20121209 VIC Castlemaine

20121209 Castlemaine was our next town to check out; Des parked the van and foot in toe off we go in search of a hardware for a thermometer, you wouldn’t think it would be so hard to find something so simple but then again, Des keeps on asking for a Thermostat the dope.  Des is over looking at towns, so I leave him to wonder the streets and taking my picks of yet another gold mining town.

Castlemaine began as the center of the Mount Alexander gold fields in 1850.  It was briefly larger than Melbourne, as that city’s population moved to Castlemaine to seek its fortune.  It was the richest alluvial gold field in the world history and that title has not yet been surpassed.  At its height one convey alone, shipped 3 tons of gold to Melbourne; it was where the “little fellows” became rich, with nearly all the gold being found within 4m of the surface, thus small groups of men could band together and work a stake in hope of winning the lottery.

The Town Hall

Based on the Dutch renaissance style and was constructed in 1898.

The Castlemaine Post Office

Built in 1874-5 and designed by architect John James Clark in a style much influence by Renaissance classicism.

Former Beck’s Imperial Hotel is a two Storey hotel with attic erected in 1861 almost certainly to the designs of architects Purchas and Swyer (who ever the hell they are).  The hotel is one of the most distinctive and unusual Classical Revival buildings in Victoria.

The Gothic Church was erected in 1861-2, I couldn't find any other information on the grand church.

We haven’t been on the road a month and were nearly in Melbourne, so we are trying to slow down, we parked up for another lazy couple of days just chilling out.

We drove out of Castlemaine and parked up beside the Midland Highway in Jessie Kennedy Reserve.  The "reserve" is essentially a gravel stockpile and a rubbish tip for the lazy, passer-by, although there is a tasteful plaque that tells us, that it was in 1845 in a small cottage on this flat that Jessie Kennedy was born, the first white child born in the Castlemaine district.

20121210 We stay another night with the odd van stopping for a rest and lunch and we noticed this particular tree which was used for a much-needed pee by many guys, they really need toilets in  this reserve.  Later in the afternoon an elderly man and his dog park up for the night, cool someone for Des to talk to.  He was an electrical engineer in his days, and an interesting man with much knowledge.  After he showed Des his set up in the back of his Jumbuck Ute Des found it as an opportunity to pick his brains with many questions about the running of our fridge.  With all the questions out of the way we decided to join him for a drink.  The story we got was he was on the run, apparently he is losing his memory and he’s avoiding the medical system.  He googled remedies and found there’s a substance in marijuana that helps with the condition, so this 70 year old goes up to this large bikie looking guy and asked where he could get some dope, “well” you could imagine the look on his face, but he got his deal which he insist is helping, there's hope for me yet.

11-12-2012  My grandsons birthday "Happy Birthday" my little man. We rose late and our neighbour was gone so after breaky we hit the road heading to Daylesford.