A Day Out to Old Gold Fields & An Amazing Spanish Meal, Plus Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos and Fungi, Of Course
It sucks being on three weeks holiday and being ill. I keep thinking I've got long covid as I'm so exhausted and kinda fizzing, but Jamie swears I'm just being moany and I need time to recover. Anyway, on this day we had to get out of the house and go for a drive. Going for a drive to go for a short walk seems super dumb but we get bored with walking in our local area and besides, it was good to take Wally the 130 out for a run and to get muddy for the first time since the rebuild. Jamie had fixed all the leaks so at least we didn't get wet in the rain.
We headed to an area of bushland we saw on the map, about an half hour south of Ballarat about about an hour from us. It's called Enfield State Park. We hadn't been there before and I noticed there was a 'reef' there, which is what they call a gold mining area where a reef of gold might have been found back in the day. The bush was proper lovely and the Landrover ran beautifully.
We stopped at a picnic area in the middle of the national park to go for a walk. You can do larger walks from here but we just did a kilometre circuit as neither of us were feeling great. Still, it was good to stretch the legs.
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You won't tell in these photographs but there were chunks of quartz everywhere - and where there is quartz, there's gold. They reckon there's the same amount of gold here that was pulled out over the years - 88 tonnes, according to records. People come out here panning in the creeks, like the one below on the right.
That's pretty much the history of this area for you - Gold Rush, bushfires, world war one. Still people find big nuggets out here - wouldn't that be cool. The gravestones often tell a story of who lived out here. There's Chinese graves too as there was a big influx of migrants in the area that had a stake in the mines but also worked in stores. This one is a memorial for the Chinese who worked in the area. Our history is not just a white history but you'd be forgiven for thinking so, given how it's been written.
We then went and found the ruins of an old foundry. This was a big old woodburning kiln I think, and the remnants of a fitting shop.
We spotted a huge flock of black cockatoos. A shame I didn't get a better photo - the one on the right is from the internet to show you what they look like. The wet bush was filled with their sound. You can hear their unearthly screeching that's so particular to this area of Australia in the video below. We stopped in awe for ages watching them. Just magnificent.
Of course all through the bush were mushrooms - it's the tail end of the season but stil they stand like decorations. I love the starred mycellium to the right - you can see exactly how a fairy ring of mushrooms might form as the mycellial network makes its way outward from the centre in search of nutrients. Isn't it just beautiful? And the lovely coral fungus as well.
AFter that we went to Miega's in Ballarat for lunch - a treat, since we haven't been anywhere much these holidays. One day I'm going to die and my husband is going to read through my posts that he's never read and want to kill me for the photos I uploaded of him - hi honey! Here he is stuffing his face and looking tired. Miega's is the best Spanish restaurant I've ever been to and well worth the money. I stopped taking photos after the first one - forgive me, but I was starving. We had delicous olives and bread, peppers with goat cheese, a salad of rocket, manchego, artichokes and peppers, croquettes, bread with olive oil - and a few other tapas and some red wine, nice and oaky, just the way I like it. Every single time I come here I want to come back immediately, it's that good.
It's amazing what gems you can find close to home, just when you think you've been everywhere and seen everything. I quite like inland Victoria in the winter - it's much more magical. In the summer it's hot and dry and I hate it - give me the coast any time. But right now, it's worth going exploring, getting cold and slightly damp, and discovering a little magic.
With Love,
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Oh what! This looks absolutely amazing. I totally want to do this. I love your lifestyle and how you love enjoying life.
It's an easy drive to Ballarat from the Western suburbs.. you can adventure there too!!
In deed it is. Have you checked out Eynesbury Grey Box Forrest? It is some pretty awesome walking and lots of cultural sites.
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What a lovely day this looks to be, and that Land Rover looks like it can tackle anything! I'll admit to feeling a little jealous of your day, but enjoyed living it vicariously through your post.
Becca 💗
Aw, thanks. We really needed a day like this. And yes the Defender felt like it would handle anything!
It's so beautiful to have days like that; rejuvenating.
It's so much fun playing mud with Wally the 130. Who can resist that? Even if you say you're in a bad mood because you're sick. Once on it you look so different, in fact you move to explore many things around there.
