| We decided to stop at Bendigo to see a hard rock mine. There's
not much left of Bendigo except a few walls and a cart or two. The piles of tailings and
old mine shafts are still there, some covered up with grillwork to prevent people from
falling in.
At the junction of the loop road and the road that climbs the hill to Bendigo
mines is a ruin of a bakery. All other buildings have disappeared. One reason is
that there were very few trees around and the stone would have been recycled into other
buildings. The remaining stones are now protected.
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The road up the hill to the mine is very steep, very twisty and just plain
gravel. It should have been marked 4-wheel drive only but it wasn't, so we went. Our poor
Chariot barely made the grades in first gear with wheel spinning. However
it was worth it for the view if nothing else. The top of the hill was known as Welshtown
and there are only four ruins left at this site. We walked around the top of the hill to
see the locations of the stamping mill and some of the shafts. And to read the descriptive
signs. |
| The view over the valley is spectacular. We spotted this ruin of a house,
looked like two rooms, with a broken-down cart at the front door side. There were no tree
her at the time of the mine and the view of the valley would have been the same. When
people lived here they planted some trees and these have prospered, even in the normally
windy conditions. Someone also left rabbits and there are many signs of them still
foraging around. Vlad spotted one hustling into the undergrowth. |
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One of the more intact cottages. Needs only a roof, a door, and a fire in the
hearth! The stone used to build these huts is a schist. Probably the most available
building material in this area. In Arrowtown there are many cottage built
of this stone, some from the last century, others fairly new and all well kept. The stone
is still mined for building homes. |
| Another abandoned cart. Probably a cart that carried the ore from the shaft to
the stamping mills. This was a hard rock mine where the gold ore had to
be crushed and extracted using Mercury or Cyanide. There are still mines working in Otago
but they do not use Mercury or Cyanide to extract gold these days. |
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| The drive down the hill was a little easier than the way down. We were glad to
get back to the main highway. |
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S/V
TETHYS