Police are investigating the theft of two caravans from Bendigo in recent days.

It is believed that unknown offender/s entered the Bendigo Showgrounds on Holmes Road in a white Izuzu utility between 1.30am and 2.00am on Tuesday March 12.

Investigators believe the offender/s have then broken the trailer locks on the two CRM caravans, before towing both from the car park with the Izuzu.

The caravans are both grey in colour with a distinctive blue decal.

Investigators have this week released images of the Izuzu and the stolen caravans in the hope that someone with information will come forward.

Anyone with any information about the theft is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online via the Crime Stoppers website.

Detectives from the Echo Taskforce have this week released CCTV as part of their investigation into the non-fatal shooting of a senior member of the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG) in Ballarat last year.

Police became aware of the incident after the 29-year-old Sebastopol man was dropped at a Ballarat hospital about 1.20am on Sunday, 1 October.

He had sustained non life threatening injuries to his upper body.

While the exact circumstances surrounding the shooting are still being determined, investigators believe it occurred in the vicinity of the Bandidos clubhouse on Greenbank Court in Delacome.

Police attended the clubhouse the morning after the shooting and a significant search of the area was undertaken.

Detectives are looking at whether the shooting occurred as a result of an internal dispute within the club or if it was motivated by ongoing issues with another OMCG.

The incident occurred on a weekend when the Bandidos OMCG had travelled to Ballarat for their national run.

Police have this week released CCTV footage showing a light coloured Holden Commodore which police believe is linked to the shooting.

Detectives are hoping someone may be able to identify the vehicle or provide information on it’s current whereabouts.

Investigators are also keen to speak to anyone who may have information about the shooting and who is responsible, or what the motivation was.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online via the Crime Stoppers website.

Detective Inspector Mick Daly, Echo Taskforce: “This was a deliberately violent incident which could have resulted in the death of a man. We say it often that only centimetres will sometimes decide if someone lives or dies when illicit firearms are involved.

“We believe it was targeted at the victim, however we are still working through whether this was as a result of an internal dispute within the Bandidos or some kind of disagreement with another club.

“There will be people out there who know the reason for the shooting and if they don’t know who was directly involved, then they will have their suspicions.

“We are keen to speak to these people and as always, this information can be provided anonymously.

“We are also interested in speaking to anyone who may have information about the vehicle believed to be involved, including who may own it and it’s current whereabouts.

“This shooting was a reckless incident with seemingly no regard for the safety of anyone else, and we’re lucky more people weren’t impacted.”

For one show only, Australia’s premier collective of female songwriters and performers, Women of Soul, bring their soul revue to the Palais Hepburn Springs on Sunday March 24.

It’s a matinee show – 1pm-4pm and a chance to catch Melbourne’s own fierce femme ensemble live before they perform at the iconic Byron Bluesfest.

For over ten years, Women of Soul have presented original soul featuring artists such as Mo’Ju, Clairy Browne, Kylie Auldist, Stella Angelico and many more.

In 2023 the second Women of Soul release ‘Feel Good’, produced by Anna Laverty and Chelsea Wilson, was the first LP in Australian to be entirely performed, produced and composed by an all female team.

The album was featured on double j, TODAY EXTRA Channel 9, and Frankie Magazine, and nominated for the Australian Music Prize.

A Night With Tina is a fun, action-packed and loving drag tribute to R&B, rock and pop icon Tina Turner and it’s happening at the Palais, Hepburn on Friday evening March 29.

In a tribute show like no other, Fabio Cattafi performs Tina’s greatest hits including Proud Mary, Private Dancer and Nutbush City Limits, this homage to his idol is pure energy.

Theatrical and filled with the power and emotion that only a Tina Turner song can, this show will have audiences on their feet from start to finish.

Transformed into Tina, thanks to handmade copies of original Tina Turner costumes, Fabio’s flawless look is enough to convince anyone that Tina was right there on stage.

His 30 year dance career lends slick and technical choreography to each and every song complete with a group of professional back up dancers.

Creswick Fire Brigade’s senior running team may lack in numbers, but their dedication and positivity in the lead-up to the State Firefighter Championships certainly makes up for it.

Heading to Mooroopna to participate in the Urban Senior Firefighting Championships on Saturday 23 March, two-time participant Logan Hand will be lending a helping hand to the brigade’s newest recruit Charles Huang who will participate for the first time.

At just 18 years old, Logan has been an active member of the brigade for two years, following in the footsteps of his three family members who volunteer with Creswick, one being the Captain.

