This Full day sightseeing Ecotour is themed on History/Heritage, Food/Wine and Wild nature.

We take you to the heart of the Goldfields - Maryborough, and to the Central Goldfields with its myriad of goldfield towns that seemingly time has forgotton. Its in the Central Goldfields where the largest nuggets of gold were found, including the ''Welcome Stranger'' , the worlds largest gold nugget.

In Maryborough we visit the towns splendid cluster of heritage buildings facing Mc Landress Square, Town Hall, Post Office, and Court house. as well as, Worsley Cottage Museum & Squatter Slab hut, where you find period pieces, photographs in the restored cottage and mining relics outside on display.

The original Squatters hut is the oldest building in the district, with its shingle roof,rammed earth floor lined with walls of hessian.

No visit to Maryborough is complete without seeing the historic Maryborough Railway Station was built in 1890 and is reported to have the longest platform in country Victoria. Admire the highly polished timber ceiling and beautiful tessellated floor in the main entrance. Mark Twain was quoted as saying '' Maryborough is a railway station with a town''

The Bristol Hill lookout offers great views of the town, Bristol Hill is based upon, and named after Bristol Reef which was mined for gold from the late 1850's

Paddy's Ranges State Park, Maryborough Regional Park and Craigie State Forest have relics of the gold mining era, view mullock heaps and remnants of a once- thriving Eucalyptus Distillery, as well as Aboriginal culture of rock wells and scar trees from the Jajawurrong people.. The spring showing of Golden Wattle blossom amid the Box-Ironbark forest is a visual delight to discover, these parks have over 230 species of wildflowers and about 30 Orchid varieties.

Visit the Creswick Woollen Mill, the last mill of its type in Australia, stroll through the Interpretive centre before going into the shop where you can buy garments of merino wool, cashmere and alpaca.

See the old Creswick Hospital, now the administration building of the Creswick school of Forestry.

The historic town of Clunes, where gold was first discovered in Victoria. Here the shopfronts have lost none of the patina of ages past and the streets are still wide enough to turn a horse and buggy.

Talbot is a quietly fascinating gold rush town with picturesque winding streets of brick and bluestone, and cottage gardens. This heritage village offers that unspoiled historic atmosphere of the Goldfields.

Timor was once a thriving gold town with a population in excess of 27,000. Timor had 38 hotels, three butcher shops, two banks, three bakeries, police station and several lock-ups. On the outskirts of town, the Grand Duke Mine produced 216,054oz of gold, nowadays worth $281 million dollars. The magnificent arch of the pump house still stands today

Rich in gold history, Dunolly nestles between stunning Box-Ironbark forests and productive farmland. Dunolly once boasted 5 kilometres of buildings, shop lean-to's and canvas dwellings in the main street. Today only the sturdiest survived, the Post Office, Town Hall, Hotels and the former Cobb & Co office are some to mention.

During the gold rush Dunolly and the surrounding district discovered more gold nuggets than anywhere else in Australia including the largest gold nugget in the world, the ''Welcome Stranger'' weighing 72kg. The region become known as the Golden Triangle.

 

Highlights

• Maryborough Civic centre - McLandress Square
• Worsley Cottage
• Maryborough Historic Railway Station
• Bristol Hill lookout - views over Maryborough
• Paddy’s Ranges State Park - Wild nature / Wildflowers
• Dunolly Heritage Boulevard & Buildings
• Moliagul - ‘Welcome Stranger’ Discovery site
• Goldfield towns of Creswick - Woollen mills Interpretative Centre / St.Georges Lake
• Clunes - original streetscape / 1st gold town of the Victorian Gold rush
• Talbot - historic town
• Timor - the Grand Duke mine

Morning tea included / Lunch Not included
Return Train/Coach Fare Included (Melbourne/Ararat customers)
Pickup/Drop off - Ballarat/Avoca/Maryborough/Daylesford accommodation