Aussirose Travel and Photography: Blackwood, Ballarat, Trentham & Dalesford

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BLACKWOOD

We had begun our second Lap adventure just off the Spirit of Tasmania in the Yarra Valley as hubby had wanted to visit the Healesville Sanctuary which was awesome! Now we had to backtrack a bit to head up the centre of Victoria on our way to New South Wales.

The drive to Blackwood was horrendous. I had taken us away from Melbourne traffic and on the highways with no tolls for a safer journey, but didn't count on the rainy deluge that hit us on the day. You can't control the weather. Anyway hubby did a great job in getting us here safely despite the challenge of dealing with pelting down rain and huge trucks on the freeway that made the van sway.

Blackwood Mineral Springs Caravan Park describes itself as having old-school charm but really it is not much more than an old run down bush van park. It's the bush surroundings complete with all sorts of bird life that you can see in the pictures below, is what brings people here. They seriously need to consider the price they are asking. $45 per night is a bit stiff for having no sullage outlets, no dump point, a run down camp kitchen, and charging $1 for the BBQ. At least the toilets were clean.

There is a mineral spring here and a couple of small track bushwalks. Unfortunately the stream was a bit dry due to lack of rain here. The rain that we had for that one day wasn't enough to fill the creek and aparantly a lot of campers left as they were worried about it being so dry. I get that, because if a fire hit here, there's no way you'd get out.

Anyway, at least the birds kept us entertained as well as a little girl that visited us every day to talk to Tookie. In the end I had to tell her that we were busy as she would have stayed here all day.

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BALLARAT

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Ballarat is notably the third largest City in Victoria with a population of 111,973. What to see here? I discovered the Botanical gardens which is a credit to the City. Opposite is a huge man made lake, Lake Wendouree in which they have world class rowing events. We drove around the big lake. I had packed a picnic lunch, but it was windy and cold so we ate our lunch in the car.

We didn't venture into the City itself as it looked busy and I do not think we would have got a park anyway. The highlight was the Botanical Gardens, complete with a President walk with busts (funny name isn't it for statues lol).

I spent quite a bit of time in the large hot house taking photos of the beautiful fuchsias and other flowers here.

On the way back we took the country drive and past this huge Windmill Farm.

We remarked that they were going around very slow so there is no way that they would interfere with bird flight as the green activists dispute.

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TRENTHAM

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This little charming old-style village is located about 10k's up the road from Blackwood. Blackwood doesn't have much going for it. Just a small street with a Cafe and Pub. The Pub was out of action and being renovated, so we decided to visit Trentham.

Trentham is located on the outskirts of Wombat State Forrest, home of an array of wildlife. It seems like the Wombat theme is everywhere around these parts. What is it with the Wombat? More about that below in my Dalesford write up.

For now, when we visited, the old Pub on the corner aptly named the Cosmopolitan (how original) was closed, so after spending a fortune for groceries at the local store, we shared lunch in the Hotel Trentham. That was a pleasant surprise. The decor is modern with a modern take on the old pub photos. It was nice and clean with friendly staff. We shared the pub fish & chips and we must say, it was a very good meal. Fish was nice and the chips were totally yummy, coated in a nice spicy salt coating, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Mmmmm.

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DALESFORD

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Dalesford and it's neighbour Hepburn Springs are known for their mineral springs that are very good for health. We tasted the mineral spring water at Wombat Flat Mineral Springs, a couple of minutes out of town. More about that later.

Dalesford reminded us of chic style bohemian villages like Mullumbimby or Byron Bay. Plenty of cute gift shops, a chocolate shop that hubby visited, see photos below and the Cheese and Wine Merchants.

We took some time out just before we finished up for the day to share a bowl of local olives and salsa & corn chips at the Merchant. Hubby discovered that Love Shack Brewery Pale Ale was pretty good and I had a chilled (probably too chilled) glass of Granache. We sat at the window bar and prople watched. Nice way to end our visit.

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JUBILEE LAKE

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I had packed a picnic lunch and we found this nice place on Google. Photos taken from our park bench right on the banks of the lake.

We had a visit from the local ducks and a couple of Cookas came down to see if they could scab some food too. Unfortunately for them, the ducks got our dregs.

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WOMBAT FLAT MINERAL SPRINGS

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I tasted the spring water here. Yep tastes like the stuff you buy but with a stronger taste. Not sure if I like it, but it was refreshing. See video below.

This spring is one of three found in the area. They actually drained the lake to find it and run a pipe. The rest of the info if you are interested is on the placard below.

I was more interested in why Wombat? Seems to be the theme of this area with Blackwood where we stayed being part of the Wombat Forest and Trentham having a Wombat statue plus now Dalesford having Wombat names everywhere. I was sure it couldn't totally be due to an actual possible Wombat population in the area. So a Google search revealed the following.

So, yes there are Wombats in the surrounding area, plus a whole stack of other fauna. Well I was wrong in this instance. The name Wombat comes from the Native Dharug word Wombad. Early settlers called Wombats Badgers. Interesting.

However, what is interesting is that Dalesford was initially named Wombat, but gazetted as Dalesford in August 1855. The name was inspired by Warren Hastings' home town in Worcester, England. Not only is Dalesford well known for it's mineral springs, but also this whole area has lovely Vineyards, one of which we went to in Lilydale. (See Lilydale page). These vineyards had their history with the Italian migrants that landed in this area.