Exploring Walhalla

Being a Melbourne resident we’re lucky to have two public holidays a because of a sporting event. One’s a horse race, the other a game of football nobody plays outside of Australia. The laughable guilt of that aside it does create two long weekend opportunities to get away from it all.

For the most recent horse related day off I decided to check out Walhalla and the surrounding areas to see what this part of Victoria has to offer an offroader.

I’d wanted to take our little 2 yr old camping for his third time. The old man was heading out to Wonnangatta the day earlier and I would have loved to head that far in, but with a few storms around, a 5 hour solo trip into Wonnangatta with a dozen creeks to cross I decided something a little more accessible was the best option for us.

I may have been to Walhalla before, but I don’t remember, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I fired up the hema maps app on my phone and then wiki camps checkout some home base possibilities. It was about a two-hour drive from my house and I’d identified about 5 possible spots to set up camp and explore the surrounding area.

So I loaded up the camper, strapped in the boy and headed into the wilderness.

After passing through Moe it wasn’t long before we hit Walhalla. I don’t think I was ready for what confronted me. I remember seeing on the map ‘historic township’ but I figured a few old buildings here and there. Boy was I wrong. It’s a whole town.

The first thing that caught my eye as we drove into town was the railway and the train. My 2 year old is train mad, so that very quickly when on the itinerary. We needed to find a camp first and the day was marching on.

I think you could spend a couple of days just exploring the town itself. Let alone the bush around it.

During my campsite research I remembered there was a spot close to the town called Chinese Gardens. I would have loved to explore the town a little more so I decided to check it out. However when I rocked up, there was a sign talking bookings and permits and a fee to pay. Not my thing so we continued on.

I continued through the town and things very quickly turned to something I was more confortable with. A dirt track going up and down hills. We headed along for Walhalla road towards Aberfeldy and my second choice to set up camp a Merringtons . It was starting to get late in the day, so I didn’t really have time to head anywhere else as I didn’t want to set up the camper in the dark with just me and a two year old.

I totally overshot the turn-off to the camp initially. After a quick turnaround I finally was heading towards camp. It was about a 5km run downhill on a track that you could get a 2wd down on a dry day but might be a little more fun in the wet. It’s probably one of the most easily accessible camps in the area that I feared would make it super busy on a long weekend.

As I rounded into camp, it was a big area but only half full so I was pleasantly surprised. Didn’t take me long to find a good spot and get the camper setup. With plenty of light left I decided to explore the area and check out the river. I was pretty surprised how far away the river was from the campground. I’m used to places like big river and the Murray river where you are essentially camping on e the bank. The 50-meter walk was a noticeable difference.

That said the river was pretty cool, but nothing spectacular. The rest of the ground was really well kept and the drop dunny was as stinky as ever.

As I cracked open a beer and put my feet up I started to reflect on the area I was in. This place was heavily hit by the black Saturday bush fires and it was quite humbling for a number of reasons.

• Just how destructive these bushfires can be
• Just how resilient the bush is and how quickly things can recover.

As the sunset I noticed group next to me had become a little louder as each hour went on. The reviews on wiki camps suggested the spot could get pretty noisy and I was about to learn exactly why. From then until about 3am they got louder and louder.

Luckily the boy went to sleep and didn’t wake up as he may have learned some new words, and I would have been forced to say something.

I started to get a little pissed as the hours when on, but I realised that I’d probably been just as loud, if not loader in groups of my friends in the past. So I decided to just suck it up and let them have their fun. If you are after some peace and quiet I can give you dozens of better spots.

As I woke up a little bleary eyed but it was time to shovel down some breakfast and get exploring.

I decided to just checkout some tracks, then head to the Thomson dam finally the ultimate for the boy, the train ride.

Exploring the tracks:

What this area has in spades is tracks, and really good ones. It’s hilly and rocky with plenty to offer every skill level. Scooting around some of the tracks along with some breathtaking views we passed a scene of stupidity (luckily no-one was hurt), but a brand new ranger towing a $40K camper trailer had flipped because the smart driver decided it was a good idea to turn around half way up a hill.

There are a few basic principles on travelling up and down the Rocky Mountains that you really should skill up on before you hit the serious stuff. Or even better head there first with someone who knows what they doing and get them to share the wealth.

The consequences of making bad decisions when perched on the side of cliff can be much worse than a written-off ranger and camper.

During the day I really only explored 5% of the tracks this place has to offer and if I wasn’t on my own I would have done a lot more. What’s pretty quickly evident that you could have a whole bunch of fun in this place. I’ll defiantly be heading back,

The Dam wall:

If you’re in the area the it’s worth checking out the Thomson dam wall. It’s a pretty impressive feat of construction. You’ll spend only 15 minutes there, but you wont regret it. It was a little foggy when I was there, but we did head to the picnic area just before or after the wall (depends on which way you are coming from and do a cook up in a clean and well managed facility

The train ride in Walhalla:

If you ask my boy this of course was the highlight, but for a few dollars we went hitched a ride on the train in Walhalla. It was pretty cool, but I recommend you sit on the right side of the train to get the best views.

It’s well run and well looked after. I was really impressed. Sadly it wasn’t and old steamer, but my son was convinced it was salty from Thomas the tank engine which just made his day!

All the way back from the train ride he was asking to go on the train again, so I can only assume he had some fun.

Then the weather came in!

On the way from Walhalla back to Merringtons the storms rolled in. A storm in suburbia and be pretty intimidating for a 2yr old, but the rolling thunder and lightning is so much more intensified when there is nothing but trees around you. Tucked up in the camper we didn’t get a drip on us, but the forecast wasn’t great so we decided to cut the trip short.

We quickly packed up did a cooked dinner and started the 2hr trip home.

Would I go back?

Absolutely, I think there is a lot to explore track wise. You could spend a week there and still not see it all. I’d also love to spend a day exploring more of the old township in Walhalla. I’d look for a different camp spot but it’s always good to have a know fall-back even if it is a bit noisy.

I wouldn’t rate it as high as places like Toolangi and Barma but it is a great example of the some the challenging by rewarding off-roading Victoria has to offer.