St Bathans and Roxburgh

Today was an unexpected day, a happy day and a day where at the end of it we sigh and say, that was a good day!

When we woke up this morning in Ranfurly, the rain had stopped and the cloud was starting to clear. What was even nicer was that the thermometer was starting to rise a bit and today we actually got to 15 degrees. There was a big sports park down the road so I took the dogs for a big walk and ball chase and then we were on our way. Several other motorhomers we had spoken to told us about St Bathans, and about how many days they had sat there waiting for the weather to clear until they eventually gave up. On impulse we decided to take the chance and go and have a look. The view leaving Ranfurly was lovely with rolling hills.

It wasn’t long though before it began to give way to the rocky, barren sort of land that we had seen around Alexandra. The road into St Bathans was only about 17 km, and aside from knowing it was an old gold mining town we had no expectations, so we were very pleasantly surprised.

Unlike Naseby, a lot of the old buildings are still standing. Some have been renovated, some kept alive for our inspection, and some repurposed. A few are in ruins. Signboards told us that the buildings in St Bathans were made of whatever materials the folks could get a hold of, so unlike towns like Clyde where they are mainly stone, these buildings are a mixture of cobb bricks, corrugated iron, wood, and stone.

Across the road from the buildings is a bit of a moonscape. The terrain is made up of lots of little quartz rocks and stones, held together with a bit of sandy mud. The gold was of the  alluvial type, mixed in with this material, so they used plenty of water to separate out the gold. Unfortunately there was not a lot of water in the area, so they had to dig canals to get the water from miles away at Mt Ida. In the end, the difficulty getting water was what finished the gold mining here.

What was left behind was a deep pit, which became a lake now known as the Blue Pool, and a landscape of fascinating forms along with bits of rusty pipes and machinery.

There is a DOC walkway all around and we did the 50 minute one and really enjoyed it and the scenery. The lake itself was still and the reflections beautiful.

The dogs got a bit hot exploring so they enjoyed a quick dip, and then it was back to the motorhome for lunch. We were very glad we took the time to come and have a look.

Then we were making our way again onto the road to Alexandra (but just passing through as we had been there before) and on to Roxburgh. However, we had a short bypass to Clyde again, because Bruce wanted to purchase another of their stunning loaves of ciabatta. He made his way straight to the shop only to find they had sold out! He had to settle for some croissants and some wholemeal bread instead.

The bonus of this side trip was that the Clyde Dam was open to traffic as the old red bridge was undergoing repairs. Bruce couldn’t resist having a drive over this huge dam.

One of the attractions for me in Roxburgh was the stone fruit. I had eaten through most of what we had purchased in Cromwell, so it was time to stock the fridge.

We had a quick look at the town, and it was quick because it wasn’t that big, and made our way to the reserve to look at the dam. It is less impressive that the Clyde Dam, but still a great sight to see.

 

We decided to stay at the Clutha Gold Cottages camp tonight , and it is a very pleasant place indeed, and very reasonable cost wise. Lovely, helpful people run it so we feel great about our decision.

Tomorrow we head into the Catlins.