Chasing Slow – Part 16: Daylesford

We’ve been roughing it for a while and after getting some well needed rest, we combed our hair and headed for Daylesford.

My Dad and his wife, Julie have spent a fair chunk of the last few years exploring Australia in their caravan. They’ve had a first hand experience of seeing just how beautiful this country is, which has inspired them to no longer reside in the big city and instead move to one of Victoria’s most well presented and luxurious towns: Daylesford.

They haven’t quite moved in yet and happened to be staying at the caravan park in Daylesford, so we decided to join them and take a look around.

Read more about Daylesford Holiday Park.

Daylesford has a bit of a cooler climate than the surrounding area, and this suited us well. We spent the first day keeping cosy and warm around the little old rustic caravan park, drinking wine and playing cards.

Dad is Daylesford’s most passionate tour guide that’s never taken a tour, but here was his chance & to our delight, off we went!

Much the same as the average Daylefordian, he’s already got a lot of pride for the place which becomes pretty obvious, & after a drive around town, we couldn’t help but notice how well kept it is, whether it be a commercial venue, public space or someone’s front yard, the place is near postcard perfect.

With not one, but two picturesque lakes with-in a short drive, Dad couldn’t decide which one to show us, so we visited both, starting with Jubilee Lake on the south-east side of town.

The place was stunning! Dad explained that this was the more “rustic” of the two lakes and that they had recently been exploring it on a canoe, if there wasn’t so much to take a look at in the surrounding area, we would have jumped on board too!

Just before heading to Daylesford, we got a hold of our first batch of WAY&FARER branded canvas folding chairs and we thought that this was an ideal place to do a bit of product photography, so out came the camera accompanied by this more than ideal model.

For those that are interested, you can get some further details or purchase them below (they’re currently on sale to celebrate the new product launch).

Next up, Lake Daylesford.

Lake Daylesford is an artificial lake for ornamental purposes. It was designed by the same bloke that won a competition and designed Canberra. It’s more-or-less in the middle of town and was created by placing a dam on Wombat Creek, which is a natural mineral water spring, just like a bunch more in the area and part of the reason why Daylesford is the Australian Spa Capital.

The water is so fresh that. they even have manual pumps so that you can drink it straight.

Hydration no longer a worry, we took a stroll around the lake.

The next day was a bit of a scorcher, luckily for us, we had recently come across a great swimming spot.

Our final day was pretty much spent playing cards and watching movies, but to stretch the legs, Dad took us to one more place to get one last view.

We climbed up to the top of the Pioneer Memorial Tower (AKA Wombat Hill Lookout) in the middle of town where the botanic gardens are, & we didn’t even have to count the number of stairs as Dad assured is that there was 88 of them.

We had a really good time in Daylesford and look forward to coming back once Dad & Julie have moved into their new home.

After so much comfort, we headed to my cousins farm in Springhurst to get our hands dirty. Here’s Eva operating the tractor!

Next up: We’re heading to Bright in the Victoria High Country.