“I’ve been around the brigade my whole life and I’ve been marching with them for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to get involved as soon as I could,” Logan said.

“The Championships are a great opportunity to mix with different brigades. I really enjoy the camaraderie and the friends that you get to make, both in your own team and in others.

“I’m most looking forward to the ladder and cart events as they are a bit more interactive and challenging for me.”

The team hit the ground running early in the season, having started training twice a week from October with hopes to overcome their biggest challengers Osborne Park and Melton.

“We figured because we’re a new team, we should get in some good practice,” Logan said.

“While competitive, we’re all friends and it’s good fun. I’d really encourage people to give it a go. Everyone is supportive and it provides such great training with great people.”

Charles Huang , a 22-year-old medical student, has been a brigade member for only just over a year, but is already putting his best foot forward on the track.

“I always go into training with the mindset of wanting to better myself and to find ways to improve my technique. I really want to get stronger and faster,” Charles said.

“I wasn’t very good at the ladder run initially. So, in the past few weeks, I’ve become really motivated to get better at doing it.

“I’m most looking forward to the cart events because it is such a team effort, and everyone has a role to play. It’s also really exhilarating to push a decently heavy cart down the track.”

As a small team of five, Charles said although they don’t have specialties like other teams, they have identified what they most need to work on and have been drilling that in at training.

“A few of us weren’t powerful enough yet for the cart event, so we practised that initial segment over and over again,” Charles said.

“What we found was with each iteration we could really refine our technique. For me, I needed to work on my hand grip on the handle and make that a smoother transition. But after several run-throughs, I was able to actually do what we wanted.”

“Instead of running out the entire cart and having to roll up the hoses again, we just focused on the areas that needed improvement and we’re really seeing results.”

Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham have created a sacred place in the hearts of those who cross their path with their candid and charming music and storytelling.

They’ll be bringing both to The Palais, Hepburn as part of their Birdsong tour this month.

Their newest album Birdsong (released last September) is a 10-track celebration about conquering the cage and finding your voice, delivered with the masterful songwriting and musicianship listeners have come to expect from the pair.

Rooted in the Blues, Country, and Folk traditions, their music is subtle and arresting, weighty and spacious.

The duo have secured an impressive six CMAA Golden Guitar nominations, including “Group or Duo of the Year”, while their album Birdsong is nominated for “Traditional Country Album of the Year” and “Album of the Year.”

Radio single “Size Up” has also been nominated in three categories, including “Song of the Year,” “CMT Video of the Year” and “Single of the Year.”The freedom song of a bird in full throated ease is glorious and captivating. Don’t miss out on experiencing Birdsong live.

This heavyweight album and show is sure to impact audiences, plus performances feature ARIA and Golden Guitar-winning songs from the duo’s back catalogue that fans know and love. They play at the Palais on Saturday evening March 23.

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens Fernery is now open to residents and visitors after landscaping works were completed.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson and Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison joined the Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens and the Ballarat Botanical Gardens Foundation on the first day of the Ballarat Begonia Festival to mark the official opening of the landscaping project.

The fernery is now an impressive gallery for hundreds of ferns, including a large Elk Horn fern, and plant chandeliers.

The landscaping features a new entrance to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens from Wendouree Parade, as part of a fernery forecourt designed around the Claxton Fountain.

Inspired by 19th Century garden design, the forecourt features paving patterned in the shape of fern frond leaves with timber and bluestone seats.

Landscaping at the rear of the structure connects the fernery and the rest of the gardens.

Andrea Proctor Landscapes completed the landscaping designs and AQL Landscape Design delivered the landscaping.

The delivery of the fernery project was funded by the City of Ballarat ($340,000), the State Government ($150,000 from Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens Grant Program), the Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens ($200,000) and Ballarat Botanical Gardens Foundation ($50,000).

The fernery is one of only a few examples in the state of a grand Victorian plant house. The steel framed replica of the original 1884 Gothic-inspired fernery entrance was completed in 2021.

Just three months as a CFA volunteer and Smythesdale Fire Brigade member Lisa Thompson has already put her hand up to assist in a Grampians strike team for her first campaign fire last month.

Having only started in December last year and with only 11 call-outs under her belt, Lisa did not hesitate at the opportunity to lend a hand to the communities in need.

The experience was made sweeter as she joined her dad, Darryl Thompson, who has been a Napoleons-Enfield Fire Brigade member for almost 30 years, in the strike team that headed to the recently contained bushfire in Dadswells Bridge.

