A followup to this .. it was a great walk – took me 7 days. As I feared – water was a challenge – although contrary to expectations, only the Lerderderg section was a problem. I got pretty dehydrated in that section – and it would have been worse, if not for a lucky accident – I missed a turn, and discovered a lovely campsite and water source at Margarets corner.
Dry diggings and Leanganook were not so much of a problem, for probably 3 reasons – 1. There was a significant weather event on the 3rd night – 45mm of rain in 8 hours – cooled things down a lot, and meant the creeks were running – even tho I didnt actually need to dip into them, because 2. The touristy mineral springs, and 3. The trail follows a couple of aquaducts into Castlemaine and especially Bendigo. Also, aside from Mt Alexander and Dog rocks, the Leanganook section is pretty easy / fast compared to the others.
..so in the dry and heat, I really needed to be better at finding water or carrying 6+ liters for the Lerderderg section (I only had 3 – 4), and for the other two sections, 3 or 4 would have been plenty. (of course, I carried 6+ for these).
