A SIGN of PAST TIMES

Sometimes when a new person or family comes to live in a town, they see differently than the locals. A local may pass by a building most days in their travels and that building goes unnoticed. A few days back we were at the local IGA store to buy the usual groceries. On this occasion I took a walk down the side of a building as I'd seen a faded sign that intrigued me. It was about some of Kyneton's history. Why it was on the side of a building an a non-tourist area, I find puzzling however there it was.

At one time this large nondescript timber building may have been a furniture emporium or maybe a country produce store.
There is no signs of its origin that I can find.

Quite faded now, the sign depicts certain elements of Kyneton's early history.

This faded sign is in Mollison St, however the enlarged section depicts a store in the historic Piper St.
Today Piper St is the tourist section of Kyneton where this sign should really be.

The Junction hotel once stood where the more modern Safeway Super Market is now located.
I wonder if the local historic centre would have some original photos.
That part of the street now has more modern shops and offices.

Kyneton claim to have formed the first rural district band - Melbourne would have predated them.

This photo shows the side of the building beyond the faded sign.

I note that the building also has another sign - not so faded or historic. It is either a For Sale or For Lease.
One can't help thinking that the building has a limited life span and will go the way as the Junction Hotel and make way for so called Progress.

Pictures of Kyneton

I carry my camera and/or iPhone every where just in case there is a photo opportunity. Today was one of those cases. There so many instances of opposites when absorbing the sights of our new environment. We probably notice things more than the locals. I always started to look at our own environment during those "Our Home by the Bay" blogging days after getting home from our overseas trips. We would see home with new eyes.

As I returned from my morning ride, I stopped at a property on the outskirts of the town. I'd always admired the driveway with the conifers bordering the gravel surface. It reminded me so much of parts of Tuscany. As I was taking a photo, the owner was driving out and I told her how her property brought back memories.
She said that the previous owners were in fact Italian and that if we would like to see beyond the driveway, to knock on their door for a tour. How nice. I don't think that would happen in Melbourne!!

Just across the road from the house was the iconic Aussie bush property that local painters and photographers search for - as I do. This one may or not be inhabited but on the same land is a collection of goats and alpacas which are in great numbers in our region.

Much more to come now that I'm retired - every day is an adventure.

Lost Trades Fair

Yes, I know, I've been awfully slack on the blog but we can't believe how busy it has been since moving to the country. We are blessed with family and friends visiting our Life in the Country. This Easter weekend is our first free weekend. So much is happening in this region of Victoria.

There has been the "Taste of Kyneton" and two weeks later the "Lost Trades Fair" where there was maybe 20,000 visitors over the weekend period. The Lost Trades Fair was an exhibition of past arts that is being regenerated in today's world of the disposable environment.

The following photos explain these lost trades that still can be found in our region - that is if you look hard enough.

Every year Kyneton host the Lost Arts Fair - It grows each year.

You can dance to medival music if you wish.

Or buy hand made hats.

Then there's handcrafted clocks.

This man makes wicker side cars for your motor cycle.

I spent some time watching this man make a stone wall without mortor.

Real craft in the restoration of old time street rods.

Bicycles of the past faithfully reproduced today from scratch.

A man with the piant brush skills where the computer now riegns supreme.

Wood sculpturing of Australia's bushland history.

Wood sculpure from the Aussie bushland.

Pigs may fly

There seems that every weekend in the local district has something to draw people out to enjoy the Central highlands of Victoria. This weekend is no exception with our future home of Trentham having an Arts Festival as well as its Sunday market.

As you may well wonder why this blog may have become intermittently dormant. Retirement should allow more time for such indulgences.

PS: I officially announced my retirement date as April 15 -Groovy!!!

A Morning Walk along the banks of the Campaspe River

I don't think that you will ever discover the hidden pleasures of a location unless you actually live there. Visitors help you discover these hidden pleasures as you find ways to entertain them. 

This weekend we had guests of which one is an avid photographer and I took them on a morning walk along the Campaspe River that circles our town of Kyneton. 

