There's Gold in Them There Hills!

Ruins of buildings near Bendigo

Bendigo/Welshtown

transport old and new

through the first gate onto Thomson Gorge Road

The stamper battery on the goldfield

Just us up here

The Road

More of the road - you wouldn't want to slip off it!

good views

Malcolm checks out the old drovers hut built 1908

The ghost town once known as Tinkers

Restored buildings at Cromwell...

...picturesque and interesting

 

Today we went for an interesting drive through the old gold mining areas along the Thomson Gorge Road.  First we visited Bendigo and Welshtown which are ruins now but were once thriving communities.  We were here a few years ago but there are now some information panels - this is more educational but spoils the feeling of stumbling upon somewhere as if no-one else knows about it.  We didn't see another person or vehicle though for the 5 and 1/2 hours we were  on the road.  Bendigo is named after the gold rush town of Bendigo in Australia but that was named after Bendigo the famous (in the nineteenth century) boxer from Nottingham - my home town.

Thomson Gorge Road goes over the Dunstan Mountains.  There are 23 gates to open and close and 6 fords to cross.  The 'no shooting' signs on the gates were all bullet-riddled!  The road was very tortuous and only a dry weather 4WD route.  We saw the sites of old mine workings with names like 'Rise and Shine' and 'Come in Time' - there is a restored stamping battery here and a mine tunnel which goes 60 metres into the hillside (we didn't have a torch though).

Further on there's an old drovers hut.  Inside, on the rafters, people have been carving their names and dates for a long time.  Lots of sheep on the road including a bunch that came running round a corner towards us and screetched to a halt in a cloud of dust before turning tail again - it was so funny, like a cartoon.

Finally across the mountains we visited the ghost town of Tinkers/Matakanui - where the old schoolhouse (complete with bell tower) is now a house and the store is a barn for the house next door.  There is also an old pub - not sure if that's also a house, or empty - and one other dwelling.

Back to the sealed roads and on to Cromwell where we had a look around the historic precinct.  That is also very picturesque (the original buildings would have been lost when the area was flooded for the dam but were reconstructed and are now homes to cafes, shops etc, some are museum-type dwellings and workshops to look into.  It was 38 degrees inside the bus when we got back but it soon cooled down with the windows open.  We are not complaining about the weather - it is good!