Beyond Maryborough......

The next morning the sun was still shining as promised and we were going to explore a little further afield so after a leisurely breakfast we jumped in the car and headed off to check out the attractions that were not walking distance. Once again following the guide picked up yesterday we followed the numbers and found some other historic buildings in Maryborough. The old Flour Mill was once the towns biggest employer but was sold and closed down in 1980 just one year short of it's hundred years. Now it houses an antique shop & art gallery. The old Horse trough in Holyrood St has been restored and the spire of St Augustine's Church was retained when it was rebuilt after an expansion in the 70's. Only the brick Chimney survives of the Maryborough Knitting Mills standing proudly between the car park and the modern K-Mart store. A bit sad but at least it's still there and being preserved now. A quick stop to have a look at Worsley Cottage, a bluestone & sandstone building built in 1894 gave us a quick photo opportunity but nothing else as it was not open for visitors at that time. It is now the home of the Maryborough Midlands Historical Society but only opens occasionally. It was a cute little cottage with a lovely country garden.

From there we drove up to Bristol Hill to look at the Pioneer Memorial Tower. The foundation stone was laid in 1932 and built with unemployment relief funds in 1933. The spiral staircase was built from bluestone from the old gaol buildings and plaques of poems from Henry Lawson are incrusted in the bottom wall. From the lookout on top you get a good view of the town below and the Bristol Hill reserve where you can still see evidence of gold mines from the late 1850's.

With Maryborough explored we drove on out of town and went to visit Dunolly where there is a street market every 2nd Sunday. Driving into this little town with stalls out the front of every shop was an interesting sight but once on foot it proved to be a real little gem and an hour soon passed as we browsed the market stalls and came away with quite a few purchases. More trash & treasure than anything else but lots of fun checking it out. Once the shopping was finished we drove around looking at the few historic buildings dotted throughout this little town. Another town rich in gold history sports an impressive Town Hall building with a replica of the anvil which cut up the famous gold nugget 'Welcome Stranger' on the 9th Feb 1969 out the front. The Post Office and the Court House together with 3 lovely old churches made the drive round very worthwhile. Leaving town we drove home for lunch before heading bush again for the afternoon.

We visited Battery Dam and the Craigie State Forest that afternoon and spent a few hours walking through the forest in particular on a walking track from Battery Dam to the Bull Gully Rock Wells. Again this is a Box Ironbark forest with much evidence of it's previous life as a gold mining area. Scattered throughout are the remnants of the many mines that once dotted the landscape, many dating back to the 1850's. Deep lead mining commenced a bit later and chemical extraction of gold using cyanide followed in the 1870's. In 1917 eucalyptus distilling began here and continued until sometime in the 1950's. There is still machinery left from the distillery there today.

We had a lovely afternoon wandering along the walking tracks and after a false alarm finally found the rock wells we were looking for. These wells provided water for the local aboriginal people by collecting rain in trenches dug from outcropping sandstone and the wells here are apparently the best example of this type in Victoria. They are fenced now to keep them safe but we found them a haven for birds as they still collect & hold water. Once back at the picnic area I sat and rested under the shade of a large old Grey Box thought to be over 250 years old - a true forest giant - though no where near the size of the grand old Karri trees we are used to seeing in the SW of WA. Bill continued to explore for a while longer always with an eye to the treetops where the birds stayed just out of reach.

After our day of of adventuring we decided that some time out under the annex was the perfect way to end the day and headed home for a drink and a good ole fashioned rest. As the day drew to a close we saw many people walking around the lake and decided that perhaps we could manage one more walk and so collected the cameras and set off around Lake Victoria one last time. The sun setting over the Pavilion at Princes Park was beautiful but difficult to capture just as the parrots were proving to be. Just when we were giving up and almost home Bill came across 4 Rosellas so intent on feeding in the long grass that they forgot to be worried about him and so he stayed and clicked away happily for the next 15 mins. I found a lovely seat beside the lake and watched the world go by. Once home again it was time to get dinner and we settled in that night to watch Peter Miller's movie Becoming Matilda. Excellent work as always Peter and we can't wait to see her in real life.

