Castlemaine

Castlemaine is an historic goldmining town the Goldfields region of Victoria. It has a population of approximately 7,300.

Both trains and busses leave frequently from Melbourne and larger regional centers including Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong. Hitchhiking is generally accepted in the entire Central Victorian area. Neighboring towns and surrounding villages such as Chewton and Maldon and often Bendigo can be reached frequently by sticking out your thumb and getting a lift from friendly locals and passing farmers.

Castlemaine also bosts a proud Automotive history, an is the self proclaimed 'Hot Rod Capital' of Victoria. There are multiple small open to the public private Automotive collections (for more information see Tourism Victoria).

The evidence of the rich gold mining past is still evident in the grand achitecture and impressive Victorian style hotels on most street corners and inpressively large mullock heaps of shale and occaional open mine shafts, which can make bushwalking off marked trails at times dicey, However one such open mine shaft dubbed 'the Chinamans hole' is of historic significance. Being the supposed site of where the bodies of 16 chinese prospectors who were killed in the 1859 uprising were interred. it is said if you cast a coin into this shaft, and listen closely, you will recieve a fortune. It is displayed on the bushwalking map of the area.