My second day in Walhalla started much like the first, heading outside to discover a thin mist veiling the valley, with intermittant heavy bursts of rain. After breakfast we once again set out to explore what remained of Walhalla, this time heading north out of town.

Not far north of town is the chinese gardens, the only flat land available in town to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs. As you have probably guessed, it was owned by a chinese family and the produce grown was sold to the rest of the towns people.

After visiting the garden, we encountered an intersection between the main through-road in town and the two old tram-ways that were used by the village people to service the many mines. We walked up and along one of the tram ways, which climbs the mountain and then runs parallel to the main north-south road through the village, passing many mountainside mine entrances.

The view from along the path was great down on to Walhalla, and I took many pictures. Eventually we hit upon the main village mine, and the museum just inside. The museum provides an interesting recollection of how the mine was set-up and ran, and how it eventually came to close. The mines suffered badly from water problems as they delved deeper, and so it bacame increasingly difficult to remove gold as the shafts filled with water.

As the price of gold fell, fires ravaged the town and it became easier to mine elsewhere, Walhalla began to shrink. Eventually all the mines closed, and its townspeople left and moved away, mostly to Western Australia mines. The town was left, and its resident numbers eventually dwindled all the way down from 4000 to 20 (as it is today).

After our last tour of Walhalla, we had lunch and headed back to Carrum Downs. Two hours later and we were talking once again with Phillip and Cassie and playing with Molly. Jill offered to go and get fish and chips, and I got the oppertunity to sample shark for the first time out here.

After tea, Phillip and Cassie offered to take me out to Arthurs Seat. It is purched at the top of a mountain along the Mornington Peninsula and overlooks all of Port Phillip Bay. From the top, you can see all the way to Melbourne at the top of the bay, and all the way to Geelong on the other side of the bay. The view is fantastic, and I was lucky enough that Phil and Cassie had timed it for us to arrived just at sunset, which was completely breathtaking. I have had a brilliant weekend!

Ian.