MrsYub: Visit to Walhalla

I should have posted this blog up a amonth agao, but things have been actively getting in the way of my doing so. HOPEFULLY I will get it up this time!
the morning we were to leave for our much awaited for trip, every one was up early, and everyone was excited!
The plan was to leave early enough to arrive in Walhalla for lunch, even though book in time wasnt till 2pm, as we figured, since we were only staying the one night, we wanted to spend as much time in the cabin as we could.
Breakfast done, car packed with luggage, and with people, we were off! The two hour car ride went smoothly, and we arrived at our destination just after eleven.
The first thing that happened was when we stepped out of the car we were almost knocked over by a sudden surplus of oxygen. Seriously! Most of us were gasping! It was lovely. We had sort of gotten use to the air quality in Morwell which is, to be honest, not that great. This was heaven!

We had lunch first, and then the children let off some steam on the play ground.

Above is the moon gate where people had tied ribbons with messages of peace, love and prosperity to the arch.
Beow is my cheeky son, Malachi.

After lunch was packed away we went for a stroll down along the stream.

The children grew bored, though, and we still had time to kill, so we went for a walk along one of the bush tracks that went up the side of the mountain.
Along the way we came across the rail museum (the photos of which I have not been able to rescue from the camera) and the children were in awe of the massive dog behind the desk, and delighted with the exhibits, including a minature replica of the Walhalla railway 50 years ago.
on the walk back Eli was sitting on Daddy's shoulders and I cracked up when I listened to him! Here we were, walking along a narrow walking track on the side of a steeeeeeep mountain, with NO guard rail, and Eli is on his Daddy;s shoulders singing sweetly, 'Dumb ways to die! So many dumb ways to die,' HaaaHaaa! Its still brings chuckles to me!
Finally it was time to go to the cabin!
We had to drive back out of town a little way, and up a dirt track along side the railway station. The drive way posed a bit of concern, as it was very, very steep, but I reckoned the car could make it, so I told Michael to get out, and up we went!
It was REALLY steep! The car chugged its way up till we got the the place the drive way branched around the house, and I had the choice of going straight ahead, or veering sharp left.
I opted for the sharp left, as straight ahead was a dip with such a steep incline i did not think the car could make it. As it was we almost got stuck round the corner. Spinning wheels and everything, mate! The only thing I could do to get some better traction was to back up and try a fresh angle, but the backing up took us right to the brink of a sheer drop! Brrr! Praise God we made it!

The house was delightful!
It had tank water, solar power with gas for the fridge, stove and hot water, and a fire place to heat the house with.

It had a kitchen/diningroom/loungeroom open plan room, with the fire place in the middle of the house, a hallway leading off to the bath room, toilet/laundry, and downstairs bedroom, and then a staircase leading to the upstairs bedroom.

The first thing I did was unpack the car while Michael lit the fire place.

Once this was done he asked me if I wanted a cuppa and I said YES PLEASE!!
Problem. Gas no worky.
Michael went outside to have a bit of a look but could figure out what was wrong. I remembered that I saw a chap working on cementing some rocks to the side of the hill to reinforce it, so I trotted back down the drive way to tell this bloke our troubles and ask for help.
He was very nice, and followed me back up, where he quickly discovered that all it was was the contection was to an empty tank.
Easy fix, with much thankyou'ing, but Michael was banging his head against the wall. lol! He caimed to have had a townie moment, lol! Next time, look for the gas bottles!
The rest of the afternoon was taken fairly quietly, as we were here to see the lights for Lugfest, and didn't want to be too tired for it!

Coffee break first!

Quiet game time and a little TV.

Some exploring for Malachi and myself, with my collecting a few choice samples of the native undergrowth in the meantime.

Michael having a nap,

This is my creative solution to a lack of a bowl large enough to hold the fruit!

This is what I found in the 'loo!

This is the view from the veranda.

Night time arrived, and we had already had an early dinner, so were all ready for it!

It was REALLY dark! You sort of get used to street nights, and the absence of them was stratling. But we had torches, so the children were more excited than worried.

Once in town the realization that we had the town to ourselves was confirmed. Since we had made this event happen on Thursday night, not Friday night, we had missed the weekend crowds!
At the other end of town was a sole open coffee shop. From this we used the toilets, we browsed the art show pieces,

and then we went outside to eat fortune cookies and write our own little messages for the moon arch.

We tied up our messages,

watched some silent moving pictures,

looked at more lights,

Malachi blowing out steam

And then made our way back to the cabin in the dark, cold night.
Needless to say we were all very happy when we arrived there!

We all had quick showers except Phebe and Eli, who bubbled it up in the laundry tub. The the children trundled off to bed while I sat in front of the fire.

Ahhh! The children were in bed, and it was Mummy and Daddy time! We both curled up on the lounge chair with hot teas and started to watch a DVD (Miss Marple).
WE got half way through the movie before the power went out.
Now, remember I mentioned earlier the house was on solar? Well we had been informed earlier that the solar was on the blink, and the power was being sorted by a generator, so we weren't expecting the power to go out!
In the dark we cleaned our teeth, and in the dark we made our way to bed.
All night I was having minor panic attacks over my children falling down the stairs in the night to go to the toilet, but that didn't happen.
The next morning there was still now power, but we didnt need it for breakfast, so that was okay.

During which we had a couple of visitors.
This magpie was looking in the window in the most comical manner.

And i dunno if you can see it, but below are a couple of shots of a lyre bird pulling the rocks out of the wall getting his own breakfast! Seriously! Some of those chunks of rocks were as big as he was!

After breakfast we packed up the car again and tidied the place up. But we could not get our DVD out of the TV! So the plan was to go on a quick bush walk to try and find the rumoured remains of an old house up in the bush at the back of the house, and then drive down to Winsor house in town to ask for help.

Booya! House remains found!

ANd we came across the old mine to boot!

We arrived back at the house at 10am on the dot! Right in time for exiting!
I drove down the drive way again in first with great caution, while Michael follow along behind on foot.

We drove into town, where Michael chased up the caretaker of the cabin at Winsor house, and she and he quickly drove back to the cabin to retrieve our DVD while the children and I waited in town.

With our DVD finally sorted, we headed off to the cemetary.
THe plan was to explore this wonderful place before heading off to the pub for lunch then going home.

Up the steep path to the cemetery gates.

And in we go!

Can you guess what Malachi is? Heh, heh, heh!

We probably spent an hour or so walking among the grave stones, before finally making our way down the maintain again, and making a bee line for the pub, and lunch!