Day 3 further east from Walhalla

After two nights in the Walhalla area we hopped on to the tourist train in Walhalla. The funny thing about this train line is that it was completed in 1910 down to Moe, but the gold mine closed a couple of years later. Of course the population seriously dwindled after the gold mine closed. The railway was reopened in the 90s. It currently is only a 20 minute trip, but there are plans to connect it all the way to Erica, which I guess would be at least an hour, at the slow speeds it runs.

The train journey was enjoyable enough, but the engine was facing the wrong way on the outward journey. Every time the driver sounded the horn, it was quite loud and upset Abigail a lot. As a consequence, she kind of hated the outward journey. The return trip had the engine facing the correct way and Abigail enjoyed it more. A return trip costs $18 for an adult.

Views on and from the train:








Following our train trip, we had a picnic lunch in Walhalla and then decided to head further east. Where to? Well we didn't know yet. Perhaps it was time to camp in our tent for a night. After a swim at the pool in Morwell and some shopping we jumped in the car and drove. Melody pulled out the camping book and eventually landed on a campground north of a tiny town called Briagalong, north of Sale. Victoria was starting to seem a little quieter and more sparsely populated. We managed to find time to put up our tent before dark, but not enough time to find wood to light a fire. So we retired for the night.


The Latrobe Valley, which takes in Moe, Morwell and Traralgon (all cities). It is Victoria's power belt producing a lot of electricity from coal. Privatisation has seen a lot of jobs cut. In the words of a local, the place is "not what it used to be."