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Late last night, I was joined in Ballarat by a friend on his way back from watching the Tour Down Under cycling event in Adelaide. Today, we hit the road as he takes me to his house in Foster for a few days.
Before leaving Ballarat, we had breakfast by Lake Wendouree, a massive man made lake on the edge of town, approx 16km circumference, though quite shallow. It is a very popular leisure resource, but while we were there we witnessed strange looking machines working on the lake, gathering up weeds and depositing them in refuse trucks.
Next we stopped off in the middle of a vast forest which had once been a hive of gold digging activity. The landscape is littered with heaps, ridges, drainage channels etc left behind by the gold diggers in their quest for riches, but now reclaimed by nature. Nevertheless, you can still see massive pits, and those people with the appropriate licence and metal detector can still find gold abandoned in the heaps.
Then we moved onto to a short trail through the forest to the Jackson Lookout, with lovely views of the surrounding countryside.
We then took the waters at Hepburn Mineral Springs. Though not as foul as other waters I've sampled, I certainly wouldn't have followed the example of a couple we saw who turned up armed with empty bottles.
Our next stop was for a light lunch in the picturesque little town of Daylesford. We're still in gold mining area and this is another town that grew up on the back of the gold rush.
We next embarked upon a longer drive towards the outskirts of Melbourne, near the airport, to the Organ Pipes National Park. A short walk down a steep track led to the Organ Pipes, a spectacular set of basalt columns formed by the cooling and cracking of molten lava. In the same park can also be seen the less spectacular Rosette Stone and Tessellated Paving, but still worth a look while in the area.
Having climbed back up to the car park, we drove through the spreading suburbs of Melbourne, stopping off to buy supplies, before heading to Tooradin for a fish and chips supper, which we consumed overlooking the bay.
Then it was back in the car for the final leg of the journey to his lovely house near Foster. In the evening, we watched a bit of tennis and we spotted a wallaby in the field next door.
Weather wise, it has been another lovely sunny day in the 30s, but it should be all change tomorrow with showers forecast. Reminiscent of our August bank holiday back in the UK as it's a major holiday weekend for Australia Day on Monday, and the last weekend before the children go back to school after their summer break.
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