A day out in Kyneton (my rating B)

Kyneton is a town in Central Victoria, about 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne.  It is a nice town to explore and stroll on a sunny day with your kids and furry little one.

Our day tour starts at Kyneton Botanic Gardens (we park the car on Clowes St), we have a picnic lunch at the park. And afterwards, a short stroll in the gardens.  It is very pleasant and peaceful.  Dogs are welcome on-lead in the gardens.  There are toilets, tables and benches available in the park.

The Botanic Garden is next to Campaspe River, a riverside walk shall be relaxing.  There are 2 swings in the Gardens, FYI.

 

Turpins Falls and Trentham Falls are 2 of several waterfalls near Kyneton.  Each waterfall is about 30mins drive from Kyneton, but opposite directions.  Both Falls are OK with dogs.


Staff@Kyneton Visitor Centre suggests me to put "155 Shillidays Rd, Langley VIC 3444" onto my GPS for the direction to Turpins Falls, there is a sign on Shillidays Rd pointing to Turpins Falls, so you won't miss the  turn.

There is no amenities at Turpins Falls, however, there's a path to the river level, I'd suggest you to bring a hiking stick with you as the path to river level is quite steep and slippery when wet.

Trentham Falls@Trentham Falls Scenic Reserve is off Trentham Falls Road, there's a sign pointing to the Falls so you won't miss the turn.  There is a picnic ground at the Reserve, with tables, benches and toilet facilities.  It's a 70m short walk on a well defined path to the viewing platform. 
**** Extracted from Trentham Falls flyer *****
Trentham Falls Scenic Reserve offers you the best access to one of Victoria's highest single drop waterfalls.  Here the Coliban River plunges 32 meters over a sheer face of basalt rock.

No wonder you can hear the waterfall thunder from the carpark, and the view is spectacular.

You may also like to take the chance for a short walk in the reserve.  The walking map is available at the carpark.

There are other Points of Interests nearby, like Black Hill, Mineral Springs, and other waterfalls......... :)
We shall come back and explore more, for sure......


p.s.: It may be tricky to find a restaurant / cafe in a Sunday afternoon in a country town, thus we usually bring our own picnic lunch.

Princes Gardens@Prahan (My rating D)

To be blunt , I was disappointed with this park, partially because I had such high expectation to this park, partially because this park doesn't really fit my wish list.

On the council website, this is a park with lots of facilities: playground, basketball court, skate park,  and offleash.

I don't mind a park that is surrounded by high rises, though it's not ideal.

The first thing that made me frown was the car parking.  I couldn't find anywhere to park.  The streets are narrow and busy.  We went around the park for a few time until I found the entry to 'offical' car park.

The 2nd thing that made me frown (again) was the sign "no cycling / skateboarding" (on the path).  I guess it applies to scooters too.

The 3rd thing that made me shake my head was when I see see basketball court............. THAT BUSY!!!!  It's almost impossible for the kids to throw a ball.

Then we came to the skate park area where is near the basketball court, the graffiti and the set up of the skate park especially the traffic going from different directions towards the middle made the kids say 'no no no'.......

The biggest dismay was when I had to use the toilet.  Yes, only 1 toilet room (unisex), so called hi-tech 'ex-loo', button controlled, but yuck!  I always try to stay away from 'ex-loo', because I've seen way to many failed 'design', but this one made its way to the top list of 'dirties ex-loo'................

The only good thing is the playground, nice one.

Special Post: DogParks-VIC Australia

I've just published a free Android App on Google Play called "DogParks-VIC Australia".  Feel free to download it to your Android Mobile Device if you have one.

The whole idea is to locate dog offleash (mainly) parks near you (based on GPS location).  The app can also show the entire dog offleash network,  Hope that will help you plan your adventure with your loved ones.

I'm still building up the list, consolidating the different info from local councils, visitor centres and Victoria Park.

I'm focusing on Melbourne Inner Suburbs and Other Cities in Victoria at the moment.  I guess people in rural and remote victoria areas aren't strict as long as your dog behaves.  However, I was told off (not by a civil servant, but by a tearoom lady) when we were holidaying at Silverton NSW (near broken hill).  Jessica was offleash exploring around in her graceful manner.  :-(


Anyway, hope you find the app handy.

Gisborne Botanic Garden@Gisborne (my Rating B)

Gisborne is a town about 55km West North of Melbourne.  After exploring Woodend, on the way back home, we visited Gisborne Botanic Garden. 

The Adventurous Playground is the garden is nice, and the garden is BIG!!!!!!  Large Area of Green Grass  everywhere!  Away from the traffic, away from the noise, this garden is such a germ for peaceful walk, and leisure.

However, my kids didn't spend much time in the playground, they soon joined us on the picnic rug, and later we had a ball game, and a walk to have a better look at the garden.

I like the open space and the green, this botanic garden is so different from the others I've visited.

I rated this garden and playground B, but the kids rated it C.