We woke up to another sunny day. After yesterday strenuous walk, we decided to have a ‘rest’ day today. 
We left the campground later than usual and drove to Ballarat. Along the way you could see that autumn was in full swing. Several trees were changing color. We also saw streets lined with oak trees. With information gathered from the visitor center of Ballarat we wandered around the town.
Many of the impressive stone buildings are from the Gold rush” period 1850 – 1900. The main street has several Asian restaurants which we could not resist. Also Target was visited for a warm sweater for Jamaliah. From here a pleasant drive North East through the old gold mining area in the direction of Maldon and Castlemaine which we will visit tomorrow. We are now camping in the Newstead racecourse (fee=donation).
We are around 600m above sea level which means that once the sun goes down the temperature drops too. Like yesterday evening we are putting the “thermal sheets” in the windows to keep the interior warm.

The large tree dotted campsite was bathing in the morning sun. It was tempting to stay another night but after we had warmed up we left around 11:00 to Maldon. This is a small jewel of an old mining town. We were hoping to rent 2 e-bikes to cycle along the train tracks. This was not possible (no bike hire shop here). It was suggested instead to board the steam train to Castlemaine leaving in an hour. So Jamaliah bought first class return tickets and we had a great drive through the forest to Castlemaine sitting in the front carriage. It breathed the golden period of the 1920’s. On the return trip we ordered a cheese platter and white wine. Why not! This was really a relax day.
Later we drove first to Dredge and Dragline Historical site to see some abandoned dredges and then climbed an old mining tower which serves as a fire lookout. 
The camping tonight is at a 648 m in a regional park known to be the coldest and wettest in the region. But it is a lovely free site with lots of trees and also toilet facilities and not busy.
It did not cool down as much so we had a comfortable night.