Touring the Victorian Goldfields

Victoria, Australia

By Robert Duncan

January/February 1999

Since we live in Adelaide the plan was to take a day driving the 800 Km to Maldon (our start point) where we would leave the car with friends. This let us get a good nights sleep before the start of the tour. Our route was very flexible but basically we wanted to visit Bendigo & Ballarat (the largest towns in the region - around 100 Km apart as the crow flies). There were also some National Parks that we hoped to visit and "Bush Camp" overnight.

Next morning we made a relativly early start, dropping off at only one shop on the way out of town - this was to try and pick up about a film canister full of lamp oil (for our Northern lights lantern) a friendly shop keeper donated it to us saying that "we looked like a worthy cause". We had not even ridden anywhere yet..!! This turned out to be the first of many HOT days on the road (36 degrees Celsius). The road was almost flat with only one steep pinch for about 500 M as we joined the main highway. The traffic was light and very cycle concious. On arriving in Bendigo we went straight to the Central Debora Gold Mine, partly to get tourist information, partly to see the mine (a tour of a working gold mine), but mostly for a cold beer in an airconditioned building. After the tour we found a Caravan Park and setup the tent before collapsing for an hour or so. The heat was realy knocking us around. .

The 2nd day was looking around Bendigo (still hot 38c)- I had to leave my sleaves rolled down as my arms were sunburnt from the previous day, despite lots of sunburn cream. We rode the whole trip in long sleeve cotton shirts and long pants, this was successful, as it stopped us from getting sunburnt (other than the first day). The town of Bendigo is built on top of a gold reef and several mines are still active, infact there has recently been activity on a large scale with a vehicle incline being dug to get heavy machinery down to the reef. We visited the magnificent Botanic Gardens (cool - temperature wise) and were most impressed with the old buildings many daing back to gold rush times or shortly after. In the afternoon we visited Bendigo pottery once again a historic gold rush era firm that is still in use today.

From Bendigo we rode out through Eaglehawk and on to Dunolly through hills pock marked with diggings, for the majority of this trip we were never very far from old abandoned mines. Lunch was cheese and metwhurst on the bank of a creek, not bad but the cheese was feeling the effects of the temperatures..!! We covered 76 Km & although the temperature had dropped to 33 C we began to realise that despite the flat terrain we would be travelling far shorter distances than we had originally planned. Dunolly is yet another gold town, and although it is small it seems to have a little of everything. The Caravan park has a lake and the showers were more than welcome. The Pub does a good meal with BIG cyclist style helpings. While unpacking I noticed that my new Topeak rear carrier had broken a weld, a quick fix was made using a cable tie (dont leave home without them). If you have the time the Dunolly Tourist Centre has information on some interesting bike rides around the area, some are even sign posted like a self guided tour.

The 4th day we got off to a slow start, but were in Maryborough before the morning was out. Once again a gold mining town rich in old history & buildings, the story goes that the Maryborough Railway Station was supposed to be built in Ballarat but got built here by mistake. The Railway Station realy is a grand old building - and enormous too. The temperature reached 43 C at 11:30 in the morning so we set up the tent and lounged around with lots of cool drink, the caravan park is next to a lake in close to the centre of town. In total we did 64 mostly flat Kilometres and despite the heat didnt feel to bad, I guess we must have got used to it. The sky was heavy with thunder clouds when we went to bed but by morning they had gone elsewhere. I repaired some stitching that had failed on my BRAND NEW Topeak rear panniers.

