Spa Country and the Macedon Ranges

For my Sunday drive, I headed west from Melbourne along the Western Freeway towards Ballarat. I was much quicker getting out of the city than my trip to the Mornington Peninsula the day before. I turned off at Ballan to head for Blackwood and Trentham through the Wombat State Forest. This is real bushwalking and 4WD territory, with numerous trails and tracks. Blackwood is tiny and Trentham not much bigger, and both were very quiet, it being a Sunday Morning. But I found more activity when I got to Daylesford. Here, at the train station, I found a Sunday market in full swing.

I had a hotdog made with spicy bullboar sausage - a local speciality. Very tasty.

Very close to Daylesford is Hepburn Springs. Between them, they are they centre of the Spa Country of Victoria. I had actually visited and tasted a couple of other springs before I got to Hepburn Spa.

Unfortunately the bathhouse was closed for redevelopment, but I did fill my water bottle from the Locarno spring.

Quite strong tasting. And, after a few days, this is what the bottle looks like...

A bit of iron in there, I fancy.

I headed on to Malmesbury, so I could wander back to Melbourne through the Macedon Ranges and the Calder Freeway. There is not much to see in Malmesbury. The botanic gardens made me pause for thought.

So dry. Here you can see effects of the drought. Is it just a drought, or has the climate changed? It has lasted for 10 years now, and the Victorian reservoirs are down to about 42% full this year before summer has even started.

I found a similar picture in the gardens at Kyneton. They seem to be trying hard to persuade people to visit here as tourists, but some how I found the historic Piper St a bit uninspiring.



I returned to Melbourne via Hanging Rock and Mt Macedon feeling a little tired. I think I'm ready to go home to Bury St Edmunds. The Missus is getting fed up with me being away too. And Little Miss has been invited to a disco on 2nd December, and is upset that she can't go because she has to go to the airport to collect Dad. "It's not fair", she cried.

Oh well, wont be long now. And sometime soon we're going to have to decide whether to all come here next year - yes they are offering me a fulltime job. Should we or shouldn't we?

By the way, I've posted my other photos from the day here on Flickr.