After Scrub Stitchin’

We headed home from Scrub Stitchin’ on the Sunday, this time with Mick and I in the ute and Lou and Tony in my car.  By Sunday night my head was feeling much clearer, and on Monday morning I tested negative, so we were able to continue to do some touristy things, rather than me have to stay home.

Monday proved to be a glorious autumn day, so we decided to go for a drive to the historic mining village of Hill End.  

The Turon River was looking rather picturesque on the way out.

I thought it would be rather busy, being the school holidays, but to my surprise, it was really quiet.  Perfect for having a lazy wander around.

Firstly, we called into the little museum.  Hill End was well documented during the gold rush by the Holtermann collection of photos.  I love this one showing how a simple bark hut could be made into a lovely home.

A Wagga, in great condition, was on display.  It would have looked very much at home in that bark hut. I really like how even such a utilitarian item had a bit of design added to lift it from the ordinary. Just a pity there was a glazing bar right in front of it.

I’ll just add a random selection of photos from our wandering.

After our wander, we enjoyed a pub lunch in the quirky old Royal Hotel.

After lunch it was time to visit the lookout near the old mine workings.

It’s hard to imagine the hill behind where the four of us are standing was once a labrynth of small gold mines, some going a couple of hundred feet deep, all dug by hand.

On our way back into town, we called in at Wallaby Rocks near Sofala to skip some stones. It’s a really pretty spot.

The day was finished off with a drive around Mount Panorama, a must for Tony.  The view from up there, looking over Bathurst is rather spectacular.

And, this was the last day of their time in our area, as we were taking them back to Sydney on the following day.