With Eve Lamb

Coliban Water Channel Walk, 9km section.

There’s some beautiful country up around Sutton Grange and Mount Alexander (Leanganyuk) and today we’re going to sample a handsome piece of it.

After driving to the designated meeting spot, my sturdy walking accomplice, Paddy H, and I join the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers for a 9km hike along a section of the Coliban Water Channel. This is a concrete structural fete that would almost certainly verbally activate even the most reticent of civil construction engineers.

First up we leave some of our cars at our meeting spot on the Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road – which will ultimately become our finishing point for today’s walk.

We now car pool, and ferry some the cars a few ks to the actual start point of today’s walk at Earls Grate, an important Channel structure used for catching and clearing debris and potential contamination, located off the Faraday-Sutton Grange Road, just a tad east of the Mica Grange Garden and sculpture park.

The walk ahead is fairly flat with a rise and fall of 225m and is being led by two GDTA stalwarts Mick Evans and Ed Butler who begins by telling us a bit about the historic, but still used, Coliban Water Channel itself. 

The Channel was built in the nineteenth century to meet the water needs of Bendigo, a city rich in gold but very poor in water. Designed by J M Brady and completed in its first stage in 1877, it had the Malmsbury Reservoir as its water source.

Ed tells us that all up it’s a 70km walk with many original bluestone structures along the way. It’s been expanded over the intervening 150 years and still serves a major water need, but today it’s pretty much bone dry.

We set off,  contouring around the eastern flank of Leanganyuk (Mount Alexander) and the sprawling, undulating landscape is impressive with its granite outcrops.

“So, 70 km all up,” I muse aloud to Paddy H as we stride along with the group as it strings out along the Channel path.

“What!?” Paddy H’s face is ashen and I realise he didn’t quite catch the detail of Ed’s informative talk just before we set off from Earl’s Grate.

“That’s the total distance the Channel walk covers, not what we’re walking today,” I soothe. “It’s just 9km today.”

Relief issues across my walking accomplice’s sun-tanned features.

“It’s a pretty impressive engineering fete,” I say.

“How can you tell an engineer is extroverted?” my walking companion asks.

“I don’t know.”

“He’s the one looking at your shoes when he talks to you!”

In the months since we’ve been joining the GDTA for some of its scheduled walks I’ve discovered that the easy, companionable, and frequently informative chit-chat is a pleasant aspect of participating in their program.

Today’s walkers have travelled from locations including Daylesford, Ballarat, Castlemaine and Clunes.

“Did you do a test run for this walk?” I ask one of today’s leaders, Mick Evans, as we stroll along.

“Yes,” says Mick. “We’re a pretty relaxed group but we always do a reconnaisance visit before we lead a walk.”

A bit further along I chat to a retired nurse who tells me a bit about her former demanding work and her current work running a couple of B&Bs, before we move onto food and cooking.

Further on, a walker from Leonards Hill and I talk birds. She tells me about peregrine falcons roosting in the city as I spot a wedge tail eagle gliding about Leanganook’s sunny outcrops.

The views across the plains, although in dire need of rain, are fairly magnificent and at about the half-way mark we all pull up for lunch at Byrnes Tunnel, blasted through granite as part of the water course.

It’s a decent stop for lunch, and everyone kicks back for a while and relaxes before we cover the last few ks, admiring bushland and a young olive grove along the way, to finally finish at our initial car plant site.

“Great spot and I never would have seen it if we hadn’t done this GDTA walk,” Paddy H announces as GDTA members, well satisfied with today’s leisurely adventure, disperse issuing farewells and reminders that there’s some good walks coming up on the program ahead.

Words, Video and Images: Eve Lamb

Wines that stand alone

If you look closely at a label from the wine producer Sutton Grange its motto or byline is ‘wines that stand alone’ and tasting through their line-up recently they lived up to their name.

Sutton Grange is located in the Bendigo region, sitting in the shadow of Mount Alexander, a 20-minute drive south of Bendigo and just 13 minutes from Harcourt. It is the same distance to Metcalfe, due south, which is the junction where the regions of Bendigo, Macedon Ranges and Heathcote converge.

The wines coming from this estate cannot easily be seen as Bendigo wines, they have nuances of Macedon Ranges, being grown on granite soils, but are hard to compare because they don’t make a chardonnay or a pinot noir. They make a shiraz (labelled syrah), but not like the full-bodied monsters you get from Bendigo or the brooding, intense Heathcote reds.

