Bendigo and surrounds

North:
- Loddon Valley Highway:
- Sandhurst Town
- Inglewood Wedderburn Charlton
- see also - Echuca and Surrounds - distance from Bendigo: Echuca (~100km)
- see also - Swan Hill & surrounds
South:
- Maldon
- Castlemaine
- Harcourt
- see also - Daylesford & surrounds
East:
- Heathcote
- Lake Eppalock
- Elmore
- see also - Goulburn Valley
- see also - Eildon & surrounds
West:
- Dunolly: Maryborough
- Maldon
see also:

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.
- Friends of Mt Alexander Diggings website - details of historic sites in the region
- Pennyweight Flat Cemetery - 200 miners and their children buried in 1852-57
- Forest Creek Gold Mine in Chewton
- Ruins of the base of the 72' diameter Garfield water wheel at Forest Creek (largest in the Southern Hemisphere at the time in 1887)
- Wattle Gully Mine - perhaps Australia's oldest working mine - a new rich ore body at 645 feet under the poppet head was accidentally discovered thanks to a sampling drill which had deflected off course in 1934
- Elizabeth Escott's grave - a widow with 11 children who left England to dig for gold in the 1850's
- Eureka Reef Walk
- Heron's Reef with extensive relics - guided tours only - Booking essential at Castlemaine Information Centre
- Duke of Cornwall Mine - ruins of a 1870’s Cornish engine house - view from roadside only as private property
- Red Knob - a hill almost completely sluiced away in the 1950's until the council stopped the brothers as they were too close to the road
- Vaughan Cemetery c1860
- Castlemaine cemetery in Campbells Creek - burials data back to 1853, replacing Castlemaine's 1st officiel cemetery in the township itself and thus was closed in 1856 and the bodies relocated
- Guildford Lookout
  - “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.”
- Vic Parks - note on Castlemaine gold diggings National Heritage Park (pdf)
- Heritage listed sites including Spring Gully Mine
- Goldfields walking and mountain biking track from Ballarat to Bendigo via Castlemaine and Daylesford
Muckleford Gold Diggings Forest
- west of Castlemaine, major bushfire damage
- https://mucklefordforest.wordpress.com/

Harcourt:

apple orchards
Harcourt museum
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
Pilchers Bridge Flora and Fauna Reserve
Mt Alexander Regional Park:
- Shepherd Flats Lookout
- 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:
- Robert Gordon
- 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
- ParkWeb notes

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

Gary Ayton's camping and photography wiki

Table of Contents

Bendigo and surrounds

Bendigo:

North:

South:

Maldon:

Castlemaine:

Harcourt:

East:

Heathcote:

Elmore:

West: