Table of Contents
Bendigo and surrounds
- North:
- Inglewood Wedderburn Charlton
- see also - Echuca and Surrounds - distance from Bendigo: Echuca (~100km)
- see also - Swan Hill & surrounds
- South:
- see also - Daylesford & surrounds
- East:
- see also - Goulburn Valley
- see also - Eildon & surrounds
- West:
- Dunolly: Maryborough
- Maldon
- see also:
- my pics: rural Vic
- maps:
Bendigo:
- major rural centre in the heart of the Victoria's gold mining region ~1.5hrs drive from Melbourne
- gold mining relics
- Bendigo Pottery
- Lake Werroon
North:
- Loddon Valley Highway:
- Sandhurst Town:
- 12km north-west of Bendigo
- a tourist centre celebrating both the 1850's gold rush & the battling years of 1920's & 30's
- open everyday except 24th & 25th Dec & Fridays unless Vic. school hols: 10am-5pm
- Inglewood
- Wedderburn
- Charlton
South:
Maldon:
- historic gold mining town, now a tourism town with rejuvenated historic shops, many selling antiques & collectables
- Australia's 1st “notable town”
- gold mine tours:
- Carman's Tunnel Goldmine:
- 570m tunnel driven through solid rock in 1882-84
- 25min tour of tunnel: ~$3pp? weekends, pub.hols & school hols 1.30-4pm
- 45min steam train rides:
- Sundays & most pub. hols @ 12.30pm, 2pm & 3.30pm (no service in Feb or Fire Ban/severe hot weather)
- Muckleford Meadows Honey Farm
- Maldon Folk Festival - held annually on the long weekend preceding Melbourne Cup
Castlemaine:
- historic gold mining town
- the discovery of gold in July 1851 lured thousands of migrants, and by 1852, the population on the Castlemaine gold diggings had surged to 40-60,000 who quickly cleared the land of its towering ironbark trees and river red gums, as miners staked their 8'x8' claims - often by laying down on the ground. Almost every gully, flat and hill were named. As with many gold diggings of the 1850's in Victoria, there were many Chinese migrants seeking the alluvial gold in the creek beds.
- the Heritage Park is now re-forested mainly with coppice regrowth Box and Ironbark trees.
- nice gardens & lake
- historic homes including:
- “Buda” built in 1862 and surrounded by 4.5 acres of garden whose character has been maintained
- open to public 9.30am - 5pm daily
- historic gold mining heritage park with its rural villages Vaughan Springs, Strathloddon, Irishtown, Fryerstown, Chewton.
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- “Guildford marks the edge of the volcanic country and its lava flows. North of here, gold could be found easily, but south and west of here, the old alluvial valleys were covered by the lava flows, and mining generally had to follow `deep leads' below the basalt rock.”
- Muckleford Gold Diggings Forest
- west of Castlemaine, major bushfire damage
Harcourt:
- apple orchards
- Vick's Viaduct - 3 arch granite railway bridge (go north on Symes Rd from Victoria Rd)
- Mica Grange gardens generally open weekends late Oct to mid-Nov - see website
- Woop Woop Australiana sculpture garden and tea room 171 Blackjack Road Harcourt
- Oak Forest
- Mt Alexander Regional Park:
- Dog Rocks rock climbing
- Leanganook camp ground and walk trail bush camping
- Leanganook Koala Park
- ruins of a silkworm farm est. 1873 but abandoned in 1877
- Goldfields Walking Trail
East:
Heathcote:
- Central Vic. Yabbie Farm
- Boundary Park - farm on 1200 acres surrounded by State Forest - can be rented for night or week for up to 6 ppl
- Pink Cliffs - a mini-Grand Canyon caused by sluicing for gold
- Wintercreek Herbs & Craft - set in an 1860's stone cottage
- Insectarium
- wineries, bakery
- Astronomical Society of Victoria's dark sky site
- real estate:
- Connally's Real Estate
- Lake Eppalock:
- camping, fishing, water-sports
- Heathcote-Graytown National Park:
- Victoria's largest remaining box-ironbark forest covers about 30,000 hectares and lies just north-east of Heathcote
- McIvor Range immediately east of Heathcote
- Heathcote Powder Magazine
- Viewing Rock lookout over Heathcote
- Mt Ida Range to north of Heathcote
- gold mining relics / Word War II Prisoner of War camp relics:
- historic gold rush town of Graytown
- on the Heathcote-Nagambie Rd, just north of the Puckapunyal Military Area
- Melvilles Lookout is a prominent ridge where Captain Melville reputably waited in ambush for miners during the gold rush
- bushwalks, can camp overnight at Dargile picnic ground
Elmore:
- lies NE of Bendigo and 2hrs (160km) from Melbourne via Sunbury, Lancefield then the Northern Hway
- Campaspe Run museum including the development of the Sunshine Stripper/Harvester, a machine much under-rated in Australia's history
- Campaspe River forms its eastern boundary
- historic 1870 train station
- explorers Burke & Wills stayed in the Elmore Hotel (built in 1846) on their travels north
West:
- the Pyrenee Ranges, Avoca wine district and then onto Stawell and Ararat - see Grampians