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In 1958 Peter & Elisabeth Mayer with their son Helmut purchased a rocking granite outcrop in Anakie, about 30 north of Geelong, from a local farmer and began to transform it into their dream. Their dream became Australia's first theme park, Fairy Park, the land of fairytales, myths and legends. I remember visiting Fairy Park as a kid and was keen to reignite my inner child. Shovel wasn't overly keen, but played along, because he's awesome. We both ended up having the funnest day and really enjoyed running around the park, exploring all the attractions and re-learning the Grimm Brother fairytales. The park is quirky, eccentric and very un-modern, which is why it was so fun. We rely so heavily on high tech devices these days that the park was a refreshingly analogue attraction in our fast paced, digital age. I personally enjoyed Aladdin's Cave and continuously kept pushing the button, restarting the Arabian music and moving figurines. Shovel was impressed with the model train set and had a great time taking loads of pictures around the park.
     I grew up believing Matthew Flinders was the first European settler to discover the area known as Geelong, having gone to a school named in his honour with the slogan, 'Looking Forward' my impression was of him looking out over the bay from the peaks of the You Yangs, about 30 kilometres from the city of Geelong. But, it wasn't to be, apparently a John Murray, Commander of the HMS Lady Nelson, was the first recorded European to visit the region in 1802. Matthew Flinders did visit the region a few months later and did climb the You Yangs, but he wasn't the first as I had previously thought and didn't actually settle Geelong. In 1803 a Charles Grimes mapped the area, but deemed it unfit for settlement, although the penal colony of Sullivan Bay was established. William Buckley, escaped from Sullivan Bay the same year and lived with the local Wathaurong people for 32 years. He was later pardoned and became an interpreter between the indigenous and europeans. The next Europeans to visit the area were Hamilton Hume and William Hovell arriving in the area known as Geelong on 16 December 1824, despite leaving two days later they did learn the indigenous name for the area was Corayo. It wasn't until 1836 that the area was settled by non indigenous and gazetted as a town in 1838, just three weeks after Melbourne. Geelong soon became a major wool exporter with many woollen mills operating in the area for several decades. Geelong officially became a city in 1910.
We ate an awesome Reuben sandwich at Red Beard's Bakery in Trentham then stopped by the market in Daylesford for a snack of roasted chestnuts and sampled various mineral springs at Hepburn Springs before settling on our favourite at Sailors Hill. Each spring has a unique quality and taste so it's definitely worth trying a few to find the one you most prefer. Trentham
Daylesford 
Hepburn Springs
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