Midweek spurt to Walhalla

[Troubleshooter]

Last week jumped in the Coxster for a quick overnighter to Walhalla. Fist time visit after meaning to for decades and what a fantastically unique old gold town it is. Took off from the hills for a two hour drive mid morn and onto the twistys in minutes down to Monbulk and with barely a car sighted most of the way into Woori, for then the slowcoach haul to Yarra Junction. So a pleasant and bit racy drive on to Noojee with only a handfull of motorbikes for company, and the mandatory Noojee Trestle Bridge shot. 

Tested the suspension and brakes thoroughly along the endless corners for the perfect 30ks to Willow Grove having the entire track to myself. Then the casual half hour lush country loop contending with only a few tractors here n there to Rawson. A short spurt through Gods country and hidden in the steep valley is Walhalla. Population 18.

Not another old gold town in Australia can measure up to this place - still retains it's most original heritage possible, magical! Feels like you are in a real life gold town movie set but the characters are replaced with tourists. For those that have never been, there's only really one way in and one way out, a main street with a few auxiliary dirt roads leading off up the huge inclines. In brief, it's all wedged into a 100 metre wide valley with the winding 2km main street following a beautiful creek, flanked on either side by 70 degree heavily bushed and treed inclines 100 metres high.

In that main street aside from the functioning old touristy post office, shops, museum, hotels, fire station and a few tiny parks etc the other 4 or 5 main tourist things like the cemetery, working train station, tram track walk and the mine shaft tour should not be missed. For a guided hour, with a running commentary of the miners work and lives, the 300 metres into the mine shaft and then pulling up at the 1klm vertical shaft it was amazing. Check the town's history - from nothing in the late 1800's, the whiff of gold expanded it to 4000 population in about 5 years and bang, they struck big! Over another 10 years they hauled out of unbelievably deep mineshafts something like 40 tons of gold. Then over 3 or so years the gold stopped, the money stopped and the town fizzled out. Twenty years of boom to bust.

A nice overnight in the Star Hotel (temporary green paint for a Liam Neeson Ice Road 2 shoot) in the middle of the street, my choice from the included a la carte was roast beef followed by the pav all in the Aussie tradition (plus a bottle of plonk and whisky n drys til sleep). Wandered the town again with a coffee catching the things I'd missed the arvo before 'til the mine shaft tour.

Could all be done and back home in a long day but best to do a relaxed overnighter and midweek to avoid the packs of tourists crammed in on a sunny weekend. Wished I'd done the visit decades sooner!  The fabulous drive home was a repeat of the journey there but with a beer stop and bite to eat at the pub - and the other mandatory Noojee pic, the pubs's dinasaur of course!