I MUST have been to Bendigo and Ballarat a couple of dozen times in my life.
When I was playing netball and basketball for my town we dashed up to those rural cities a few times each year to take on the local teams, and I lived in Bendigo back in 1992 while completing my first year of university.
But every time I made the journey into central Victoria I travelled along the Calder or Western highways, and never made the journey between the two settlements through villages like Maldon, Castlemaine or Maryborough.
Until today, that is.
Today we drove from Ballarat to Bendigo, stopping for lunch in Castlemaine, enjoying an afternoon shopping stroll in Maldon, and breaking for morning tea in the hamlet of Newstead which turned out to be a real gem.
Newstead is just 15 minutes from Castlemaine, on the banks of the Loddon River, and there are two establishments that deserve a mention.
Dig @ Newstead is a cafe on one corner of the main drag which seems to be open from early in the morning and until late at night serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between.
The eatery is set inside an old building that was moved from nearby Hepburn Springs a few years back – it served as everything from a dance hall to gym during the years it was in Spa Country – and now it’s the place to get a great cup of coffee, a homemade cake or a yummy pizza.
Just across the road is The Red Store which is a classic 19th century building full of the most delightful old treasures.
The emporium is set in the town’s original general store, which still has the original Baltic pine shelves and long counters, and today owner Elizabeth Bell attends auctions and visits old farms to collect the unique antique trinkets.
You will find stacks of old leather suitcases, lace tea tray clothes in antique shoe boxes, children’s toys, knives with bone handles, and heavy steel watering cans.
It’s not like me to linger in an antique store – I have my own old junk, I don’t need to add to that collection – but The Red Store is a charming spot and more like a chic home-wares store that just happens to sell things that are far from new.
