A guy thing ... cafes and shops line the main street.
Craig Tansley gets in touch with his blokey side in this popular town.
It occurs to me, while my face is caked in a thick layer of green clay, that men and women really aren't all that different - we just want to be loved.
The Soul Man treatment at Daylesford provides a lot of loving in two hours of pure, unadulterated indulgence. The best thing is that it's for men only. First, you'll soak in a hot tub for half an hour to calm your muscles before getting a back massage, foot massage and a deep-cleansing facial with a clay mask to treat in-grown hairs. The only disappointment is no matter how hard they scrub you'll still look nothing like James Brown.
The Soul Man spa treatment costs $250, see hepburnbathhouse.com, phone 5321 6000, 20 Mineral Springs Crescent, Hepburn Springs.
Here's mud in your eye
Isn't quad biking just like a facial ... with a different kind of mud on your face? You'll get covered in it when you take a quad-bike journey through a 730-hectare pine plantation beside Wombat State Forest, 15 minutes' drive from Daylesford.
Flying through muddy creeks and past kangaroos on narrow dirt tracks, this is as far from the typical relaxing Daylesford experience as it gets. There's no riding expertise required and you'll feel like a pro in five minutes.
Two-and-a-half hour tours with Victorian Quad Bike Tours cost $185, 1½ hours $120 and one hour $85. Phone 5348 6707.
A real man's feed
While Daylesford is home to some of Victoria's best regional restaurants, sometimes men just want to go somewhere with good, wholesome food that can be eaten at the bar. Such a place is the Farmers Arms - you can even wear your muddy shoes from quad biking.
While it's casual enough to appeal to any diner, there's a sophistication here you won't find at your local.
Part of a new movement from Britain aimed at putting style and good food back into hotels, the Farmers Arms has restaurant-quality meals but it's so casual you can read the paper at the bar while you eat.
Bar meals are served from 6-9pm, see farmersarmsdaylesford.com.au, phone 5348 2091, 1 East Street, Daylesford.
Land a trout
Tired of shopping? Just go fishing, then. Tuki is a 20-minute drive from Daylesford on a traditional sheep-grazing property with six ponds full of trout to catch and take away with you. You're guaranteed to catch a trout at one of the heavily stocked ponds but there's also a challenge at ponds with fewer fish.
Experienced fishermen can bring their own equipment. When you catch your trout you can take it home cleaned and packaged. And if you still can't land anything, Tuki's restaurant offers some of the best smoked trout in Victoria.
Tuki admission is $8, hiring a fishing rod costs $5 and you can take away trout that is cleaned and packaged for $14.20 a kilogram, see tuki.com.au, phone 5345 6233.
Brews for brekkie
How about a late breakfast and some shopping - with a male twist? Breakfast & Beer offers a slice of alpine Europe in Daylesford, which means it's fine to sample a German Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier or Belgian Gulden Draak with your avocado, dill pesto and tomato on focaccia with avocado oil and river salt. There are more than 100 beers from all over the world to try.
After breakfast, head for Avant Garden Bookshop, which has 14 rooms packed with old comics and videos from the 1980s and the best collection of second-hand records outside Melbourne, as well as more than 1.2 million new and second-hand books. Avant Garden is proof that shopping can be fun for men.
Breakfast & Beer, 117 Vincent Street, see breakfastandbeer.com.au, phone 5348 1778. Avant Garden, 46 Vincent Street, see avantgarden.com.au, phone 5348 1288.
Get sporty
You can play 18 holes of golf among the kangaroos at nearby Hepburn Springs Golf Club ($22 a day, see hepburngolf.com.au, phone 5348 2185), or play mini-golf for $12 at the Aussie-themed 18-hole Daylesford Mini Golf (see daylesfordminigolf.com.au, phone 5348 1962).
Or gallop a horse through Wombat Forest and Hepburn Lagoon with Hepburn Lagoon Trail Rides (phone 5345 7267), canter through Mount Disappointment State Forest with Uncle Nev's Trail Rides (phone 5783 1310) or ride with Boomerang Ranch (see boomerangranch.com.au, phone 5348 2525).
Otherwise, take a walk along the Wallaby Track, part of the 210-kilometre Goldfields Track connecting Ballarat and Bendigo. The Visitor Information Centre in Daylesford (98 Vincent Street, phone 5321 6123) has details about the walk or book a guided walking tour with Both Feet (see bothfeet.com.au, phone 1300 767 416).
Daylesford also has some great four-wheel-drive tracks through the Wombat State Forest and Lerderderg State Park (Phone Parks Victoria on 131 963 or see visitvictoria.com.au).
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