For anyone who has travelled into regional Victoria, you’d know the history of the towns that sprung up in the gold rush years of the 1850s.
We decided to take a short break and drive out to Castlemaine, a town north of Melbourne and at the heart of the gold fields. Here’s a short video.
I’m a history lover at heart so whenever we go away, I don’t want to stay in modern places with all the mod cons. I want traditional and historical places with stories. I
I decided to book us into the Midland Hotel which has been a private hotel since the 1870s and catered for the accomodation needs of travellers such as teachers and bankers. (There were a lot of banks here because of the gold rush!)
The hotel is owned by a couple who have had it over 40 years and is renovated in the Art Deco style. What I love is that there’s no television anywhere! ?
Wandering the corridors of this place and looking around our room with the furniture, it’s taken me back to my childhood years growing up in pubs around Melbourne. The rooms are like the rooms o grew up in and feel at home. The locks and light fixtures are all a blast from the past. The place has the familiar smell too that takes me back to the 70s & 80s.
Our intention is to take it easy and enjoy doing nothing much except wandering about, sampling the beer, wines and excellent food. Although, I do want to do a bit of a hike to see the old gold diggings but may need to convince husband of that!
I knew I’d been to a gold rush town and was checking it wasn’t the same place but my visit was to Walhalla.
Ah Walhalla is another gold mining town (they all were frankly when we are talking about Victoria ?) and it’s over on the Gippsland side, that is, north eastern Victoria. It’s a tiny town with some permanent residents and a place I’d love to visit one day as I’d never been. Castlemaine is one of the bigger towns with some 10 000 residents and a bigger township with a thriving arts scene. Our plan today is to head into a tinier township called Maldon which has been pretty much left like it was in the 1870s.
I was staying with good friends in Gippsland at the time.
I haven’t been to that side of the state in many years. It’s time to revisit!