Day 188 - Vaughan Springs to Ballarat (via Daylesford)

---

After a night at Vaughan Springs, we filled up our water bottles with spring water and headed off on a meandering journey to Ballarat. It wasn't too far so we took our time travelling through Hepburn Springs and Daylesford (Victoria's Spa country) before lunch. Along the way, we stopped at Lavendula, a lavender farm that had a cafe. It was a very pretty spot and had been in the one family for many years.

Both Hepburn Springs and Daylesford can be tricky to navigate through if you leave the highway because there are many small lakes and quite a few of the roads are dead ends.

We had lunch at Daylesford at Victoria Park and then continued on the highway to Mount Franklin (an extinct volcano). You can drive around the outside slope of the mountain through pine trees and then into the caldera of the volcano through a fault line? from where the lave would have run down the mountain. The pine trees on the outside of the mountain date from the 1940's when a massive wildfire ripped through the area burning many trees and denuding the landscape. Inside the caldera, the plantings were just as exotic, but softer on the eye; poplar, birch, sycamore and californian redwoods. This area is now managed by Parks Victoria and people can camp there.

We got into Ballarat mid-afternoon and toured the town checking out some of the architecture and places of interest. During our tour of the town, we stopped at Sovereign Hill and purchased our tickets for tomorrow. Prior experience with queueing at opening time had taught Lenny a valuable lesson. Later, we had dinner at a local restaurant and then drove to Pioneer Park where we planned to camp overnight. This facility is a new initiative by City of Ballarat and CMCA (The Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia). Previously, the Ballarat Council had not supported free camping. It's hard to see people getting excited about Pioneer Park as it is on the outskirts of town adjacent to a freeway on-ramp. We had no problems getting to sleep, however, and the money saved would be spent in Ballarat over the next day or so.

---

Photos

Lavandula Farm, Shepherds Flat
The view from La Trattoria, the cafe

Mount Franklin
The pine trees can be seen circling the higher slopes of the mountain