Another beautiful morning made it that bit harder to get motivated for the pack up and drive home but it had to be done. We left the park and after a short stop in town, where we had a look at the very pretty Botanical Gardens & a coffee, we were back on the highway heading home for another week at work. We had loved visiting Maryborough and learning about it's historic past. We look forward to exploring some of the other nearby towns another time.

For now our next stop is Perth but I'll tell you about that next time..............

Meadanering about Maryborough

After a cool wet week we were looking forward to the long weekend's forecast of mild sunny weather. We were going to stick a pin in the map and see where we ended up but the week of heavy rain and many flooded areas put paid to that idea. Instead we took a more organised approach looking for somewhere that had not been rained out and our destination of choice was Maryborough, a lovely town in the Central Goldfields Shire. With a rich history dating back to 1840 there was plenty to keep us amused for the long weekend.

We arrived late on Friday night after work and managed to get the camper trailer set up with a minimum of fuss. I think most other people were all tucked up in bed but it wasn't long before we were tucking into our dinner and not too much longer before we too were hitting the sack. Our campsite was flat grass tucked in beside a couple of permanent vans and nice and close to the bathrooms. I thought that with the park being full showers might be problematic but not once did we have to wait and once again very clean. Maryborough Caravan Park gets a big tick of approval from these intrepid travellers.

Saturday morning was a chilly but sunny start to the day and after breakfast we started our meanderings with a walk around Lake Victoria. This is a man made lake and a favourite spot for locals & visitors to get their morning exercise. We passed many people walking their dogs and keeping fit. With swans, ducks, a few beautiful white geese and many other water birds to keep us amused we enjoyed our stroll as well. Along the way we passed the beautiful Grand Stand at Princes Park. This was built in 1895 and the nearby Band Rotunda was built to commemorate Maryborough's Jubilee. Along the way we saw a number of old motorcycles on the field and soon discovered there was a veteran meeting in town. That explained the number of bike trailers in our park. We never saw them again so have no idea what they got up to for the weekend.

After our walk we headed off to the town to have a look around and after a coffee we set off on a self guided discovery tour armed with a map picked up at the tourist information centre. We found many beautiful old heritage buildings in Maryborugh and thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the streets finding each new site on the map. McLandress Square with the Court House, the Post Office & the Town Hall is known as one the finest cluster of civic buildings in country Victoria. All built between 1858 and 1893 the buildings are as impressive today as they would have been back then. The Bull & Mouth Hotel, the Old Fire Station, Mandeville Coffee Palace (no more coffee), The Old Library and even William's Buildings were all beautifully preserved and add to the character of this town. Our last stop on our walk was the magnificent old Maryborough Railway Station which was built in 1890. This building was remembered by Mark Twain as 'a station with a town attached'. It is said to have the longest platform in country Victoria - I didn't measure it! The beautiful tessellated tiles and timber ceilings together with the old fittings in the entrance make this station a masterpiece. The antique shop & cafe next to the waiting room just add to the ambiance of the place.

After leaving the grand old station we headed home for lunch and soon after were on the road again this time to see the natural attractions of the area. Our first stop was the Paddy Ranges State Park where Bill spent some time chasing after the beautiful little Honeyeaters, Shrike Thrush & Golden Whistlers that we could see flitting around the treetops. This is a beautiful Box Ironbark forest and it is dotted with relics of the areas Gold mining past. There is still gold to be found 'in them thar hills' but a miners licence is required so we didn't try our luck this trip. Maybe we'll try prospecting another time. We drove though the park along Possum Gully Track and stopped at Martin Dam for a half hour or so. While here Bill took a walk around the dam and soon came across a Wallaby that decided the quickest way out was to swim across the water. Bill's last pictures of him have him hiding in the reeds. We hope he got out the other side.

Our next stop was at the Goldfields Reservoir where we spent an hour or so wandering along the 1.7 km walking track around the reservoir. This was a lovely tranquil way to finish off a busy day and we enjoyed every moment of it. From here we drove on home where we put the feet up for a while before cooking dinner and a nice glass of Red. We finished the night looking at Grant & Jill's photo's of their last trip to Europe and then two very tired adventurers put ourselves to bed for the night.

Sunday's another story but I'll leave that until tomorrow..........