The Campaspe River begins its journey from the foothills of the great dividing range, within the Wombat Forest not that far from Trentham where we are building. It meanders to Woodend and then to Kyneton while continuing all the way to the Murray River near Echuca on the border of Victoria and New South Wales - a journey of 232 kms.

The general area has suffered from 2 years of minimal rainfall and so the Campaspe is currently a series of billabongs or areas of water not going anywhere. As you walk along the river path, you discover that in the early part of last century, the town's folk built a river swimming pool, bridges of bluestone pillars that allowed you to cross the river and overlook the pool where the locals could cool off during the peak summer season.  As we walked along the river path, I meet one of my recent cycling friends who is part of the "Friends of the Campaspe" and he was able to enlighten us to the work that the group are undertaking to improve the quality of the river.

We saw many trees stumps along each side of the river bank and wondered why you would do this. We were told that these trees were willows and that they clog the river-way. Having felled these trees, the group have begun to plant many more eco friendly trees, more suitable to the river. 

It certainly is quite idyllic and as we walked the river path, we discovered many of the locals walking their dogs, jogging or riding their bikes and each had a friendly hello for us. So much different from the big city.

The still waters of the Campaspe River due to two years of drought.

Between these two concrete barriers is the early swimming pool from early last century.

High on the hill overlooking both the Campaspe River and the town of Kyneton is the first hospital built (1859) of the most common material available in the district - Bluestone. It was where we began our walk.

High on the hill overlooking the Campaspe River in Kyneton is the derelict hospital made of bluestone with an iron lace veranda.

A WALK DOWN PIPER STREET

Kyneton has three main streets with two sets of traffic lights, one set being a pedestrian crossing. The main tourist drag is Piper Street. From Melbourne, you enter Kyneton via High St, turning right you enter Mollison St which is the commercial shopping area. Less than 500 metres you turn left into historic Piper Street. We had a friend stay this weekend and took her for a walk down Piper Street.

Piper Street is full of art and craft shops, antique shops with cafes, restaurants, bakeries and two hotels. Many of the buildings retain their original architecture and are built from a mixture of bluestone and/or timber which was plentiful in the mid 1850s as Kyneton grew. One of the original stonemason business operate to this day.

In 2011 the census recorded a population of 6650 however in that time with all the new housing in the outer areas of Kyneton, I'm sure it will have grown significantly. Explorer Major Mitchell opened the area in 1836 and not far behind the first settlers opened the land to farming. The Humanitarian Caroline Chisholm settled here with her family in 1857 - She appears on our stamps and banknotes. You can read more about this amazing woman here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Chisholm

Even the infamous Bushwhacker, Ned Kelly features in Kyneton history as he was tried for "Robbery under Arms" at the Kyneton Courthouse in 1870.

I was reading only today that due to the very low pollution levels in the area that it is very popular for Astronomers to view the southern skies. After riding the bike over the last few weeks here, I can feel my body being cleansed by the fresh country air and Sue says she is not getting any bouts of asthma.

Later in the day we went to see our block of land in Trentham - we had settlement last Friday and now its ours to start building. A few big Gum trees need to go and several smaller trees will be cleared but there are many that we will retain that add a softness to the property. We are told that there is a big old kangaroo that lives by the creek that runs at the back of the block on the government reserve. There are signs that he likes to roam our property in the early hours of the morning and at dusk.
Last visit, we had a group of ducks that also liked to wander through.

I'm excited - this is all ours now!!!!

http://www.piperstreet.com.au/

http://piperstfoodco.com/en/

http://www.vicfarmersmarkets.org.au/market/kyneton-farmers-market

Being a Tourist in our new Home

Sunday we took a drive to discover some of the outer regions of Kyneton. As you drive north and west of Kyneton you find yourself on the other side of the Great Divide, a mountain range where the temperature is cooler and the land greener. The locals tell us that this side of the range, the winters have been dry and with temperatures this summer in the high 30s, the land is parched. Yet there is a harsh beauty that invites the camera to come into play. Handy to have my iPhone with me.

