Walking through a ghost town

A visit from Rach’s parents has been on the cards for some time. This year it’s a big birthday for her dad, although we won’t mention the number (it does have a six and a zero in it) so they decided to treat themselves to a holiday in Australia and visit their daughter. After two weeks exploring the East coast, they finally arrived at our house last night. It was amazing to see them again after being away from home for so long and we could barely get a word in edgeways as they told us all about what they’d seen and done over here, including a submarine with windows.

The next morning we were up and ready for our first day of sightseeing. We’ve got planned a number of things we want to see with them. First on our list was the Puffing Billy Railway, a century old steam train that runs on its original tracks, however once we’d looked at the price we thought it was too expensive for what essentially a two hour train journey. Back to the drawing board for us and so we had to revert to the research carried out by Rach over the previous couple of days. When looking at things to do on the Great Ocean Road she’d come across a place called Steiglitz, which was by its description an abandoned gold rush town. Once agreed we set out in mum and dad’s swanky hire car (Yvonne wasn’t up to the task).

It took us about an hour and a half to get there and when we arrived it truly was abandoned. Tucked away behind the mountain ranges, it was made up of a handful of buildings spread out over a hill side. We found the information board and the men got given a map by a builder working on the courthouse and off we set. We soon discovered how much of a ghost town it was after looking at the map and seeing how much of a thriving bustling mining town it once was, now reduced to only a few remaining buildings.

Of the buildings we did see, most were personal residences and the others were locked so we spent most of our time reading the various plaques marking where buildings had once been and reading the stories behind them. We did get to peer into quite a few places, such as the church and the old hotel to see them still laid out as they had once been. It was an extraordinary place that was heavy with sadness and did feel abandoned. Whilst having everything locked did emphasise this feeling, it would have been nice to be able to get into the buildings and have a look inside. Whilst there were very few buildings there it was incredibly engaging and we spent a number of hours there before heading home for a relaxing evening.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Sometimes free is better than expensive, we had an amazing day out and didn’t have to pay for the privilege.

• Be sure to check out Steiglitz here, as it is an almost unheard of tourist destination, however you will need a car to get there.

• Try and go on a Sunday as this appears to be the day that the Courthouse is open to the public. Unfortunately we went on a Saturday.

• Check out Rach’s Tripadvisor review of Steiglitz here.