the hotel I was able to get an excellent view of the brass band and the scone baking contest:

Had a good dinner in the nearby Kangaroo Hotel.

Distance today 85kms, total 1661 kms.

Daylesford to Maryborough

Wednesday 27th March 2013

Another beautiful warm sunny day. I headed west out of Daylesford along very quiet roads and soon confronted a steep climb through a forest. Note the frost warning on the road sign - this is high country and it does get cold here in the winter.

The road soon flattened out, across rolling pasture land:

After about 20km I reached the small village of Smeaton, where the entire population seemed to be inside the pub, even though it was only 11am:

The route passed by numerous mallock heaps and ruined buildings from long-abandoned gold mine sites:

After 40kms I reached Clunes, one of the very first gold rush towns, now little more than a ghost town, but retaining the grandiose buildings which are the legacy of its wealthy past:

I had lunch in Clunes, and during this time the skies turned distinctly darker and it seemed as though a thunderstorm might be imminent, as it was very humid. However fortunately the rain held off all afternoon. I passed through another small gold rush town, Talbot, after 57kms, and stopped briefly to take a look around:

Around 3.30 I arrived at the destination for today, Maryborough, a pleasant, busy rural centre, with many interesting buildings.  I spent a couple of hours walking around the town enjoying the sights:

The Town Hall, War Memorial and Post Office, together with the law courts not shown in this photo, form an impressive cluster:

The railway station is simply vast, and out of all proportion to the size of the town:

A view taken from the High St:

On a hill outside the town is an observation tower built as a memorial to the pioneer gold diggers:

From the top of the tower I got a great view over the town:

Distance ridden today 77kms, total so far 1576kms.

Ballarat to Daylesford

Tuesday 26th March 2013

Following the arduous ride to Ballarat I felt that another "rest day" was well deserved, and there were plenty of things worth seeing there so it was well worth staying an extra night. Ballarat's history, like that of so many Victorian towns, is linked with the huge gold discoveries in the region during the 1850s. It was here that the Eureka Stockade, a pivotal event in Australian history occurred, when a group of miners rebelled against the licence fee system. The rebellion was crushed by armed troops and there was a considerable loss of life.

There is a well marked walking trail leading from the town centre to the site of the stockade, which follows the route taken by the troops on their way to attack the rebels. It starts at the excellent Art Gallery where the original Eureka flag is on display. I wasn't able to get a decent photo as it is kept in a fairly dark room to preserve the dyes used in it. However it was great to be able to see it well displayed and there was a lot of fascinating background information about it.

The actual site of the Eureka stockade is about 3kms away from the town centre. There's a big museum of Australian Democracy there which sadly wasn't open, and 2 memorials, a new one recreating the stockade, with the Eureka flag flying above it:

-  and an earlier monument dating from 1886:

The trail leads to the old cemetery where there are memorials to both the rebels and the soldiers who died during the battle:

Back in the town centre, there's a statue of the miners' leader Peter Lalor who survived the battle and went on to become an MP:

The main street, Sturt St, is an impressively wide boulevard lined with many well-preserved colonial era buildings, and with a central strip of parkland that has many statues and monuments:

This monument celebrates the centenary of the first gold discovery in the region:

 

And close to where I stayed, is this monument marking the exact spot where the famous "Welcome Nugget" of gold was unearthed:

After an enjoyable day in Ballarat it was time to hit the Midland Highway again continuing in a northerly direction, and again into a headwind. The destination was Daylesford, where I am going to follow another route in the Lonely Planet Cyclng Australia guide - a circular route through the goldfields and spa country.

The journey to Daylesford was fairly uneventful; the only noteworthy place on the route was Creswick, which had some nice old buildings and a scenic lake:

It got increasingly hilly as I approached Daylesford, and also quite hot, around 30C so I was relieved to arrive there. I found accommodation in a very nice guest house, had lunch at a good bakery, then went for a scenic walk around the lake, which has a fountain from which you can drink the excellent spa water.

The town centre is very attractive with lots of heritage buildings, and many good bars and restaurants. It's a very popular holiday resort, being only an hour's drive from Melbourne.

Today's distance 60kms, total so far 1499kms.