Day 8 Thursday 17th January 2013 Clunes

It’s a little cooler today, so we take a drive through the wheat fields to Smeaton passing the remnants of old gold mines. There is not much to see except for the Anderson Mill just out of town. It is five stories high and built of bluestone, what an engineering masterpiece it is, there is a long steel race that carries water from Birches Creek to the huge metal water wheel, which was built at the Victoria Foundry in Armstrong St, Ballarat. There is a lovely picnic ground shaded by deciduous trees and the bluestone bridge over Birches Creek is purported to be the best example of Keystone architecture in the state.

We drive on through a little town called Kingston, which has some beautifully restored residences and lovely shade trees. On to Creswick and a good cup of coffee at Boulangerie Patisserie. Back at camp T makes lunch then we doze in the 40˚ heat. It’s now way too hot to bother about cooking so we follow the advice of our fellow campers and try the local pub. There is a shortcut from the caravan park to the beer garden gate, which is a hop, skip, and a jump away. We have huge parmigianas, which certainly won’t win any awards, other than being the best in town because there is little else open in town after dark. The heat continues into the night and it is still 31 degrees at 3:00am, once again our cooler keeps us comfortable until the mild cool change comes through. Our mates have the luxury of air conditioning.