We spent about a month exploring the eastern half of Victoria, Australia’s smallest mainland state by square kilometers, but with the second highest population of all states in the country. A small cottage adjacent to the cities of Morwell and Traralgon served as our home base, and we were in the area long enough to enjoy repeat visits to most of our favorite destinations in both communities, with a combined population of about 40,000.

Morwell Centenary Rose Garden – We explored most of this beautiful garden one evening. Even though we didn’t see all 400 varieties of roses, the ones we photographed and sniffed were stunning. Over 40 volunteers tend this community project with over 6,000 hours of work each year. We chatted with a feisty, elderly woman enjoying the garden on her favorite bench. She lives down the street in a retirement community and shared with us her unhappiness with the city cutting down trees to expand the football field across the road from her home. She misses the large group of birds that congregated in the now-removed trees and is bothered by the increased traffic noise from the larger groups of players arriving and departing in the early mornings. She is definitely not a fan of noisy car alarms. At least she can walk the short distance to the beautiful rose garden for some peace and quiet, plus get a chance to talk with locals and tourists if she chooses. 

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Bodhi Specialty Coffee & Second-hand Books – We are not devoted coffee drinkers, but we do enjoy a good mocha in an interesting place. And Bodhi featured both.  We became “regulars” and visited with Simon, the owner, during less busy moments. Susan browsed through the book stacks a couple of times and added several titles to her “to read” list. We hope the business survives the coronavirus lockdown. 

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Traralgon Railway Reservoir Conservation Reserve – We walked the trails of this quiet park on several different days. The site originally served as the water source for steam locomotives in the 1800s. Later the lake supplied water for the vegetable gardens of Hobson’s Park Hospital, a mental health facility that no longer exists. Now many visitors, including us, enjoy the pond, picnic tables, benches, walking paths, plus the wide variety of vegetation and birds. 

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Miner’s View Lookout of Loy Yang Power Station & Mine – The Morwell and Traralgon area is mining country.  During our drives we saw many coal mine facilities, and we stopped to take a look at this viewpoint, just outside Traralgon. Construction of the Loy Yang Power Station & Mine began in 1977, with the plant operational by 1982. We watched the coal dredging for a few minutes, which is done by huge electric machines that can impressively dig over 1 ton of land per second while traveling at the imperceptible maximum speed of 8 meters per minute. Conveyer belts transport the coal to the bunker and then to the 2,000+ megawatt power station. Loy Yang produces 30 million tons of coal each year. Since many Chinese people and companies own assets in Australia, we incorrectly assumed that this mine was run by a Chinese company. As it turns out, Loy Yang is the indigenous term for big eel and Conger eels were once found in local rivers. 

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