Day 2 – Latrobe River to Traralgon

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In the night I hear the skitter of small claws on the timber decking of the bridge above. My guess is foxes.

If there’s a sunrise, it’s hidden behind wreaths of mist and moody clouds. We skip breakfast and coffee, clear the slugs from our shoes, and set off down the rail trail again.

We get into Traralgon at 8:30am, about seven hours ahead of schedule.

Traralgon began as a cattle station that slowly grew into a stopping place between Melbourne and Port Albert. The gold rush brought money to the area, and when the boom at Walhalla took off, Traralgon prospered. In rivalry, Moe and Traralgon both built roads to Walhalla, and as coaches ran from both towns on alternating days, Walhalla benefited from daily coach services.

A second rivalry saw Moe successfully build a rail line to Walhalla, but it ironically hastened the demise of the flagging town, as the train carried many of the residents and their possessions out of the mountain towns and down to the plains.

The lovely couple at the Black Bull Motel let us leave our packs in reception and fast track getting our room ready. While we wait, we wander down the river corridor and collect a few geocaches.

Back at the hotel, there’s the astonishing novelty of a shower, a chance to do some clothes washing in the sink, and spreading wet gear around the room to dry. Robyn sets her tent up on the lawn outside, I guess as an escape option in case I snore. We make a new friend.

We wander back out into the world. For lunch we go to Banjo’s bakery cafe where I have a beef, bacon and cheese pie and Robyn has some mini rolls. We split a vanilla slice donut. 10/10 Beef Wellingtons on the pie. No notes. No room for improvement. Same for the rolls.

The dough is doughy. There’s a good thickness of icing. Good diameter of icing. Seems light on the vanilla.

I’m delighted. I wanted a donut and a vanilla slice, and I got both.

-Robyn

The conservation area is a large manmade dam that was built to supply the growing town and/or livestock (I wasn’t paying close attention to the interpretive sign) but now serves as an excellent wetland environment with much birdlife.

I did absolutely no research before leaving on this walk. It’s fascinating to see how so much of what we’re walking through ties back to Walhalla.

We end up walking a total of about 21km. Not bad for a rest day.

We go to Hogs Breath Cafe for dinner where I try curly fries for the first time. Robyn is offended when I point out that they taste exactly the same as regular chips. The ginger beer is not at all disappointing, and the nachos are a solid 7/10 Beef Wellingtons. There’s an extremely high likelihood that I’ll finish this 315km hike weighing more than when I left.

There may be those who question whether, between the road walks, the hotel stays and the many, many gastronomical delights, this qualifies as a real hike.

To those people I say: speak up, I can’t hear you over this delicious pastry.