We decided to book into a mine tour and that required us to attend a local store to make the booking. Whilst in the township, we paid a visit to the local historian and were able to gain a little information about “Her” relatives.
Courtesy of the local branch of the RFS, we enjoyed a sausage sizzle for lunch (it was free but we decided to make a small donation) before another visit to the local café for coffee.
Before heading to the mine tour due to start at 1:30pm, we stopped at a lookout called Split Rock. It is also known as Kissing Point Lookout is about 1.5km away from the township and overlooks the Turon and Macquarie River Valleys.
With two other couples (our friends plus another), we joined the tour of the Bald Hill tourist mine. This mine was in production on two separate times and yield very little gold. We were able to venture a far way into the mine to see what the quartz is like that would bear gold. We also saw some of the mining tools used in the mine and also afforded the opportunity to climb stairs to exit the mine via a vertical shaft.
After the mine tour, we headed to a place called Golden Gully where you could see the remains of the mining efforts undertaken by Chinese miners. The Chinese only dug round holes (square is unlucky) and there were numerous holes in the gully to see. Erosion over time had also created natural arch and we believe that it is only a matter of time before the arch caves in. There was evidence of another slippage that resulted in a small arch being created in the soft rock. We were actually happy to exit “Golden Gully” believing the site to be unsafe.
Returning to the camp site we had a quiet afternoon before heading out in the evening to celebrate one of our friend’s birthday. We went to a local motel that has a restaurant and had a very enjoyable meal.