“I put my name forward straight away. I’d done a few call-outs over recent weeks, so I wanted to make sure I was comfortable to do it. You’ve got to be in the position to protect your teams and everyone else as well,” Lisa said.

“I had responded to Staffordshire Reef fire the day before for 11 hours, and I knew dad was there too with Napoleans, but I’d only seen him once and waved to him briefly. I was at the base of the fire, and he was at the start of it.

“We were both accepted to join the strike teams at Dadswells Bridge, so we caught up at different points and had a coffee as we refilled. He checked on me at the end of each day to see how I was going, so it was nice to have his support nearby.”

Lisa had just returned from a week of annual leave from her role as a disability house supervisor, arriving home from a cruise at 12pm before getting called out just three hours later. 

“I was refreshed and ready to go. But not knowing what to expect was confronting. The crew that I went up with were great and helped me adjust knowing I was new,” Lisa said.   

“I got a lot of praise from the crew leader, so that was nice to know I did a good job.”

Working with multiple brigades and emergency services over the week, Lisa said seeing everyone work together to put in their best efforts to protect life and property in the region was a fulfilling experience.

“It didn’t matter what brigade you were from, you supported each other especially at rest stops. We’d just chat with other brigades and learn more about one another,” Lisa said. 

“I bumped into one of the guys from Bacchus Marsh who came through my training, so it was nice to see him getting involved early on too.

“It’s just amazing how everyone works together and looks after each other, not just on the fireground but also in general wellbeing and fatigue management. It was very impressive.”

While her dad has been heavily involved in CFA, it was the local women who Lisa crossed paths with that ultimately got her through the doors.

“They were saying such great things. I was hesitant being a female, but they mentioned quite a few had joined recently so I thought why not.

“I got my partner, Jake, to move across from Smeaton and it’s been such a positive experience. I think dad was prouder of me joining CFA than when I graduated year 12.

“The Smythesdale brigade members have been incredible. They are so supportive, and they’ve encouraged me to get out in the field and learn on the job.”

Words & Image: CFA

The participants in Ballarat’s esteemed live music development program Be Hear Now have been announced for 2024.  

The Be Hear Now showcase will be held on 23 – 25 August at Ballarat’s Civic Hall for all to attend to hear from industry experts, artists, songwriters and more.  

The program, supported by the City of Ballarat and Creative Ballarat, nurtures the development of musicians by providing them with a framework to celebrate their skills and talents, as well as the tools to help them refine their craft.

The 2024 program celebrates Harry Nijam, a performer under the name Surfe, who is a laid back, dance, indie-pop artist that has been announced as part of this year’s cohort.

Harry participated in the program last year, as a fringe member, which allowed him to take a small gig in the schedule and attend the inaugural Be Hear Now live music conference.  

From this experience and mentoring, Harry was able to network and meet with industry contacts, secured a deal with Unified Music Group, and is developing new music for release this year.  

The 2024 cohort finalists and festival headliners are:

• ZÖJ
• Aaliyah Bise
• Dayfever
• Surfe  
• Coda Chroma  

This year, there is also a remaining shortlist of musicians that will be supported by the Be Hear Now program, they are:

• Juan Alban
• Thing From Spring  
• Oluwatobi Akanbi  
• Darlings Family Trust  

To see the musician’s full bios, you can visit creativeballarat.com.au/music

The main goal of the Be Hear Now program is to find, foster and develop artists within the Ballarat region.  

The selected acts for the 2024 cohort are given headliner status in a festival showcase program and are mentored by the festival team, provided with profile articles and coverage including radio, newspapers, magazines and online.  

They are also introduced to industry connections from record labels, booking agencies, streaming and online marketing and industry bodies.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said 2023 saw a very successful Be Hear Now cohort deliver a great selection of live music for our city.  

“Since 2019, when the program commenced, we have been committed to supporting performers in Ballarat, identifying talent and providing mentoring and training,” he said.  

“The 2024 program has added elements of education, with the participants to be trained in subjects such as business, branding and networking.”

Kyneton’s Grace Larson, founder of The Sisterhood Project, has recently been named this year’s AgriFutures Victorian Rural Woman of the Year.

Grace is a paediatric nurse who’s making first aid training more accessible for rural and regional families.

The Sisterhood Project was established after Grace and her sister Skye Larson recognised the need for affordable first aid training in rural and remote areas.

