Sat, 18th July, 2015 Butts Reserve Camping Area, Mt Tarrengower, Maldon (Muckleford Forest)

9 degrees in and 4 degrees out at 8am. Headed off to explore Muckleford Forest today which is on the way to Castlemaine.

Stopped to read the cairn on the way out of Maldon. The gold was first found in Long Gully in front of us.

Lots of corellas in a paddock.

A chap taking his trotter for a run.

Found the site of the Red, White and Blue Mine. Impressive poppet head which was originally at the Deborah United Mine in Bendigo.

In 1871 a shaft was sunk to the water level at 170 feet. Between 1909 and 1915 a total of 2369 ounces of gold was recovered from 4,452 ton of ore. The lease was acquired in 1957 by the Golden Age Gold N/L and the mine was re-opened in 1958 using plant from the Bendigo mines and the poppet head was installed.

They have covered the shaft opening with a grill which you can walk onto and look down the shaft – a bit eerie.

No sure who put the road works sign down there.

Zoomed down to the bottom.

The mullock heap nearby.

The remains of the concrete foundations for the winder, pumps etc.

Steve headed off to find the gold and I am following the walk brochure back along the tracks. A small dam near the mine.

Information boards along the way. They have a cover over them that you lift up and this one said ‘beware spiders’. None there thankfully.

Nice walk past lots of old shallow workings – hopefully Steve will find some gold in there.

The next one did have a spider but he was happy to just stay there.

Further along I turned into another track. Lots of trees have been chopped down and there was signs from Parks Vic about it is illegal to take the cut timber. Maybe they are clearing out non-native species.

Found a coppice regrowth stump with a new tree growing from it.

Learnt something new. We have seen these leafy bits hanging off the trees and wondered what it was – now I know it is Mistletoe growing on the eucalyptus, the seed deposited by the Mistletoe bird.

Found an example up the track.

Turned off the track to find Dunn’s Reef. Lots of quartz everywhere.

Open cut area.

Lots of diggings and mullock heaps around the area.

Down the track I found the loading ramp.

Headed back to the main track again to find another info board.

Noticed some fencing so checked it out. It was a mine shaft.

Unfortunately someone has put their rubbish in it – even a bike.

Gold Dust Wattle and Drooping Cassinia.

Nearly back to the truck. The big dam below the mine.

Steve came back with one little nugget. Had lunch – I prepared a nice salad before we left – trying to be good!! Made a cuppa as it isn’t very warm today even though the sun is out.

Drove back to Dunn’s Reef to show Steve. We drove down past the loading ramp and stopped where he saw more shallow diggings. I got my book out and kept warm in the truck. Then I heard a whistle and saw Steve waving. He had found 3 pieces in one area and had another target so he called me over in case it was another piece.

It was – yeah. I had been thinking 5 would be a good number today. They aren’t big but they are gold. Every little bit counts.

Here is all 5 pieces. Will have to weigh them when we get back to the van.

This is where he found 2 pieces right next to a sheep leg!!

Lots of old diggings here.

I made a cuppa while Steve tried to find some more but I had only asked for 5 and that was all we were going to get. Will have to raise the ‘wish’ amount!! Lou texted to say that he was all finished at the show. They had 67,000 people through the gates over the 3 days and it was cold. Really!!!

We headed back along the track and came out on the main road again opposite the Maldon Historic Reserve where Steve found the other bits near the old Gowar School. He had found some interesting shafts and wanted me to see them. When we got out he found an old crow bar which he shoved in the ground then put the old pick head on top of it.

This was an unusual site as it was a thin shale rather than quartz that they have dug through to find the gold.

All the shale was piled up beside the shaft making a platform.

Further along in a line from the other shaft were more shafts and an open cut area. Amazing how they had dug these and they didn’t cave in after all these years.

The shale is so thin.

The last one looks like a cave.

Headed back to the van with the heater on high. Then into the van with the heater on as the temperature has dropped to 7 degrees at 5pm.

Got out the scales and weighed the gold. Since we left Cairns Steve has found 4.5 grams of gold which is worth about $200 which isn’t bad for a hobby but hasn’t paid off the spare coils he bought let alone the machine – but I’m not complaining, as he is hoping to find a fortune in WA!!!

The six pieces from Waanyarra weighed 1.2 grams.

The one piece from Loddon and the three pieces from Gowar School weighed 0.5 grams.

The 5 pieces today from Muckleford came in at 0.6 grams.

Texted Pete & Penny with gold update as they are housesitting in Beaconsfield. She said it is cold and wet there. Will meet up with them on the 27^th at Whroo.