Fri, 10th July, 2015 Laanecoorie River Reserve to Butts Camping Area, Mt Tarrengower, Maldon

At 8am it was 10 degrees in the van and 6.5 degrees outside and cloudy. Rain overnight which helped keep it a bit warmer.

Tried to ring Carolyn for her birthday but no answer so sent her a message. She answered saying they were heading back from camping.

9.30am, we packed up and topped up the water. Steve fixed their hot water – only had to move the sensor a little bit. Pete and Penny pulled in so we had a cuppa with them and Kate and Tony sharing gold detecting stories and comparing nuggets. So looking forward to going to WA next year now.

11am headed off in the rain towards Maldon. Found the Butts Camping Area below Mt Tarrengower near Maldon. Parked on a flat area on the hill – great phone and TV reception which is good as we have the V8s in Townsville and Channel 10 is giving us the full broadcast so we will be watching it over the weekend. As the nasty cold front is going to hit us on the weekend it will be good to be in the van with the heater on!!

Had lunch then headed into Maldon to check out the Info Centre and go to Carmen’s Tunnel for the tour at 1.30pm. Lots of lovely old buildings etc to check out. They have Winter in July here now so will come for a walk.

Carmen’s Tunnel (named after the gully where it is located) was begun in November1882 by the Great International Quartz Mining Company and by December 1884 they had dug 570m and only found 33 ounces of gold. Not far from here though another reef was very rich. The tunnel is now looked after by volunteers for Parks Victoria and has been open to the public for 50 years. Our guide was Ray and told us lots of interesting facts about the mine and Maldon. After the breeze at the entrance it is a constant 16 degrees in the tunnel. Years ago the children were all sick with fevers during a very hot summer and the matron brought them into the tunnel to cool down, which they did and they all recovered well. The tunnel is lit with candles just as it was 130 years ago. Parks Vic have put in some shoring and covers over shafts etc but otherwise it is just as the miners created it.

They had lots of photos and information to read in the old huts. Even some gold.

Map of the mines of the area.

Even a wedding has been held in the mine.

Across the road is the North British Mine which we will check out another day.

In another shed was lots of old stuff with lots of other bits near the carpark.

A photo showing the original entrance to the mine then the men stabilising the entrance.

We headed in.

The crib area.

A shaft going down with the windlass to bring up the ore and the men.

Further down the tunnel.

They dug upwards chasing the quartz reef too.

It was very interesting and we really noticed the temperature difference when we walked out again. They had a fire going in the shed so Steve checked it out from one of their carved chairs. Even has a table on it.

Drove down to Castlemaine in search of a Coles and Coles Express but they only have IGAs so we got a few groceries there. Lots to explore here too.

Back to the van for a cuppa. Got the fire going and we tried out our ‘lovely warmers’. We bought two metal dog bowls and filled them with coals and it was wonderful, especially with a glass of port to warm the inside too.

Unfortunately the rain started spitting on us so we headed back into the van.