Grace, a nurse turned health-care educator, observed a discrepancy in access to baby and child first aid courses, driving her mission to ensure equal opportunity for all to acquire life-saving skills.

The project’s aim is to curb higher child mortality rates in rural Australia by empowering parents and carers to know how to act in an emergency.

The Sisterhood Project is partnering with First Aid providers to offer free infant and Child First Aid training to parents and carers that can’t otherwise afford it. A main aim is to help prevent and respiratory disease and save lives.

“First Aid training has been shown time and again to have a significant impact on the outcomes of adults and children that suffer respiratory disease as a result of an accident, injury or a cardiac arrest,” Grace and Skye say on their website.

“With courses costing anywhere from $90-$150, for some parents it could mean going without groceries or rent for the week.

“For others, they simply do not have access to their finances or the freedom to choose how that money is spent.

“By providing free Infant and Child First Aid courses to vulnerable and low income mothers we are empowering them to know what to do in an emergency.

“This knowledge can significantly improve infant and child survival rates from respiratory disease and save lives.”

with Clive Hartley

Looking for wine quality

In wine education circles we have a standardised acronym that covers the questions of determining quality in wine – it’s call BLIC and stands for balance, length, intensity and complexity.

These four headings are a neatly packaged way of tackling the thorny topic of how to judge wine quality. If you are reading this column it is what you are interested in. Finding a good quality wine that also represents value for money is the best of both worlds.

When we look at balance, it is referring to the skeleton or structural components of a wine. Where applicable, it should have great balance. The word well-balanced is often thrown around, it means the wine’s constituents – sugar, acid, alcohol, flavours and tannins should all be there but in balance with each other.

Also, an aroma or flavour should not dominate in a negative way. Wine, both red and white, shouldn’t have too much acidity nor too little. Red wine should not be too tannic but just the right amount, depending on the style of wine. The same applies to alcohol.

Next comes length and finish, which are vital. A great wine should travel across your palate (length) and have a long aftertaste (finish) after you have consumed it.

Short palate with no finish will never be a good quality wine. Intensity is related to the aromas and flavours as well as the overall concentration of the wine. The aromas of a sauvignon blanc can be intense. It’s better to have intense flavours than none at all.

A young full-bodied shiraz has great intensity, often too much, and requires ageing to soften it. Alcohol can add to the intensity or power of the wine. Mouth filling or textured are other key words relating to intensity.

Finally, a great wine should display a complex array of aromas and flavours and make you burst into a poetic sonnet as you express them all. Young wines should have primary aromas that are commonly fruit based or vegetal, herbal or floral in nature.

Young wines could also display secondary aromas and flavours, coming from time in oak barrels and other winemaking techniques. Primary and secondary characteristics are what notch up the complexity rating.

If the wine has been aged then you might encounter tertiary aromas and flavours such as dried fruits, honey or toast in white wines and undergrowth, leafy, meat or leathery nuances in red wines. Occasionally you get all three – primary, secondary and tertiary in a single glass.

Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. His Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) is available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or via his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au

By Donna Kelly

Great to see the Daylesford Guide Hall getting the renovations it needs for a new generation of Guides. And apparently Brownies are now Junior Guides.

I was a Brownie as a kid. And then a Guide for a bit. Neither were really my cup of tea. Even then I had problems with authority and it might have been the 70s and things might have been a-changin’ but not so fast at good ol’ Franga.

We had to wear our uniforms and I remember forgetting my hat. I was getting told off when I replied that you weren’t meant to wear hats inside – probably because I watched my rapidly balding father remove his hat as he entered buildings.

“Aha,” was the retort. “That is just men. Think about the Queen, she always has her hat on.” And thus started the life of a republican.

We also got snap inspections – on what we had in our pockets. Now, at the time, I was about seven, and my mum washed our clothes and we put them on clean – and empty. But apparently to Be Prepared – thanks Baden-Powell – you had to have all manner of things in your pockets. Bits of string to tie stuff up, elastic bands for wayward hair, coins for emergency telephone calls, a packet of matches for a quick billy boil. I had nothing. Nada. I was officially unprepared.

It was also awful with the Guide Hall just over the way from the Scout Hall.

As we learnt the right way to sweep and sew, we could hear the boys hooting and hollering and having the most jovial time. Of course, looking back, I hope they were having a jovial time and not hollering for any other reason.

I remember well the only game we did play was where we turned a small mixing bowl, filled with flour, upside down and the leader, Kanga perhaps was her name, gently pushing five-cent coins into the mix.

