Many years in the making the Goldfields Track walking guide is to be published by em PRESS for the Great Dividing Trail Association (GDTA) in June this year. 


 The guide will have 1:25,000 ratio maps of the whole of the 210km track between Mt Buninyong and Bendigo, which passes through  the towns of Ballarat,  Creswick, Daylesford and Castlemaine on the way. It is the longest shared use track (for walkers & mountain bikers) in the country. I'm writing and producing the guide, and have now walked or ridden its whole length as part of the 'ground truthing' process.  GDTA surveyor Bill Casey has GPSed the whole track. DSE's Customised Mapping Unit in Ballarat are producing standard VicMap style contour maps.

The map spreads with track notes and large numbers of photos will be sandwiched between essays  by local experts on  landscape features from geology to plants and animals, as well as essays on the goldfields' rich cultural heritage and some of the area's historical characters.

The wire bound, paperback size guide will be available from central Victorian tourist information centres and via the book's major sponsor the Great Dividing Trail Association. The retail price for the 160 page guide will be between $25-30. 

Three large size maps now exist covering the length of the 210km Goldfields Track. I wrote and produced the last of these – the Leanganook Track map – in mid-Feb and it should be available from tourist info centres in central Victoria or the gdt website - click here. The map covers the final 60km of the track between Castlemaine and Bendigo.

Features of this track are the granite tors of Mt Alexander and the sculptured engineering (inc two bluestone 'waterfalls') of the 140 year-old Coliban Water Channel.