Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Over Easter we packed up the little woody and travelled up into the Victorian high country for a weeks R and R. We camped at Rawson forest camp near Mt Baw Baw. The town was built to house the workers and their families during the contruction of the the Thompson Dam project. The construction of the dam took more than 16 years to complete. The dam is the main water supply for Victoria's capital city Melbourne. Close by is the old gold mining township of Walhalla. This was a great place to spend some time exploring our link with the past.
Gold was found in Stringers Creek in 1863 and by 1866 numerous mines within the valley were opened. The great Long Tunnel Company, to which the prosperity of Walhalla owed its existence, became the greatest single producer of gold in Victoria. It closed in 1913. Walhalla once supported 15 hotels, 40 shops, two breweries, four churches, a school, jail and its own newspaper. Timber getters denuded the hillsides in supplying mining companies with 34 000 tons of timber a year.
The permanent population of Walhalla today is fewer than 20, although there are many more temporary residents and visitors on holidays and weekends.

The narrow-guage railway arrived from Moe in 1910 only in time to see the town die. The two major mines closed in 1911 and 1913 and the trains which were to have brought posperity were used to cart away Walhalla's buildings. By 1920 there were only 250 people left. The railway closed in 1944 but is being rebuilt as a tourist railway.
It was a excellent trip with perfect weather.
Hope to share more great trips around Australia.

Cheers Dave & Bernie

View our pictures on the follow links.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/david.co ... directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/david.co ... directlink

Thanks for the pics, looks a a great place to visit.

Thank you for posting. I love when you get a little history of the area.

Great pics!!! I want to visit!!!

Hey Dave do they let you run a metal detector down there. I think in England you can keep what you find or the goverment buys it. In the US anything you find belongs to the goverment. Thanks love the pics..Jim G

Thats some beautiful country.

It is truly a very pictureque spot. In Australia you can prospect under a mining licence but given that this whole area is possibly already under licence to the large mining bodies anything the you find and declare would belong to them. So dont get caught and dont declare.

Cheers Dave

I ofcourse never, ever Metal detect, I just keep my white's in case of a national emergency. Ah, but one needs to practice, just to help the goverment out, I do hate those illegal hunters. JG

Mountains! Seems most of the pictures we get about Australia are of the Rock and Opal mines. Or maybe those are the ones I remember. I do like Opals.

...nice pics...nice scenery and a REALLY nice town...thanks for sharing them with us.............