There is a theme running through their range. Whites are light, subtle and fresh, signalling the impact of a couple of recent cool vintages. The reds are elegant, medium-bodied and savoury with welcoming lower alcohol, compared to their neighbours. They stand alone, possibly aloof.

Their portfolio is a simple two-tier approach. At a lower price point is their brand Fairbank (the 19th Century name for the property) and then their pricier Estate Range. Here are the wines that caught my attention. 2021 Fairbank Ancestrale Sparkling Rosé was juicy, full of cherries, apricots and nutty lees contact.

The palate is creamy with fresh red apple and yeasty bread notes. Ancestrale means it finishes its primary fermentation in the bottle and then disgorged, leaving some yeast lees in the bottle, so it appears slightly cloudy.

Fairbank 2022 Rosé is a classic dry wine with plenty of red fruits such as strawberries, red cherries and a dash of red apple. Palate is long, firm and a touch savoury. It is simply delicious and has been recognised by some major wine commentators, so don’t just take my word ($35).

They do an interesting sangiovese in a light drink-early Beaujolais style which is very fruity, but dry, as well as a nice, light-bodied but savoury Vino Rosso which is a blend of aglianico and cabernet sauvignon. Both are Fairbank wines and priced at $35.

So far, the wines have all been estate grown, but in 2020 they had to buy in fruit due to a savage frost, so the Fairbank Syrah 2020 was sourced from Heathcote. It’s a lovely medium-bodied wine with blackberry, blueberry and cassis aromas. Some liquorice and plums on a soft tannin, medium bodied, elegant palate.

The final two wines were from their Estate Range and they really hit the mark. 2021 Syrah ($65) had a complex nose with black pepper, blackberry, floral and struck match notes. It was rich but reserved at the same time, with some green and black peppercorns and well-balanced acidity on a medium-bodied palate structure.

Incidentally, I first went to this winery in 2012 and tasted their 2007 estate Syrah and it was outstanding. Price was $60. So only a $5 increase in 12 years.

Finally, their 2019 Aglianico ($65) was elegant and savoury with plenty of ripe tannins that are indicative of this southern Italian grape variety. There are plenty of cherries and rose petal notes mixed in with dried herbs. Again, medium bodied and elegant on the palate.

Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. His 305 page full colour book Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) is available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or via his website – www. australianwineguide.com.au

Jan Hull has been striving towards captaincy within CFA for over 30 years, and now as Sutton Grange and Myrtle Creek’s first woman to become Captain, she is ready to put her promising ambitions into action.

To ensure the brigade continues making progressive advancements, Jan is hoping the 58-strong cohort can boost their skills through a number of proactive initiatives. 

“I’m most looking forward to leading the brigade itself and to lean into the future to utilise more technology, get people up to speed through more training and implement a few different ways of operating.” she said.

For Jan, volunteerism is at the core of all aspects of her life, so it’s no surprise she is leaving a dedicated legacy across many other organisations within the community.

“I started out at Harcourt CFA and was in the Ladies Auxiliary doing refreshments with my mum. I then went onto becoming their first woman to graduate as a firefighter.”

With four generations of her family now involved in CFA, and most paving the way in a leadership role, Jan couldn’t be prouder of how far they’ve come in their respective brigades. 

“My grandfather was Secretary of Harcourt, dad was the Captain and Group Officer, now my brother is Harcourt’s Captain, his wife is Secretary and Treasurer and one of their girls is now an active firefighter.

“I couldn’t do this without the support of my husband and two children. He’s been involved for over 20 years, and both of our kids are active firefighters, with our youngest now 4^th Lieutenant.

“Pre-election, I was 3^rd Lieutenant for Sutton Grange and Myrtle Creek, and previously in a comms role.

“We all love helping and supporting people at a time when they’re in need. To be able to give back to our community and help protect them is why we do what we do.”

Working as a primary school integration support officer, Jan has found her CFA and teaching skills go beneficially hand in hand.

“At school, I’m helping the kids and staff problem solve through various circumstances, then at CFA we develop the ability to work under pressure, so I do reap the rewards of both skillsets.

“If you’re wanting to give CFA a go, jump in, become a sponge, learn off others around the brigade and always put your hand up for any training opportunities to keep evolving your skills.”