Castlemaine Diggings NationalHeritage Park

Spread across box-ironbark woodlands north of Melbourne, this is the largest historic gold-mining landscape in Australia, added to the National Heritage List for the traces the 1850s rush left behind. Walking and cycling tracks thread past abandoned shafts, water races and old settlements, with gentler strolls along the Loddon River and stretches of the Goldfields Track. Vaughan Mineral Springs anchors a shady picnic and camping area, and gold prospecting is still permitted in designated parts of the park.