2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Sun, 23rd Nov, 2014 Shallow Inlet Campground to Bass Valley Campground, Poowong

Woken by the phone at 7am – Fozzie is in Melbourne at Knox BMX for the State Titles. Should have told him Steve would be servicing the truck, can he drop by!!! Packed up. Topped up the water tanks, dumped the dunny so all good to go. Made a cuppa and sat down by the Inlet and watched the birds and fisherman. The sky is a lovely blue with a few little clouds but the breeze is still quite chilly. Will definitely come back next year. Its free from Anzac Day to Melbourne Cup weekend.

Headed back up the north. Lots of wineries along the way. Saw a group of people picking something past Leongatha.

Lovely drive around here – very much like the Tablelands – even the road which is not well maintained. They just put up a lot of signs saying “rough surface for next 3km”!

At Korumburrra there is a heritage centre called Coal Creek which is free and full of information about coal mine here. Will spend a day there next time – looks a lot like Herberton Village.

Into Loch Village just off the highway. Lovely colour on this tree.

Had a wander through the shops. The girls could have a week meandering through all these little towns and their curio and antique shops and there are a few interesting dress shops too.

The Café, “Olive at Loch” has an interesting story. The couple had bought a Kombi Van which they named Olive – because of the colour. Olive sits out the front.

It took them on adventures, surfing, relaxing. They stopped for coffee at Loch and bought the shop – Olive at Loch was born.

The toilet block has a magnificent mural and no graffiti – must be a wonderful place to live.

On the front is a mural of the horse and plough with a single furrow mulboard plough on display. It was mostly used in the district from onions and potatoes and preparing land to be sown for pasture.

The horsedrawn sledge underneath the plough was the most popular means of transporting goods on farms until the arrival of the little grey Ferguson tractor in the 1950s.

The brochure I picked up said how friendly the townsfolk are – they mustn’t have heard the lady at the petrol station yell. A few guys on their motorbikes stopped at the café next door and parked a little bit on the corner of her drive. Boy did she go off. Quiet funny seeing these guys in leather rush and move their motorbikes.

Found some historic buildings. This was the old Post Office (now a home) from 1888 to 1991.

Quaint house next door probably where the Post Master lived.

The Royal Hotel. The original timber building burnt down sometime after 1906 (old photo at railway station show the original one) and this brick one was built on the site.

This lovely brick building is now a Brewery but was originally the Bank.

When I had rung up about staying at the Memorial Park across the river the chap had told me about the giant earthworms under the railway bridge. So off we went – thought something was a miss as the tunnel is concrete. There are billboards to tell us all about the Giant Gippsland Earthworm!! They are only found in this area in a triangle around Loch, Warragul and Korumburra. We won’t see one but we can hear them – “In wet conditions when you walk over paddocks you may hear a loud gurgling sound, like someone letting the water out of a bath. It’s the sound of the worms retreating down their burrows.” Surveyors found what they thought were snakes near Warragul in 1870s. Specimens were sent to Melbourne University and identified as an earthworm and named ‘Megascolides australis’. It has a deep purple head and pinkish grey body. The largest worm found in Loch in recent years was almost 2 meters long and weighed almost 400 grams. They live in permanent burrow about 1.5 meters deep and 2cm in diameter. They are protected now. Very interesting.

Down to the old railway station. The original one was removed when the rail stopped and this one built by the townspeople when the historical railway ride started.

Lots of history photos here. Great one of the old bridge which we could still walk one kilometre down to see.

Victoria (the main street) Street – note the tall building on the left which was the bank.

One of the whole town in 1900’s from the Poowong Road. (the tall building in the middle is the bank.)

Across the highway and railway to the Memorial Park Reserve. It is a war memorial area with a sporting ground, tennis courts etc. The big trees around the picnic area are memorials to fallen soldiers. In 2000 this suspension bridge was built at a cost of $53,000.

Bit wobbly as you walked over.

Looked down in the creek for some platypus but they were hiding.

A weir further up the creek.

At the other end was a carved timber soldier standing sentry to the entrance. Looked good as you looked from the other end.

Further down the Loch Poowong Road we turn off onto the Bass Valley Road to our camp for the next couple of days. No one here so I did the washing (generator going – have a bit of fuel to use up before Tassie). Steve serviced the truck – did a neat job too not dropping any oil anywhere. It was nice and warm while we worked but by 5pm the breeze got colder. Got some great sunset colours photos as the sun disappeared behind the hills and lit up the sky (took these at 8.30pm).