Day 1/3: The Prom

A very late start due to a combination of being lazy and bad weather that I was hoping would clear: I didn't get out the house until around midday, and I passed far more brown signs than I would have liked on the way from Melbourne to Foster, the gateway to Wilsons Promontory National Park.

The South Gippsland Highway goes through Korumburra and Leongatha before Foster. I hadn't been to Korumburra before so I stopped off there for a great beef burger lunch at The Green Door Cafe, serving local and organic food. Korumburra has an old train station, now used for The South Gippsland Tourist Railway: v/line trains to here were replaced with buses some time ago. It also has, oddly, a boutique menswear store.

Just past the centre of Korumburra is the main tourist attraction around these parts: Coal Creek (entrance in top picture). It's an outdoor museum focusing on the former coal fields. It's Sovereign Hill's little brother, but unlike Sovereign Hill, it's free, it doesn't have that many tourists, and the focus is on the museum rather than entertaining the kids with actors in period costume. It is very interesting, but feels a little empty. Looking at the old photos of the school kids from just after 1900, I wondered how many had lived full lives, and how many had lost their life in The Great War soon after. Tomorrow is 25th April: ANZAC day. The museum in Hiroshima and the impossibly gigantic Taukkyan War Cemetery outside of Yangon are my vivid memories of the consequences of war. Lest we forget.

Coal creek closed at 4:30pm, so it was on to Foster, arriving at about 5pm as the weather deteriorated, and staying at pre-booked (advisable during long weekends) dorm accommodation at the excellent Prom Coast Backpackers, which is akin to staying at your mate's place.

Riding Distance: 165 kms