5th day another early start to beat the heat, light overcast but getting thicker and very humid, 39 C. Just out side of town we stopped at a tourist information board surrounded by volcannic gravel, you guessed it the cleat snapped in the pedal went down to quick and next thing there I was, lying on my side with 30 + Kg of bike on my leg. It made me glad the panniers took most of the weight. The only damage (other than ego) was a grazed knee and the seat had popped off its frame, a bit of leavering with a Leatherman tool (dont leave home without one of them either) and we were on our way again. Helen reminds me the I was the only one to fall over all trip quite frequently. We stopped at Clunes an old gold mining town (surprise.!!) that has a distinct air of decay. There are lots of closed shops, but the people are very friendly. The clouds had returned with a vengance and just as tea was ready the wind went from nothing to gale force in seconds. There was around 20 -30 seconds of only wind then they sky fell in, we had absolutly torrentialrainfor the next 30 minutes and heavy rain almost all night. Our tent, a Fairydown Assult was great as was the Macpac Tentacle annex, all of our gear stayed dry and despite the rain and wind it stayed around 20 C all night.

6th day we rode into Ballarat, although it was only 28 c it was very humid. The traffic was heavier as we got closser to town, but as before they gave us lots of room. We had brief look around and did some grocery shopping then found a caravan park. That night it actually got cold enough to use the sleeping bags.

Next morning it was 11 c when we got up - had to get out the fleece jackets, if it is going to be cold anywhere you can bet on Ballarat.!!. Spent the day looking around the town and Sovereign Hill a working recreation of goldrush days - its a must see, but it certainly takes up your time. We actually went out to a restrauant for "Dinner" a treat I had been promising Helen since the start of the trip. Once again we got a good nights sleep in the cooler temperatures.

7th day Went to the Great Southern Woolshed (shearing demo's etc) then after lunch we set off up to Daylesford, the first real steep climbs for this trip 35 C and 61Km. The last climb into Daylesford was hard work, but it was made worthwhile when a "farm ute" comming towards us pulled up and the driver got out - leaving the vehicle in the middle of the road with the door open - and welcomed us to the top of the hill..!! The "welcome" lifted our spirits enough to ride through to the Tourist Centre without noticing the slight incline through the town centre. We did notice the super steep climb to the Caravan park though, made worse by the "Caravan Park 300 M" sign a full 1100 M from the entrance. Daylesford is surrounded by natural springs (& old gold mines).

8th day too hot, too many hills, just looked around town.....total of 10.6 Km for the day !!!! 38 Degrees Celsius.

9th day On the road very early and into Castlemaine by lunch time. 40 C again. It would have been a great ride with long slow decents - if not for a strong headwind. Still at least it wasnt uphill. Castlemaine has one Caravan Park next to the Botanic Gardens, using the ability of bikes to go where cars cant we managed to set up the tent on the only patch of green grass in the park. Tea was at the Bridge Hotel accross the road, a terriffic feed at a great price.

10 th day Last day. Rode the last 34.2 Km back to Maldon, 40 C yet again. The last day wasa struggle, we knew it wasn't far, but we also knew that when we got there the tour was over. Also it is slightly up hill and into that same wind we had the day before. When we finally made it to Maldon we went straight to a coffee shop and had 2 HUGE ice coffees (aprox 1 litre each). Then we cycled slowly through town back to where we had left the car.

It was a good tour despite the heat but without the MacPac tentacle - (an annex that fits onto most dome tents) we would have fried. We carried 7 litres of water between us, and I carried a filter pump so that we could top up from dams & creeks if necessary. Unlike most of Australia the towns are very close together in this region and we could buy cold drinks at intervals of around 10 - 30 Km. We travelled around 400 Km instead of the proposed 7-800, and we wore long sleaves and long pants the whole time. We used almost every item that we carried, but just because the first aid kit didn't get used doesn't mean we leave it behind next time..!!! Most of the meals we cooked ourselves, using an MSR Whisperlite & an MSR Dragonfly. Athough we had planned to camp in National Parks etc we ended up not doing so - as after a day of riding in 35 C + heat we wanted showers and the facilities available in Caravan parks.

If your planning a trip in Australia, bear in mind that we weren't travelling through the desert, we were in a region of southern Australia known as "The Garden State" and renowned for being cold and wet.