State Coal Mine

 One of the secluded remote beaches.

 The path along the cliffs.

 The State Coal Mine on the surface....

and underground.

 A seam of coal.

 The rail shuttle back to the surface.

 Feeding time and more coming to dinner.

June 5^th

The weather was better this morning, mostly cloudy with some sun, so I decided to drive back to the coast to get better photos. I went on a couple of short walks along the cliffs and down to a beach. Much too cool to even think about swimming, but nice to be on a beach and listening to the surf. Further along the coast there was a RCV Resort that I went into to have a look around. RCVA is the Canadian equivelent to CAA. It was a modern, new place with a restaurant bar area with large windows overlooking the ocean. I had a hot chocolate and a muffin before heading back to town.

On the way back I decided to visit the State Coal Mine. They offer tours and I decided to go. I went down with a 75 year old ex-miner as a guide, a family of Chinese and a couple of groups of Australians. The tour was interesting. He told us the history of the mine and the various points of interest underground and how the mining was done. We saw a large seam of coal that had not been mined and a number of smaller ones where he explained that the miner would have to crawl into the shaft and work for eight hours in the dark picking away at the coal. There was a train which took us back up to the surface 60 metres above.

I went back to Wonthaggi for a late afternoon lunch and then drove back to Chelsea, again taking the scenic route, where I came upon a herd of cattle feeding. I got home in the evening and went to bed early.