As we drove by this area, we must have seen at least 100 kangaroos bounding through the paddocks with their young. A rear treat for us recently displaced city folk.

We passed a sign that said Granite Hills and they weren't fibbing. Over a length of about 500 metres, there were these rocky outcrops of granite rising from the earth.

We found a great Pub

This week we will have done 3 trips to our new what will be our home for the next 12 months at Kyneton. After driving the company van with a load of belongings in weather around the low 30's, we needed a beer. I found this pub with a beer that Sue enjoys a few weeks back - it's appropriately called Bicycle Beer.

I think that the Royal George may become our local while in Kyneton. I discovered after a bit of a chat, that the owners actually live in our future village of Trentham. We both enjoyed a serve each of Calamari with a couple of pots of Bicycle Beer in the very relaxing ambiance of this pub.

Sunday, we take another trip, hopefully our last in the company van with another load of belongings. Late next week the removalists take all the big stuff and then we are out of here. After 33 years, will we be sad to leave. I think Sue may be but I'm looking forward to a new life (Sue is as well but is sad with all the memories of this house).

Keep tuned - many new tales to come.

We're Moving Out

Our kitchen cupboards have never been so tidy and clean. I hope the new owners appreciate  the time I've spent making the place welcome for them. It's a matter of personal pride - isn't it?

We are moving out. Now only 11 days before the house is bare and we are living in the regional Victorian town of Kyneton until our new home is being built in the village of Trentham.

The car is packed full of memories of 33 years. Bruce the bear joined the family before Andrew, our first son was born. Both boys enjoyed rolling all over his fluffy body. He comes with us to the end of time.

Kyneton - Home to be Soon

We can't tell you how many times we have been back and forth to the central highlands of Victoria but recently it seems to be on a weekly cycle since we bought the land at Trentham and took out a lease on a rental property in Kyneton while our house is built.

Today we took another car load of bits and pieces to Kyneton, set up a guest room bed which will be our room until the BIG move early next month. It was hard work on a Victorian summer's day so we thought we would shout ourselves to a nice cold beer before returning home to Mentone, Our Home on the Bay.

We may need to change the name of our Blog next month with the relocation.

The hotel in its earlier form became licenced in 1852 to service the men on their way to the nearby goldfields od Castlemaine and Bendigo amongst the many other smaller towns that grew from the Victorian goldfields.

Note that our Citroen C4 enjoys a cameo in this photo.

The beers we had were at the Royal George Hotel - with a choice of 16 craft beers and ciders on tap. They organise a Brewer's Club and also a Beer School. We checked out their menu. 12 hour slow cooked lamb, crispy pork belly amongst the menu with some great local wines. They also have a local's Thursday night meal for $15.00 mains.
Early this year they were awarded Melbourne's radio station 3AW's Pub of the week.

I think we might like living here while our house is built.

Our 3 Day Weekends

My long weekends (starting from Fridays) start with a bike ride at "our home on the bay" and it will make it difficult to leave this great area however life has many roads to follow.

It's happening - I'm starting to relax on my Fridays and Sue is noticing that I'm not logging in to my work emails or even answering the phone other than to friends.

Kyneton has a rich history of early Victoria. Bluestone was a major building material during the early gold mining days of the 1850s. Kyneton lives on tourism these days with the museums, food and wine of the local district.

Doors open and close - it depends on which you open to where life leads.

This Sunday, suggested to Sue that we should have brunch at Duck, Duck, Goose in Kyneton. Its just about 90 mins up the road. We've posted on Kyneton recently on our trips to the area in search of our future life.

Duck, Duck, Goose is in historic Piper Street, Kyneton and we were early before the tourists - most relaxing. 

Sue and our eldest son Andrew ponder on the local stores of Kyneton.

We have it mind to look at another area of Victoria soon - Beechworth. It's located at the foothills of the Victorian Alps. It is rich in wine and food produce. It's also an early gold mining region. The infamous Australian Bushranger Ned Kelly came from the area. We'll tell you more in a few weeks time.

Meanwhile it's on to the house renovations.