Sofala & Hill End, Gold Towns

Chestnuts on the tree
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First up is wasn't as cool as yesterday morning so Helen did the washing and by about 11am we were on the road on our way to Sofala. A gold town about 50 kilometers north of Bathurst. Road getting there was up and down hills, winding and 75% unsealed, but a reasonably good graded road. Sofala is nearly a ghost town in a dilapidated state with a population of 60 people and as the Postmaster said, two on the way, any day and two on the way out, any day. He was a descendant of the original owner of the Post Office Building. In 1855 it was estimated that there was around 40,000 people. We parked at one end and walked the three short streets looking at the town. In a very small way you could say it was similar to Arrowtown in the South Island of New Zealand. We bought a few odd bits at various shops, then had a hamburger and a steak sandwich and hot drinks at a cafe. Very nice for such a small establishment. We then drove following the Turon River which was all part of the water that was used to recover the alluvial gold in the area. In the 1850's there was some big lumps of gold in the area and it attracted thousands of both white and Chinese gold diggers and at one time had a total of 51 pubs. The house called the Isle of Dreams was built by the Chinese around 1861. Along the river we came to a group of Scouts camped for the school holidays. They were probably panning for gold too. You don't need a license to pan for gold in the town area and people are still turning little bits up. While walking around we came across a Walnut tree and Helen picked up 12 free range walnuts. It's an interesting tree, the leaves and branches are very similar to Avocados and mangos. Also rotting on trees in the area were pears and apples such a shame to see because they could be making and selling jams and sauces from there local trees. So after our tour of Upper Turon we returned to Sofala and headed across to Hill End. In some respect it may have been better had we gone to Hill End first, but there was no guidance to do so. Hill End was also a major gold find in the 1860s and it is still producing gold. A very switched on Ranger in the area and the whole Hill End community are behind promoting the town and its attractions. In the Ranger grounds was a Chestnut tree. Chestnut pods all over the ground and some with withered chestnuts. I don't know if any of you have seen them before, but the pods are very prickly to touch and great care would be needed to get the nuts out. So we left there and drove home via a different road arriving back in Bathurst at a quarter to 6pm. By the time Helen got the washing off the line it felt very cold. For tonight for tea we had something very new for us, stuff called Cabernet Paste, (glorified grape jam), but with cheese on crackers it is quite nice. Finished off one of our Hunter Bries, a bunch of mixed olives and some other cheese on crackers. So the Bathurst region holds more treasures than just Mt Panorama. Tomorrow we will do a historic buildings tour, visit Fantasia crafts again and rest ready for the next days move to Cowra. The Telstra / Bigpond saga is over - Finally Telstra agreed to credit my account with one months useage to compensate for all the rubbish over the last 43 days. From now on I'll be WATCHING THEM VERY CAREFULLY

Pick Chestnuts with gloves