Our walk on Wednesday was in around an old gold mine – Cassilis Mine, near Omeo in the High Country (closer to Gippsland). It was a beautiful sunny day for winter – blue skies and only a slight breeze. It was dead quiet – winter is not really a time for touring in the mountains, as you can imagine – we’re only an hour from snowfields. Like many gold mines in Victoria, Cassilis is a ghost town - in the late 19th century there were over 500 people there. No more. I love the old photographs that show people convinced that this boom is gonna last. Remind you of anything, crypto folk?

Jamie wanted to come here as he’s fascinated by old things, and though I pretend not to be, it’s pretty fascinating. It’s really interesting to see the remnants of a life that was. It wasn’t a particularly successful mine but they clearly tried the heck out of it anyway. They used a lot of arsenic and other chemicals to remove the gold – apparently they had to remove the horses as they got addicted to the arsenic. It was mineralised gold rather than nuggets – we found a bit of stone with the gold in it and I could rub my hands and the gold dust covered them like glitter.

Jamie loved the old machinery, frankensteined of all kinds of things. I don’t think any of it will be operational any time soon. So much of it was cobbled together from different car parts. There were also plenty of rusty cars on site. Plus, we found a statue of Bender from Futurama, which impressed me.

The miner’s shed was quite cute, and even had a brick floor and a fridge. I love the little things that tell a tale, such as the coat hooks made of nails. I could see the old miner coming home and hanging up his coat and lighting the fire. Ah, the gold rush days. Men and dreams. Speaking of, here's our poet patriotic Henry Lawson feeling similiar nostalgia:

The night too quickly passes
And we are growing old,
So let us fill our glasses
And toast the Days of Gold;
When finds of wondrous treasure
Set all the South ablaze,
And you and I were faithful mates
All through the roaring days.
…
Ah, then their hearts were bolder,
And if Dame Fortune frowned
Their swags they’d lightly shoulder
And tramp to other ground.
Oh, they were lion-hearted
Who gave our country birth!
Stout sons, of stoutest fathers born,
From all the lands on earth!

The mines were suitably spooky. One had the distinct smell of sulphur coming out of it. Jamie watches a surprising amount of youtube videos were people go in underground mines and tunnels. When I pointed out that one was unlocked, he said he’d ‘sadly’ forgotten his torch.

The views from the top were spectacular, though I was swearing as I made the ascent. My lungs aren’t coping with the cold and it hurt like hell, but I did it and the view was spangletacular.

Lunch was halloumi, eggplant, capsicum and olive tapenade with spinach – damn food tastes better when you are out and about. Whilst I was cooking Jamie was beep beeping with his new metal detector and found his first find – a 1 oz gold weight.

Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come. Someone did find a gold nugget in Ballarat last week worth over a 100 grand. You never know....

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