You really bring your own happiness and enjoy it in your own way.
Thanks. We try! You can make happiness in the worst of times with a bit of effort. We needed a good day out.
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STOPI definitely would have loved to check out the gold mining area, my goodness it'll be amazing to find a nugget or is it illegal to just go there and start digging up the ground in search of gold?
You can pan for gold there, many do!
Amazing
Oh and metal detectors...
I love old gravestones! Your shot of the Chinese grave is poignant - captures something of that stranger in a strange land vibe.
I'm sorry you're still not feeling great with the covid recovery. I swear there are days I feel the same and it feels like it's flaring up, but then my head "does a jamie" and I talk myself out of it. 😆
I think the Aussie bush is at its most beautiful when it is damp and misty. Nicely captured.
Oh it's beautiful in Winter. You know how hot and dry it gets in summer.. I refuse to go inland then. But the cold weather brings out it's beauty.
I love the bush in the fog the best.
Yes I've been chastising myself, telling myself to get over it.
Today my osteopath noticed I'd had covid before I told him.. my thoracic area had clearly been struggling. Spent two days doing concerted diaphragm breathing and this afternoon I went for a walk and DIDN'T feel like I was going to die, so that's a plus!!
Sorry to hear you both are not feeling great yet. And that in the holidays.
Friends of us have long covid and it doesn’t look like they are recovering, over a year now. He had to quite his job 1 month ago, as he was soooo tired and couldn’t focus anymore. One day ok the next day burned out… They are going to hospitals and getting tests as they are now part of an examination trial.
Hope you get over it soon… both… if it keeps not improving go to a medical and check.
What an amazing place you guys visited. Beautiful 🤩
Glad you still got out a bit. Exploring new areas. That would be great if you find some gold hehehe 🤭
The food looks delicious and all the others sound the same.
Hahaha including him in the photos, yep… funny funny he will see it one day. 🤓😎
Take care and hope you still can enjoy the rest of the holidays. 🤗🤗😁👋🏻☀️☀️
Omg that sounds awful. I'm terrified of long COVID as there doesn't seem to be any treatment or answers! I think I'm getting a little better, I had a walk yesterday and I didn't feel sick afterwards. Thanks for your lovely comment xx
Yes, as we all are… so many unknown things. Luckily they are testing and figuring things out.
They will find things that help. Don’t worry. So far they say rest as much as you can.
If you did do a walk and didn’t feel sick afterwards, it does sound like you are getting over it.
I cross my fingers for you all will be just fine 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Take care @riverflows 🤗🤗 big huggg
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Oh man, that sucks alright!
Looks like ye had a great day out and stumbled across all sorts of cool and random stuff and then a perfect finish with some tapas - those croquettes look delicious! Tapas and a good quality spanish red is my idea of great night out.
Oh me too, you can't beat tapas! How come they ended up with such great cuisine yet all the UK could manage was stew and haggis? 🤢
Looks like you had a great day out! Thanks for sharing.
And the food looks yummy as well.
Take care and enjoy!
Can't beat good Spanish food, definitely one of my favourites!!
Mmmmm ... You can wake me up in the middle of the night for some Thai food. That's my favorite.
Oh i don't mind Thai, just I've eaten a lot of it in my time!
It's hard to find good Thai here... So Spanish food it will be 🤣
Yes, our proximity to Asia ensures we get lots of great Asian cuisine!
That first pic of the foundry looks like a train
Take it easy, this focking covid takes a while to clear; you'll be 100% soon
Thanks honey xxxxx
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Awesome story, as usual. Though there seems to be something sku-iff about the photos. Or is it just me?
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I'd give my right arm for thiose croquettes right now. I'm starving and it's 1am
Haha fried potato anything is great at anytime
I had the covid pneumonia from mid Jan to mid March. Then I slowly started to be able to do things. But now it's 4 months later and I seldom last past 4 hours of work. When my body says stop, I must stop, no choice. They say long covid is when it lasts past 3 months of initial infection.
Omg that's full on, on top of Lyme, it's amazing you get so much done. Thank goodness for your helpers!
No kidding!