Day 84 - Wednesday 22 March - Day trippin' in the country

Day 84

Wednesday

22 March 2017

Ballarat – Creswick – Daylesford – Kyneton – Woodend – Hanging Rock

Urgh.. the weather is in. We woke to a typical wintery day, grey and drizzly, however we weren’t about to let it get in the way of what we had planned for the day ahead, which wasn’t much, until we got ourselves into gear.

We were happy to be slow getting going. I was still busy trying to catch up the blog with the latest pics, but didn’t want to be held to it all day. We went into town to doing a chemist run and then a quick stop at woollies to stock up, before coming home, packing our lunch and heading off in the direction of Daylesford.

We passed first of all through Creswick and then about 40min later we were parked in Daylesford and checking out the main street. They are known for embracing the LGBIT community and there are plenty of rainbow references throughout the town.

We stopped briefly at the info centre for a run down of things to see and then hopped back in the car and drove to the convent. This is known as a top wedding destination and I could see why.  It has beautiful old buildings and gorgeous gardens to wander around, which is just what we did.

From here we followed the road up to the botanical gardens and climber the lookout tower, all 101 concrete steps, to check out the view. We could see the rain leading across the hills.

 We returned to the bottom and had our lunch amongst the trees, before completing the quick scenic drive around the park and heading on to Wombat Flat spring.

This area is known for its hot springs. You can drink the water and there are some places you can swim. We didn’t have our bathers, so we weren’t doing that, but we did drink the spring water from a pump at the edge of the lake. It was tingly and had a weird mineral taste.

From here we checked out the premises for Daylesford Brewing Company, not yet ready to open, but their beers are being sold in the local bottle-o, so Paul picked up a sample. Then we made our way along the road, heading to Kyneton. This is the hometown of a work colleague, so I was keen to check it out while we were in the area. From all accounts it was just another sleepy farming town, but is now a trendy spot to hang out and it was clear in the style of shops and cafes lining the streets.

We didn’t stay long here, as we had found another brewery to check out in the info brochure in Woodend, so we were off to there to check out Holgate Brew house. This was in a large red brick building on the main street and you could smell the beer as you walked up the street.

Paul sat down and ordered a tasting paddle of 8 beers and then proceeded to chat to the bar staff and a couple of the brewers. He was invited to check out the brewery by Mark and find out about their expansion plans. He was able to try a sour beer direct from the brewing vessel and was fortunate to be given a few bottles to try later. He was a happy chappy. We took some video to add to the “We Love Craft Beer Australia” Facebook page and then said our goodbyes.

The weather had really started to turn crappy and it was cold and wet, however I wanted to get out to Hanging Rock, so we followed the signs and made our way on to the iconic setting. One of the road signs also had a rock hanging from it. Crazy country folk. We parked just outside the park to avoid paying the $10 entry and wandered in. The low cloud cover was just skirting across the top of the rock formation, making it feel quite eerie. There was a large mob of kangaroos in the parkland just staring at us. There were some really large males amongst the group of greys.

We didn’t wander further into the park as it was getting late and we needed to start our drive home and we were told by the ranger to move the car or face a fine. Fair enough.

Ballarat was now an hour and a bit away and I was in charge of the drive home. It was a picturesque drive with the low cloud shrouding the hills for most of the way.  After an unexpected big day, I was glad to get home and into dinner. I was starving.

As seems to be the norm, I was busy on the computer and sorting out the day’s photos and blog, in between messaging Nigel, the head of We Love Craft Beer. I am feeling like a secretary/PA at the moment. Not enough time in the day to get the things done.