Altona: a relatively isolated pocket of Melbourne you don't need to leave

Sarah Langhorne is probably gazing out of Altona Homestead in complete bemusement. Instead of standing at the bay windows, pining for her hometown of Adelaide, as history tells us she once did, she’s now probably watching hordes of Pokemon hunters, who, under the shade of an ancient Moreton Bay Fig, are looking down at their phones, scooting off at the mere hint of a rare Pokemon.

It’s Sarah, and her ghostly friends, that give Lantern Ghost Tours a reason to visit Altona. Once a month, ghost-hunting folk can join a night tour of Altona Pier (itself said to be haunted) and surrounds, before heading into the homestead. This bluestone property, Sarah’s home from the early 1840s, sits in Logan Reserve in central Altona, between Coles, the local library and the Pokemon-luring beach and pier.

Altona probably hasn’t been this famous since, well, ever. It’s an interesting seaside spot, with a long and winding sandy foreshore that brightens up when the sun comes out or a Lycra-clad cyclist whizzes by.

The roads into the suburb are not pretty: think oil refinery, industrial estates and a year-old Bunnings/Aldi complex on Millers Road. But get to the beach end of Millers, and it’s “hello beautiful”. It’s on point with infrastructure: trains eject customers at Altona Railway Station — right in the centre of town.

Altona’s median house price is $732,000, which reflects a massive annual increase of 20.5 per cent. It’s still way below neighbouring Williamstown’s median of $1.07 million, yet they share some of the same spectacular highlights: swimming beaches; seaside bike paths; and knockout CBD views over the bay. Yet Altona feels quite self-contained; almost like an isolated pocket of Melbourne that one wouldn’t really need to leave if one lived there.

Cherry Lake on Millers Road is a magnet for runners, walkers, cyclists and picnickers (OK, and Pokemon hunters), with its popular 3.5 kilometre round-the-lake loop. Altona Coastal Park, which separates the suburb from Williamstown, is popular for walkers and runners, and follow The Esplanade to reach Cheetam Wetlands, which is made up of salt marshes and natural and artificial lagoons. Don’t let the name of Skeleton Creek put you off.

Which brings us back to the ghosts. “Ghost Host” Ross Daniels has been taking people on tours to Altona Homestead for the past three years. “The homestead has had a reputation for being a spooky old building for quite some time,” says Daniels. “I find that place unsettling at the best of times,” he says, “but some nights more than others. Sometimes you go through and you go: “oh that wasn’t too bad”, but some nights the air is really thick and you go: “oh, this feels wrong tonight.”

Alfred Langhorne and his Adelaide-born wife Sarah built Laverton Homestead, as it was known, in the late 1840s, and it’s Sarah who might still be around. “Sarah Langhorne died in the building,” says Daniels. “Alfred met her in Adelaide and she moved across with him, probably thinking: “Oh I’m going to the high life of Melbourne, I’ve married this rich entrepreneur!”

However, as Daniels explains, instead of moving to the city, they moved to the homestead on the Altona beachfront. “Of course it was completely undeveloped out there, it was just shrubland and she was quite depressed. She would stand in the front of the drawing room, at the bay windows, looking out. People say she’s still there, they can see her standing at the window, pining for Adelaide.” Poor Sarah. She’d probably be quite impressed with the Altona of today.

Six things you didn’t know about Altona

• Locals say that Altona Beach is nicer than Williamstown Beach, which is the only other swimming beach in the western suburbs.
• Altona is getting its hipster on: check out the newly-opened Two Bros on Blyth. Secret cafe time can be had upstairs in an expansive space with big windows that let the sea air in.
• Locals get their free-range eggs, honey and socks from the Tuesday market on Pier Street and Logan Reserve (9am-3pm).
• City-bound cyclists can ride from Altona to the city via the Westgate Punt, which charges $7 return and operates during peak hours on weekdays and 9am-5pm weekends.
• Altona was named after a once independent German city of, well, the same name.
• Lantern Ghost Tours’ Altona Homestead tours are $34. See www.lanternghosttours.com