The iconic Zig Zag railway is set to be featured in a new book that showcases everything the Seven Valleys has to offer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The book titled 'Zig Zag railway' is a part of the Australian made series, 'Spotto Books' and aims to be the ultimate souvenir once the popular attraction reopens.
'Spotto books' are a unique concept by author, 'Outback Jess' that focus on bringing attention back to surroundings of the area the book covers.
Outback Jess said she used the old game of 'spotto' in the car to come up with the concept.
"I used to play it all the time as a child. And when I had children of my own and we did a trip out to Birdsville races, I noticed that kids don't handle boredom of long road trips like adults do," Jess said.
"So I thought maybe I could just put the spotto game into a book. I filled the book with everything yellow like yellow excavators, water taxis, road signs, like even the Big Banana's in there. It stemmed from that."
The Zig Zag railway book will be a destination book, which provides landmarks for visitors to explore.
"Instead of them just being very basic things to spot, they're actually locations and iconic things in the region that are in destination spotto books for families to go and tick off," she said.
The book also aims to entertain and educate young children about the iconic steam trains that will blow smoke for visitors for the first time in a decade.
The Zig Zag railway collaborated with Outback Jess to bring the book to fruition, with it set to launch the same day the railway reopens.
"I was really quite excited by this because I remember riding on the Zig Zag railway when I was a child. I jumped at the chance and went down and jumped aboard one of their training runs and got some amazing photos," Jess said.
"It's going to be brilliant for kids to be looking out the window of the train and walking along the station as well as ticking off all the things within the book."
The book will also feature other locations such as The Foundations at Portland, Lake Wallace and Lyell and local national parks.
"The whole idea of it is to encourage families to explore this incredible region and spend more time there," Jess said.
"They'll be drawn in by the Zig Zag railway but then hopefully they will spend more time exploring the region."
The date of the Zig Zag reopening is yet to be announced, but is anticipated to be late this year.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: