Map of the location for Walhalla (extreme Right side of map), showing its relationship to the city of Melbourne (and the airport, at extreme top-Left):
Friday, 1-Nov-24:
We set out from Albert Park, in South Yarra just SE of the Melbourne CBD, at the hotel where Alex's conference had been held. We hired a car there, and drove East through Yarragon (stopping there for coffee & snack for lunch), turning North at Moe to Erica and Walhalla, latterly through some lovely timber country.
We had been induced to visit Walhalla when we discovered that it was the location on which were based historical novels by Alison Stuart, which she called "Maiden's Creek" (Website Here). We weren't exactly looking for locations described in the novels, but just to experience the whole place, which we found enchantingly beautiful. It had been a gold-mining town, but the mines closed in 1914; in contrast to many nearby gold-mining towns, Walhalla has reinvented itself as a tourist town. Walhalla was also featured in a recent Australian Traveller article on ghost towns (though it's not actually one) - see Article Here..
Scenery on the way to Walhalla:
Railway bridge over the Thomson River (Thomson railway station on the Right):
So we arrived in Walhalla, and had a wander around, locating our accommodation (Windsor House B&B):
Walhalla Corner Store:
Typical nicely presented cottages:
The Band Stand:
Some local fauna (Eastern Yellow Robin & Superb Fairy Wren:
Lots more photos of a very photogenic town:
Then I climbed the unrelentingly uphill zigzag walk to the Cricket Ground ("the most picturesque in the world") - obviously enjoyed by 2 rosellas:
A Thrush met on the way down, and also a field of foxgloves:
At the end of the day, we dined in the only place in town offering dinner, "The Wally Pub", derived from the Walhalla Lodge Hotel:
Saturday, 2-Nov-24:
We embarked on a typical tourist quest today, to tick off as many of the "must see/do sights as we could. These included he Walhalla Goldfields Railway, the Long Tunnel Extended gold mine tour, the tramway elevated walk , the cemetery, and the church (we accomplished all of that, as evidenced by the following photos:
First, the scenic railway journey to Thomson. We travelled on the train to nearby Thomson, on part of the railway that has been restored. The plan is to extend it to Erica in due course. It was first opened in 1910, having been planned for many years prior to that; it was just in time to transport all the gear from the mines which closed down by 1914. The service (reduced to once/week) finally ceased in 1944. It is a particularly attractive ride, with much of the track built on trestles over the steep gorge of Stringer's Creek which flows into the Thomson River at Thomson:
Next on our list was to visit the cemetery in Walhalla. Apart from the heart-rending stories evoked by the many untimely deaths, the cemetery is quite unique in being perched on a hillside, with terraced graves, many with retaining walls. St John's church was nearby, but the original church was demolished in 1918 and rebuilt in Wonthaggi; the current building was created from parts of the vicarage when it was demolished in 1919:
Having had a full breakfast, we dispensed with lunch (except for a cup of tea, of course!), and just Alex went on the mine tour. I don't suppose you can go to an old gold-mining town and not take a tour of an old mine. So this is what I did, in the Long Tunnel Extended mine:
Then the lovely views from the tramway walk. Given that Walhalla is in a deep valley, it is not surprising that there are walkways from which you get great views of the town. I walked along the tramway path (which connected the old to the new mine entrance). Here are some views:
Sunday, 3-Nov-24:
There is a church serviuce in Walhalla (in St John's church) only on the 3rd Sunday in the month, so we started out on our journey home (to Perth). We took "the scenic route", skirting the high country, well into timber country, taking us through Noojee; where there wasn't tall timber, there was dazzlingly green countryside. I had also discovered that there is a lovely waterfall there, actually called Toorongo Falls. Stopping in Noojee we asked where were Noojee falls, only to be told that those were the falls we had just visited! The falls were a short walk from the car park:
Then there was the Noojee Trestle Bridge, the biggest trestle bridge in Australia, just outside town:
As we continued on our journey towards Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport (aiming to skirt Melbourne), we came across a sign to "The Ada Tree", only 24km off the road. Now, I had read about this, too; it's one of the very few really big Mountain Ash trees left standing (aka Eucalyptus Regnans), named after Ada Mortimer. The walk was a bit too far to attempt, but we enjoyed the timber country in the vicinity, and contented ourselves with the wonderful description of the tree at
Australian National Trust
There is a wonderful (dreadful??) story about a metal pole with has been stuck in the ground to denote the finding of the tallest ever Mountain Ash tree, at over 80m tall, which once measured was promptly cut down!
Here is some of the local scenery:
We then drove on towards Melbourne Airport, travelling via Yarra Junction, Healesville and Kangaroo Ground, thence flying back to Perth:
Alex Reid
5-Nov-24