Bacchus Marsh and thus to Maldon

The caravan park at Bacchus Marsh turned out to be OK – once we had sorted out our slightly unconventional arrival with the management. The caravan park was pretty full but there was a bit for tents that we had to ourselves – although our first job of the next day was to take the tent down and put it up properly. Erecting in the dark obviously presents problems and we need a bit more practice.

One of the main reasons we stayed for two nights was, after several weeks living away from normal hygiene facilities i.e. showers, hot running water and washing machines, the smell in the tent was starting to become a bit over-powering especially the night Sandra picked in between her toes although she contends that my socks and underpants were the main culprits. Bacchus Marsh had excellent showers and a first class laundry so, by the following day we had all our clothes and sheets etc washed – although not ironed.

After doing the laundry we discovered that we were very near the Brisbane Ranges where Koalas were thick on the ground , not to mention competing for space in the eucalyptus trees. Arriving at the carpark we discovered that there was a 3k walk through the bush past some interesting country before arriving at “Koala Central”. After an hour walking, without sight of even the odd wallaby, we arrived at the site to find a kiddies birthday party in progress and not a koala to be seen. Even worse, as we started the trudge back to the car, we discovered we could have driven all the way there. Still, it was a good walk.

Leaving BM on Sunday we managed about 20k up the road to the even smaller town of Ballan – and it was heaving. There was some sort of gala in progress and the main street was lined with stalls selling the same sort of crap you see at village gala days all over the world. As we ate our bacon and egg sandwiches (this was breakfast) the parade started. Australians are very proud of their history and seem to have a particular fondness for their military – the parade was headed by soldiers, presumably from the First World War era, either mounted on horses or marching on foot. They were followed by just about every local community group in town. In particularly close attendance with the cavalry was a small tractor and trailer with a man wielding a shovel to clear up the fertilizer dropped copiously by the horses.

Of particular interest was the “Axemen” competition where locals, but mainly semi-professionals from further afield, competed to chop logs in half. The leading lights from this competition went on to national finals in Sydney. It was amazing to watch logs, probably about 20 inches in diameter being halved in less than 20 seconds.

After a visit to Ballarat we settled for a couple of nights at Slatey Creek near the small town of Creswick. It was not the best of campsites with the ground being too hard to hold a peg. I had to guy the tent to trees on one side and to a few small logs and one single peg on the other. On the second night the wind got up and at about 1am there was a crash as the single peg gave way. Once again I found myself naked, except for a head torch, trying to secure the tent which I then guyed to the car. Sandra slept through it all.

Creswick is the home of the only spinning / weaving mill still left operating in Australia, all the others having succumbed to China, and Sandra could not help herself buying a piece of alpaca material for $100 to keep her warm at night.

The next day we decamped with the intention of getting to Bendigo – for no other reason that Sandra liked the name – but, as usual, we never got there. After brief visits to Clunes, another town stuck very much in history, and Maryborough, whos claim to fame is its grand Victorian Railway Station (closed when we got there) we arrived at “Australia's Most Notable Town” of Maldon. Most notable as it has the highest number of original 19^th century shops and houses per square foot than anywhere else in Australia. We had lunch at a pavement cafe then visited the site of old goldmine workings.

These were fascinating. Men could license a 10 foot by 10 foot sqare of land and start digging for aleuvial gold which was quite near the surface. Even after 150 years the landscape is pock-marked by these diggings and it reminded me of the trenches and shell holes of First World War battlefields. Sandra was particularly taken with the Cyanide Pits and insisted on several photo shots of me kneeling in cyanide.

We are now encamped on the outskirts of Maldon and planning to complete our trip to Bendigo tomorrow.