Mon, 20th July, 2015 Melville Caves Campground, Kooyoora State Park (Long Rock walk, Inglewood and Kingower sightseeing)

Another sunny morning though the heater went on at 6.30am as it was only 6.7 degrees in the van. At 8am it was still only 2.5 degrees outside. Saw the Police do a drive by which is interesting as we are well out of town. The Park Ranger came and cleaned the toilets and fireplaces but didn’t stop to say hello.

After a cuppa I headed off on the Long Rock walk and Steve headed down to Kingower State Forest to detect.

Beautiful day for a walk and so far it is an easy stroll.

Lots of interesting boulders along the walk. These two were perched on top of another granite mound.

Peered through the hole to the cave inside the rock.

Walked out onto the rock platform to check out the view.

The rocks look like someone has moulded them and left finger marks.

Climbing up a bit through lots of balancing rocks. Plenty of birds keeping me company with their songs.

Another cave under this one.

Through a narrow archway and looking back at it.

Turned off the track and up onto a big boulder to McLeods Lookout.

Great view across to Mt Moliagul again.

This big boulder hasn’t got much touching the other boulder under it.

Following the little orange arrows over the rocks.

The path went through there.

More squeezing through the boulders.

This rock has split off the huge boulder. I wonder how long ago it happened.

Now through the thicker scrub.

Then over Long Rock.

Lovely little Rock Pool.

Great reflection.

Down onto the flatter ground. As I walked along a group of cockatoos would start screeching as if warning others that I was coming. They would perch in the tree and look down on me with beady eyes – bit unnerving actually.

The corellas and galahs just quietly squawked as the cockatoos screeched their heads off.

At least the cute little birds just twittered along beside me.

Heard a couple of kangaroos bound off before I actually saw them.

The scrub is just littered with fallen trees and we notice around the campground that the ranger chops off a lot of branches and leaves them on the ground.

Looking back up to the ridge of boulders I have just climbed over.

Looks like a nice seat has been carved in this rock.

It is 5km around from the Rock Pool back to the picnic area but it is an easy walk.

These are called White Winged Choughs and they sing a lovely tune. They hang out as families in the Box Ironbark forests. The young take four years to reach maturity and during this time they stay with their parents and help out with the household chores including babysitting, feeding younger birds and nest building. They look all black but when they fly you can see the white on their wings.

Around the base of another granite mound to the picnic area. No one here today.

Someone has jammed a board between the two trees to make a seat and the trees have slowly grown over the ends of the board securing it.

I heard the bark sound again a couple of times and then a kookaburra started to laugh so it was just him doing his warm-up vocals!! Looking up towards the Caves Lookout.

Managed to see some kangaroos before they saw me and bounded off. These were all feeding beside the road.

Steve was back empty handed so we had a late lunch then headed off to explore. Down Back Road he had found a cave in the rock. I said I had seen heaps but we stopped for a photo.

I dropped him off at Smiths Gully near Rheola where there were heaps of old diggings. I went on further to check out Rheola. Gold was discovered here in 1868 when Scotsman Alexander Clelland sank a shallow shaft in a paddock and found a 60 ounce nugget at the bottom. The settlement sprang to life and the area became famous for its beds of large nuggets scattered through the gullies. A thriving village, originally named Berlin, but later changed to Rheola in 1876, had more than 130 stores including a primary school, churches, post office, police station and Mechanics Institute and hotels. Now there are only a couple of houses left and the Community Hall and Recreational Ground. The Rheola Charity Carnival has been held here since 1871on Easter Monday and is the longest running official mixed sports meeting in the state. They raise money for the local hospitals in Dunolly and Inglewood and for the maintenance of the hall and grounds here. There is also a very good vineyard here too.

The sheep are keeping the grass down.

A cairn is beside the grounds commemorating the discovery of gold here in here. It lists a few of the huge nuggets found.

