Beside the River

While waiting for my sewing machine to be serviced in Geelong, we visited the Fyansford Paper Mill, which is now home to various art spaces, a winery, and cafe and the like. However early Tuesday morning is not the best time to visit, as nothing was open.

So instead we went for a walk along the Barwon River.

These steps behind the mill car-park lead down to the river:

Steep, damp, pebbly steps with no hand rails. Walk carefully! And be glad you don't have to deal with all that oxalis.

Buckley's Falls get their name from William Buckley, whose story would be familiar to many in this part of the world:

The view of the falls might be better from the other side of the river:

Revegetation project between the oxalis:

Amazing rock formations:

Encroaching suburbia:

All that yellow around the houses is oxalis. Glad I don't have to establish a garden there.

This stone-work engineering, which includes a weir across the river about about a kilometre up the river from the falls, was built in 1876 to direct water along the race (on the right and in the foreground) to power the mill:

The beginning of the water race:

Notice how it is lower than the weir across the river, to ensure that water enters the race even when the river flow is low.

Above the weir the river is wide and tranquil. One of the people we met on the way said he had just seen a platypus somewhere up here:

Unfortunately we saw no sign of the platypus, but it was a lovely walk.