The Whroo Forest in Central Victoria, is the site of one of the biggest gold mining areas in Victoria in the 1850s. The Balaclava Mine, a deep open cut nine, was a hugely successful mine. There are many tunnels that visitors can still walk through. I gave that a miss as I was walking alone and wasn’t too keen.

Care needs to be taken when walking in the forest as there are many open shafts. But don’t let that put you off, as most of the shafts are now fenced and trails through the forest are well marked.

I was interested to see the historic Whroo cemetery as my partner has family history at Whroo

The forest is about 5k from the historic town of Rushworth. In my previous life, before moving to Bendigo, I lived just outside Rushworth on the beautiful Waranga Basin which is very popular for fishing and boating. With Whroo Forest being so close to us, I have walked and cycled through it many times so I was very much looking forward to returning to one of my old haunts.

The Forest didn’t disappoint. It is very very dry but to my eyes very beautiful. This is one of my favourite parts of Victoria both for its history and the beauty of the environment.

If you love getting out into  the dry Australian bush, you will love this very easy  5k walk. There are many left over signs and relics from the gold mining era which are an added bonus to the walk.