I drove back to the main road and headed back through Kingower to Inglewood so check out the history there. Inglewood was the site of Victoria’s last great gold rush which began with the discovery of significant amounts of gold at Thompsons Gully in 1858. Due to the enormous wealth created following the discovery of gold, the Borough of Inglewood was established in 1863. For many years, it was second only to Bendigo in terms of importance in central Victoria. It is reported that Inglewood’s population exploded to almost 50,000 in the 1860s earning it the nickname ‘City in the Scrub’.

I stopped beside the Town Hall. The foundation stone was laid on the 18^th April, 1883. The clock even chimes on the hour and half hour.

Across the road is Nimmitabel. Now that would be fabulous to do up on House Rules.

I headed off to read the other plaques along the street.

Another 2011 flood sign with photos of Inglewood under water.

The Bank of New South Wales building stood here until the 1960s. This brick structure is all the remains of the residence. It was the laundry, wood shed and toilets.

They have left some artefacts of a past era.

On the footpath are some palms that have been trimmed and now look like pineapples.

On the wall were some silhouette carvings like we saw in Tassie.

A mosaic monument was erected. Photos and stories have been put onto tiles.

More on the other side. The last mine to be operated on a grand scale was The South Gordon on the Columbian Line. Operations in the mine stopped in 1939.

Across the road was a huge mural.

Headed onto the main street called Brooke Street. Quite busy too. The Historical Society have provided a ‘Walk the Blue Plaque Trail’. Wandered along taking photos.

This grape vine is over 100 years old.

The lane looks very different to the original one.

Lots of banks and hotels of course.

The hardware store has interesting opening hours.

The old shoe shop.

Great old photo.

Headed up the other end of the street past another bank.

Old and new street views.

Lots of different shops lined the street back in the day.

The drain.

This is where Sir Reginald Ansett lived as a child.

Lovely old tree has lots of history, now over 100 years old.

As it was getting late I didn’t get time to check out the churches, police precinct and the eucalyptus distillery. Maybe on the way back through.

Drove back towards Steve when I spotted a cute letterbox.

Stopped at Kingower looking for the Hand of Faith monument. Found the info board map so will get Steve and come back.

Another Gold plaque in the ‘village green’.

The Bridge Hotel is now a private residence.

Drove back to Steve and made him a coffee as he was weary from all that gold he “didn’t” find – oh well.

Back to Kingower to see where the big one used to be. Gold was discovered here in August 1853 and quickly experienced a rush of 4000-odd diggers as the area became famous for yielding large finds.

Stopped first to check out the Historic Bridge. No info why it is historic but the Blanche Barkly nugget was found near here in 1857, though we can’t find the monument.

Maybe down this gully somewhere. It is still the third largest nugget ever discovered weighing 1743 Troy ounces (54.2kg). It was found at a depth of 17 feet.

After the gold dried up many people moved on and left the few who were farming or distilling eucalyptus oil. In 1970 grape vines were planted and a few vineyards started making their wines. These grapes make the Mary Eileen Heritage.

Up the road into the ‘diggings’ we found the Cobb & Co well.

Up the hill was the Union Reef Mine.

Into Kingower we turned off pass the old school house which is now a private residence.

The monument to the Hand of Faith was near the back fence of the school. Steve noticed the whole area has been worked over by machinery. The chap at Goldsborough told me that the chap that found it, Kevin Hillier, poured all the money he got from the nugget into trying to find more in the area and eventually lost it all. So sad.

Headed back to the van. Drove up Barrys Rock Road and found Barry’s Rock.

The sun was starting to set giving a beautiful colour in the trees.

We rushed up the road to the lookout carpark then I ran up the track to get to the top to look to the west and the sun setting. It was beautiful. Great to be alive and free to experience all this beauty.

Some guys in a station wagon camped for the night at the other end of the campground. Got the fire going and tried to ring Tash to wish her a happy birthday tomorrow but she was out so left a message. Rang Andrea for a chat. Alan, Michael and Nick are in NZ skiing to celebrate Alan finishing his Electrical Masters’ Degree – good on you Alan.

Rang Wendy and Steve too. Looking forward to going fishing in his new boat when we get home. Another clear night though the breeze is picking up.

Back in the van for dinner and to watch the final of House Rules.