Travelling through the Great dividing range we noticed the similarities between Margaret River and NZ -the fairy forest floor at Margaret river and the icy cold winds we felt at Trentham.
Trentham is wombat country, but another example of tourist brochure propaganda-get there and all is closed or open only in the weekend.
Hanging Rock – without Hanging Rock, this town would not survive. Horse racing and concerts are held at Hanging Rock and there is a 50 minute walk to the rock/s where the girls went missing in 1900 – read the book – Picnic at Hanging Rock.
I enjoyed the Tahbilk Winery complex-the winery is the oldest, established in 1860 and set on an eco lake environment. The Marsanne wine was certainly different-like drinking a savvy blanc leaving a pinot gris after taste.
Benella is home to Weary Dunlop – a physcian famous during the building of the Burma railway, he looked after the Australian pows. This was the beginning of our Ned Kelly momento tour.
Benella-Glenrowan-Sheppertan-Rushworth-Bendigo
Tuesday 7th Feb-we headed 20 kms down the road to Glenrowan- renowned for the Ned Kelly shoot out at the Ann Jones Hotel. This town only exists due to the tourists coming thru to get their shot of Ned Kelly history. The museum at the souvenir shop was worth a visit-we did not visit the ‘live’ re-enactment show. We did walk the historical trail to the hotel and visit the blacksmith. We spent 2 hours in Glenrowan and gave it some financial support!
On we drove to Shepperton-passing the many orchards – this is where SPC fruit comes from. We stopped at a roadside stall and bought 1kg of honey for $6.00 and a new apple variety – golden ginger –tasted like a golden delicious and? Rushworth gave me the opportunity to ‘donate’ some funds to this small struggling town- I had a haircut.
Bendigo was our stop that night-another historical town grown from the goldrush days-but oh so many shops-far bigger than Perth but a population around 80,000. We didn’t do any touristy sights-too overdosed on old stuff-so had a meal and drink at the “wine bank”.
Bendigo-Bridgewater-Maldon-Harcourt-Daylesford-Beremboke
Today I drove so Murray could taste the wines along the way. Stopping at Bridgewater-Murray tried the water wheel label. Maldon – very much like Clunes but many more shops and all were open. Pinnocho looked very lonely so he has joined our entourage-but he is tucked away to come out at a later date. Lovely old book shops, wooden floored pet shops, organic vegie shops, antiques and curios, lolly shops just some of the shops competing for the local/tourist dollar. We had an old fashioned meal at the local pub – sausages, mash and gravy. Harcourts Winery tempted Murray into parting with a few dollars.
Daylesford –our last stop for the day is a thriving town, only 30 minutes from where we are staying. This town offers spas, mineral springs, massages and up market nick nacks, and jewellery.
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