Gold…

 

Following on from our visit to Bannockburn we also encountered other gold this week.

 

1

Bendigo is pretty remote. There are only a few houses here and the road continues to the Clutha River. Mark took us down there on the first day here.

 

On Monday 22nd March we noticed one or two vehicles on the road near the river. Then loads more with kayaks and mountain bikes on the top. Looking back to the main road a car park now existed next to Oliver Road. Next thing was some very fit looking people running past the end of the driveway – one or two to start with and then several at a time.

 

This is the Goldrush event. A 375km running, cycling, mountain biking and kayaking 3 day event. Very popular with single and team entries. You can even ride a tandem bike as part of it. We passed several cyclists on our way down to Cromwell.  The Goldrush winner only took about 17 hours to complete it over the 3 days.  You need to be extremely fit to keep up with him!

 

2

Having got the gold bug we went panning in the Goldfields Centre in the Kawaru Gorge - Chris managed to find several tiny pieces and I got two.  Just bigger than specks really. We also had an interesting talk and were given some gold to hold – apparently it is very hard and you would break your teeth if you tried to bite it. It’s alluvial gold (washed down by the glaciers/rivers). There was also one bit embedded in quartz. Worth a visit if you are coming out here.

 

3

Speaking with Gillian on Tuesday morning via Skype – this has been really useful whilst we have been travelling – she said we should go and visit her friends Steve and Thea who are co-owners of the Wooing Tree winery in Cromwell.  Two of their wines have recently won gold medals –Blondie (or should I say Goldie) and Beetle Juice (named after the critically endangered Cromwell Chafer Beetle). After chatting with  Thea for a while and admiring their vineyard we bought a couple of bottles. The Blondie also won the Champion Rose Award at the Easter Show a few days ago.  Their Pinot Noir is stocked in the UK and has won several other gold medals.

 

4

Glendu Bay has been mentioned by a couple of people so we decided to head up there before leaving Central Otago. I think it’s a bit early in the season for good golden colours although autumn is definitely on the way. We saw the odd poplar and silver birch which were starting to go yellow.