Mar 23, Malmsbury, Castlemain, Maldon, Bendigo

We're in the goldfields country now and the next few towns will be old gold mining towns. Our first stop was Malmsbury and we drove through this village to see a bluestone viaduct over the Coliban River. It was built in 1859, was149m long and had 5 arches, very large and impressive.
On up the road we came to Castlemain. They were in the last weekend of a 2 weeks arts festival with displays of art around town and cooking in the park. We stopped in at the Anglican Church and they were showing embroideries from a local artist. There were 3 works that were comprised of several pieces. All of the pieces were round, about 8" in diameter. The priest was there and he introduced himself and told us about the works. One was the Stations of the Cross, another Lent and the third, an exploration of the feminine. He called the last one 'challenging' and it was a bit puzzling.
We did a little walk around town to the Palladian style Visitors center and then went to the Buda House. It had been owned by a silversmith who immigrated from Hungary. It was a spread out one story house, very comfortable. Some of his works were on display, such as a silver emu egg with silver decoration. There were also works by his daughters. And there were sculptures on display in the garden.
When we walked back into town, we stopped for fish and chips. I've put a picture of it here, because the piece of fish was so big. And that's about and eighth of the fat chips (fries) that came with it.
Maldon was the next town, one of the best preserved of the gold towns. There were so many buildings, we just wandered around imagining the gold prospectors walking there. There were big, ornate hotels, store fronts, banks, bakeries, and so on. One of the ruins was a chimney from the Beehive Mine. In all there were 40 mines in the region. There is still one operational mine and they believe there are potential gold deposits that could produce more gold than was previously taken out of the area.
Now we're in Bendigo. It's a beautiful city, many of the buildings were designed by German architects, so there is a European feel to it. We found the last campsite in a caravan park very near downtown. Then we walked to the Central Deborah Mine and booked a tour for tomorrow. Downtown wasn't far, so we walked there to see the fountain, the Town Hall, The Shamrock Hotel. Samson stopped a woman on the street and asked her where the best pizza in town was. She said Bendigo wasn't known for pizza, but there was a restaurant nearby that had wood fired pizza. So off we went. There's a picture of the pizza, too. It's beets (called beet root here), pumpkin, goat cheese and hazelnuts. Light, not as heavy as cheese laden pizza, very good.
Pictures - hotel in Castlemain, fish & chips, Maldon street, Samson in Bendigo, pizza