On the way back from Daylesford we stopped for a brief walk at Blackwood Springs (after a coffee in the small town there that took far too long) as we fancied some exercise and maybe some mushroom hunting.

There are a quite a few springs in this part of Victoria, and we thought we'd stop by and fill up our water bottles from the mineralised springs here which have a distinctive soda water taste. One is sweet, the other more iron tasting. I definitely wouldn't say they were the equivalent to fine french wine though. That's hyperbole if ever I heard it.

It was a lovely place for a walk, though we didn't walk far as it wasn't hte mushroom hunting ground we were looking for, and quite dry and rocky - think gold panning area than fertile and rich mushroom growing forest.

There were tables and chairs for picnics in the summer and toilets and barbecues, so a good place to stop for lunch. If you're lucky you might see wombats as the area is known for them - in fact the nearby national park is called 'Wombat State Forest'.

The area was also know for gold mining in the 1850's, with thousands of miners seeking their fortune. The springs would have been found then, likely wnen Chinese miners were working the river gravels.

Though we didn't find the mushrooms we wanted, we did find some tremella or snow fungus. It's a very icky mushroom to hold in the palm of your hand - it's kinda slimy and wobbly and tickly! It's prized for skin care but you can also have it in soups, usually dried, but certainly fresh is always better! We'd never tried it before so we got enough to have for ramen that evening. I have to say it kinda dissolved in the soup and what was left was kinda slippery and there was no distinct taste, but it's always good to forage your own food even though it may not have been as spectacular as the saffies or chanterelles I still haven't lucked upon.

Tremella are also a safe better as it's almost impossible to misidentify and there are no poisonous look alikes. They are found on rotting wood and I'm always suprised they aren't collected more often. People are just scared of mushrooms in general I suppose.

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With Love,