Chewton Gold Diggings Sunday 30^th May, 2004

To ride, or not to ride?

Weather looks OK but some grey looking clouds over Mt Macedon; might be fine north of the ranges. Sleep in a bit, read the Sunday Age, walk the dog, think about it some more then decide to go. No way of making the start so ride direct to the first break at Lancefield.

Back at Whittlesea for the 10 am start finds Rob GS1200 (leader), Joel R6, Trevor YZF 1000 and Ben CBR929 (rear rider) and to the Broadford track Ray Walker YZF750. Small group so I guess the normal pre ride talk was short and sweet before the run to Lancefield. Through Kinglake West and the National Park to Flowerdale. Swing left to run along the King Parrot Creek to Strath Creek then up the escarpment through Tyaak to Broadford. Along the main drag and then onto the back road to High Camp. Some kangaroo activity reported along here causing some evasive action but all through OK to cross the Northern Highway and pick up the Lancefield road.

I join the four at the Lancefield Milk Bar after fuelling up with the new priced petrol. It looks like over the dollar per litre and more for ULP has become the norm, Rob using PULP at  $1.17 per litre in the new BM. Trev departs on the YZF and I take his place on the YZFR1 as we start the second leg to Chewton. Up the Burke & Wills Track to Baynton then through Pastoria East and Bald Hills to the outskirts of Kyneton, then north through Metcalfe to cross the Calder Highway at Elphinstone and through the twisties on the Pyrenees Highway to Chewton, some traffic spoiling the fun a bit.

No stops to corner mark as we were running in view of each other most of the time and the ground covering rate very respectable. 1pm the mine tour appointment so with some time to spare we settled in to the local cafe for soup and muffins. Some eye candy noted and nice to get inside as the weather north of the divide was much cooler than the south, heavy cloud cover and a cool breeze. Lunch over, gear stored in the cafe store room, then a short walk to the mine site, but no sign of the guide so we did the tour in reverse. By the time we had done a circuit the man with all the knowledge turned up with his dog and gave us some interesting background to the Mt Alexandra gold rush, the richest gold rush of the 1850's. Gold was near the surface at the start of the rush. This gold find paid for most of Melbourne's grander buildings such was the amount of gold taken out.

Later on, during the depression of the 1930's, a powerful water cannon system was set up which used water pumped at high pressure to blast away a complete hill to access the gold deposits, which were accessed by panning the removed earth. The large twin cylinder gas fired engine is still on site. This engine ran a water pump that delivered high pressure water to a cannon that was directed at the area of the hill to be moved. The pressure at the outlet was strong enough to cut a human body in half and the noise of the engine and pump blast carried to Castlemaine, 3 km away. This work was halted in 1970. Thanks for the interesting talk given.

After some mounting difficulty for Rob we take the Fryerstown road, and its many crests, down to Vaughan, then onto Guildford, through Shepherds Flat and into a fog shrouded Daylesford. Trentham next and now rain and fog to contend with. Visor coated, flip it up the glasses achieve white out, pull them forward and the rain stings the eyes. This is not fun but clears by Woodend where a fuel stop for the Yamahas is taken at the BP. Rob, Joel and Ben head for Romsey, Wallan and Whittlesea, I take the Black Forrest road to Gisborne and Melton, the weather now fine with sun breaking through the clouds.

Home around 3.30pm  Total ride distance not noted, maybe Mr Editor can add the relevant details. (340 km Whittlesea to Whittlesea …Ed.) Thanks for an interesting day Rob. I'm glad I caught up at Lancefield.

Geoff Jones  (Yamaha R1)