Daylesford - Day 23

It was really hard to get out of bed with it being so nice and warm in the camper and so cold outside, but it did make it easier to get dressed. I had thought we would go South first and went to Sailor's Falls, only to find the walk down closed. An alternative, but much longer walk through a lovely wooded area to the falls was available so we did that. 

Sailor's Falls from the top carpark

One of the springs which was closed

Lichen

Sailor's Falls from the creek

A cow which didn't quite make it...

Pea flower

Original miner's cottage

After I was trying to find another walk area, but we needed to return to Daylesford for fuel, so we went north, through Hepburn to Breakneck Gorge. This was pretty steep, but we only did a little of it, before driving to the next area called 'The Blowhole'. It was closed due to damage to the track from the recent bad weather, but we had a little look at a tunnel through the spur which diverted the creek during gold mining.

It is hard to see the perspective but this is the drain under the road

Wild Rose

Fruit - can anyone identify it?

A weed but pretty

Paper Daisy

It is hard to believe that the miners carved this by hand to divert the river, so they could use it to wash the gold

 Hepburn Mineral Springs reserve was our lunch destination. The waters from each of the individual springs taste quite different, and one called Sulphur Spring had the least sulphur taste.

The Rotunda where we ate

 After lunch we walked up to Jackson's Lookout. There was evidence of the old gold mining activities, with diggings and holes all along the way. 

This reserve has a lot of introduced plants so I am not going to identify them

A collapsed shaft

A good shaft - luckily well off the track

The viewing tower (an old fire-tower) was closed but Darryl spotted a huge echidna, so we got lots of photos. We wandered around the reserve, tasting the various waters, and enjoying the views. 

I bet the view would have been better from the top of the lookout!

Another shaft that Darryl investigated

It's pretty, but not native

A very tame Kookaburra

The overhead walking bridge

This looks like oak to me

The Cafe

Next we drove to Central Springs Reserve at Lake Daylesford. There were spa bathing pools, but everything was overgrown and uncared for. Some springs were closed to do e. coli issues.

An interesting hand pump on the sping

This building was falling down, but we couldn't work out what it was for

 

We 'think' this was a sculpture

Stairs down to a spring bath which was closed

The overflow from the Reservoir below

 

I know - it 'is' a toilet block, but I thought it was pretty interesting

An example of the rock in this area