The fun part was leaning over, with our hands firmly behind us, picking the coins out of the flour with just our teeth. It was my turn, and all was going well, and it looked like I might have finally nailed something, when my cousin reached forward and pushed my entire face into the bowl. It was like blackface but in reverse.

Everyone, but me, even Kanga, laughed and laughed. Hmmm.

I have two other vivid memories of Brownies. Mucking around inside the hall when the session was over and someone calling out “someone’s grandfather is here” and of course it was my balding, older dad, coming to pick me up.

I remember not even correcting the kid, just getting my stuff and wandering off to the car. Dad was in another memory. We had to gain as many badges as we could and I was going for the apparently easy Homemaking one. How hard could it be?

The handbook suggested that if your parents went out for dinner you quietly prepare a cuppa for their homecoming. So out came the good china, the silver cutlery, a little sugar bowl, milk in the tiny jug and some of those lovely square mint chocolates you used to get after dinner. And typing this I realise that is why they were called after dinner mints.

Anyway, I left it all in the dining room and snuck around into the hall when I heard them arrive. I was feeling pretty happy until I heard my Dad shout “what’s all this shit” and Mum trying to quieten him down.

They never mentioned anything about your dad coming home half cut. You know, the wonderful 70s. I am sure it is all different. And if those ads for “dads for us” are anything to go by, so is parenting 101.

One last thing, and this is nice. I wrote a column back at Christmas about a bloke who was signwriting, by hand, the two butcher shops in Daylesford. Beautiful calligraphy. He told me during Covid he used to scroll through the phone book and randomly choose names and send them wonderful notes of hope – with no return address.

I said I could have done with one of those – and one arrived last week.

Robert Holbery, I think you’re special too. Just sayin’…

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Live4Life to expand in Ballarat schools in 2024 | City of Ballarat

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Live4Life to expand in Ballarat schools in 2024

06 March 2024 1:10pm

The award-winning Live4Life program – increasing mental health knowledge throughout Ballarat – will continue to grow this year.

Returning for its second year, Live4Life is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural and regional communities.

After first being introduced to Ballarat in 2023, the program saw more than 1200 students across eight schools undertake evidence-based teen mental health education in response to a reported increase from schools and agencies in depression, anxiety, cyber bullying, and self-harm.

In 2024, the program will expand to 10 schools, with an estimated reach of 3500 students in both Year 8 and Year 10 to participate.

The Live4Life Ballarat Partnership Group is comprised of a dedicated collective of secondary schools, health provider networks and community organisations.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said the foundation laid by Live4Life’s inaugural year in Ballarat in 2023 would allow for the wider community to be better informed about mental health.

By the time you read this the feathers will have settled, the pink boas put away to live another day and the glitter swept from the floor.

My prudish inner self does have to ask about the dudes dressed as dogs in the parade though, I think they were maybe just a couple of chums who got mixed up in the ChillOut vibe. And after all each to their own, right?

I have seen those guys before in other ChillOut parades but have never gotten as close, almost close enough to get bitten. For now I’ll park that image way down the back of my mind where the elephants go to die.

Speaking of vibes and jarring segues, there is definitely an autumn vibe in the air, granted it’s still a bit hot to pay it too much attention, but the apples are definitely ripening on the tree.

Shortly the mushrooms will be out, and the foragers foraging, but not me. After last year’s deadly Leongatha lunch the only place I will be prospecting for non hallucinogenic fungi is Tonnas – where there is a fabulous range all sorted for you and grown in places with humidity control, not in the wild.

A lot of our local eateries like to put these naturally unearthed meals on the menu, which up until last year seemed like a fabulous nostalgic notion of nosh, but it’s no thanks from me.

I like my grub to be rummaged up the old-fashioned way, straight from a quality controlled factory just the way the good Lord intended. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the nudity of food and I love the thought of kindly killed meats and naturally grown fruit and vegetables from the paddock to the plate.

However, when it comes to the subject of fungus the deadly ones look a little too similar to the yummy ones and there are not many people that I would trust to know the difference. Except for maybe our own Central Highlands fungi fanatic Alison Pouliot, who is not always on hand to pick my mushies.

But back to my autumn vibe. Some of the leaves have already started to turn on our trees and the harvest has started to make an appearance at our local markets.

