Sorry these are small images, I accidentally knocked my little Lumix when I fell over
and didn't realise until we got home that photos taken after the knock were small. I have now rectified the settings and my little Lumix is back to normal.

Here are a selection of photos taken during this tour - no flash used by me.


The first European settlers in the Great Western area were sheep graziers in the 1840s and
closer settlement began with the discovery of gold during the Victorian gold rush, the
Post Office opening on 1 June 1858. . The first vineyards in the Great Western
area were established by two Frenchmen who met at the gold diggings at Daylesford.
Following their example, Joseph Best and his brother Henry established vineyards in 1865.
Following Joseph's death in 1888, the property was purchased by Hans Irvine.
Irvine imported staff from France and dedicated himself to establishing a sparkling wine
of comparable quality of French champagne. In 1918, Irvine sold the winery to his
friend and Australian wine pioneer, Benno Seppelt.



Today, Great Western is still producing quality sparkling wines including Seppelt Salinger
at the Seppelt winery, now owned by the Foster's Group. The Seppelt cellars include
over 3 kilometres of labyrinthine tunnels ("drives") originally constructed by miners
searching for gold and are now used to allow the sparkling wine to rest and develop.
The other major vineyard in the area is the Concongella vineyard, operated by Best's
Wines, producing a wide variety of wine types. Table shiraz, including some
from pre-phylloxera root stocks, is also produced by wineries in the area.
The development of a water recycling program transferring waste water from nearby
Ararat to wineries at Great Western has allowed recent expansion of the
wine industry in the area. Wikipedia