I give the bird and spit in the general direction of Christmas and call this bit “the most wonderful time of the year”. In another month or so we will be able to burn our wood piles down the back of the yard while swilling red wine and gobbling down the last of the harvest offerings.

But for now, we are still in the thick of festival season, a plethora of culinary cuisine awaits our attentions and the days are still long.

Autumn vibe rant over…

Words & Images: Eve Lamb

Wildcat Gully and taking the waters

The Jackson’s Lookout walk taking in Wyuna, Argyle and Golden Springs is a great option for going just that little bushland bit beyond the more heavily traversed tourist saunters out of Hepburn Springs Reserve – even if you’re strapped for time.

The way we did it was anti-clockwise starting out in that time-honoured place of much frequented classic charm that is the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve grounds. Lunch first.

Admired a squeaky flock of black cockies, and myriad little blue wrens bobbing about, above. Checked the map, then set off on this breezy little 6km trek heading first to Wyuna Spring where my trusty walking companion, Paddy H, took the waters.

“Very fizzy. Reminds me of bicarbonate of soda,” he surmised.

Anyway onwards, following the Argyle Creek, breathing in the bushland beauty redolent of so many happy wanderings over so many sunny Sundays, and exchanging various far-fetched and fanciful accounts of BBC (Big Black Cat) sightings across the wider region.

These were inspired by the evocatively named Wild Cat Gully that we would soon traverse.

But first we headed directly on to Argyle Spring where Paddy, more extrovert than I, struck up
a conversation with a couple sitting beside the spring, who shared that they were visiting from
“Brizzy” and had to catch a flight back later that day and be back at work tomorrow.

Feeling their pain, we munched on a bit of dark chocolate and then set off again, retracing our steps for a short way until we reached a sharp V-shaped (roughly 45 degree) diversion off to the right (as you’re heading back in the direction of the Hepburn Springs Reserve picnic grounds).

This is the path that leads onwards and gradually upwards, and traverses the Wild Cat Gully on the way to Jackson’s Lookout. Our destination.

Jackson’s Lookout

“Hepburn and Daylesford are still very much locales for romantic weekend escapades,”
Paddy H observed, reflecting on the various happy and less happy twosomes we’d passed
along the way to this point, some delightfully preoccupied with each other’s company, others
not quite hiding the fact that they were mid-tiff.

But from here our couple sightings petered out … at least for a while. In fact the beauty of this handy walk is the fact that just for a brief while the time-strapped walker does leave behind the tourist trails more trodden to obtain a more lingering and much less populated taste of the lovely sclerophyll forest.

The path ahead rises gently as it climbs to the lookout which opens up a good view to Mount Kooroocheang to the north. Here we whisked out the thermos while admiring two wedge tailed eagles gliding smugly in widening leisurely arcs across the wide blue above.

Then Paddy nudged me and pointed to where a couple, oblivious to our silent presence, had momentarily stopped their own walk to engage in a furtive snog in the forest. Ah true love. Ah
Hepburn.

So then it was time to sample the view from the tower atop Jackson’s Lookout. Jackson’s Lookout, so our research informs, was designed in the 1940s and restored in 2017. The tower provides excellent views of Hepburn Regional Park.

“Don’t say wobbly,” said Paddy H who by this time had obtained the top viewing platform while I stood below, staring up and taking a few snaps.

The tower offers a fairly fine view across to the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens in Daylesford, and while we took it all in there was an accompanying soundtrack of currawong cries. From here we followed the well-marked trail towards Golden Spring, joining a section of The Great Dividing Trail in the process.

Sulphur and holiday homes

The trail passes through a little grove of whispering pines just before reaching Golden Spring, and when we reached the spring, Paddy gave it a whirl too.

“Smells pretty sulphuric,” he observed, astutely. But it didn’t stop him sampling.

“This one tastes quite fresh and clean. It hasn’t got a deeply sulphuric flavour,” he concluded. I gave it a miss having had a prior bad experience – in another location entirely – on the sulphuric front.

We stayed and soaked in the atmosphere, spring-side, for a while or three before retracing the path back and up fairly sharply to where it meets the first old weatherboards of Hepburn Springs weekender land, then followed the sealed road back to our starting point.

“There should be an acronym for these – RUHH – Rarely Used Holiday Homes,” muttered my walking companion politically as we concluded this very pleasant little walking adventure that could just as well be done in reverse.

Much later that night I remembered the “Brizzy” couple at Argyle Springs and, again, felt their pain as I recalled her asking plaintively: “can you suggest any other good walks here?