Saturday, June 28, 2014

Sugar, Sugar

Here is a little post describing some of the things the boy and I got up to whilst down in on our trip. Unfortunately the boy was unable to take his camera down with us, so we were left without pictures other than a couple taken on his iPhone. But I shall still share with you a couple of the things we got up to.

On the way down there, feeling quite peckish we stopped by at a sweet shop. Just looking like an old country building and on the side of the road on its lonesome without the company of any other buildings, we were very surprised upon entering as to how big it was! And how much candy they had there! There was an immense selection of sweets, home made fudges, toffee brittles, sugared drinks and home made jams and relishes. Better than anything that we have here in the city! The boy and I went a little nuts and bought ourselves a care package of sugary snacks from our childhood days and sweets that couldn't be bought back home. Among these were coconut ice and a generous collection of packets of sugared almonds (my weakness). 

It was a very lovely change to visit the cinemas down there. I am a huge popcorn eater. Give me a jumbo sized bucket and somehow I will get through it well before the movie is through. Hands down, they had the best popcorn I have ever had. And the fact that they didn't have jumbo size was probably a good thing! Another groovy thing was that they had amazingly flavoured choc-tops like jaffa, cookies & cream and even rainbow! Perhaps it may sound a silly little thing to you, but it was quite exciting for the boy and I seeing as all we have up here are vanilla and chocolate! We saw both "Maleficent" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2". Both were very enjoyable.

Located in one of the original buildings of the town was an Ore, Mineral and Fossil Museum. We took a gander over and were amazed at what we found. Incredible minerals from all over the world in gorgeous clusters and formations, and colours that I would not have imagined. It was quite fascinating to learn about how the different kinds formed, and how being exposed to varying conditions impacted upon the chemical makeup and structure of each mineral. I think perhaps I found pyrite (believe it or not) the most interesting in it's perfectly geometric cuboid growth pattern. In all honestly, after coming out at the end of the day what we saw was so incredible it almost put diamonds to shame. We also saw many fossils, such as insects encased within amber, opalized wood and shells, a cast of the complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex and much more. Would definitely love to visit there again. 

To read about my adventures in the vintage hunting department, click here!

As some of my Australia readers will know, Bathurst was a gold mining town way back when. And so there are quite a few old gold mines as well as other gold mining towns scattered around the bush in the area. One of these is now a ghost town, and has been for years. Technically it is still inhabited by ancestors of the people that lived there over a century ago, but the locals still like to title it as a ghost town as the population is so sparse. I found it very fascinating to explore the town, read about its history, study the architecture of the buildings and designs of the mining machinery and just wander really. I feel quite at home in places that emit an eerie atmosphere. We also visited a two hundred year old cemetery near by which I found very insightful, yet very emotional. On a lighter note, we also went gold panning! We had not luck, but I'm pretty sure I contracted gold fever. It almost had to be pulled away from the creekside I was that determined to have my little Eureka moment! I did find some pretty crystals, but I was such a clutz that I dropped them all back in the creek by accident. Oops.

Of course, being such a beautiful town we took many walks. The majority of buildings are all from past eras and the park in the centre of town was lovely, well looked after with flower gardens and housed an incredible fountain. We passed a protected pond with koi, ducks, geese and swans. There were also two cygnets there which were was very nice too see, I had never seen any before myself. Being winter time, the roses around town were all in bloom and the people were very friendly. We also saw a little possum family living in one of the parks which was great!


Again, I apologize for not having any picture to share with you all. But I do hope you enjoyed reading the post if you managed to sit through it!


20 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great trip away! I am in need of a trip myself! I always used to buy sweets from the shops in Liverpool.....I too go nuts on them when I do go away.

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    1. Thanks! Nothing in the world like the feeling of going nuts in a sweet shop!

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  2. what a marvellous trip! I do love a good sweet shop! Back in Primary school it was always part of school camp to go to Bathurst to learn about the gold rush but i didnt get to go on that occasion. And yes! how marvellous is pyrite? i always wonder why diamonds get all the attention when there is Lapis Lazuli and pyrite out there. The Melbourne Museum has an excellent gem and mineral collection!

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    1. Thank you! How interesting. Back in primary school for us our camp trip was always to Sydney and Canberra. But we also have some gold mining villages up north around us that the school would sometimes use for excursions and such. Glad you agree with me! I'd love to visit Melbourne one day. If I do I'll make sure I check out the Museum.

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  3. What a lovely trip you guys had!

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  4. I'm so glad to hear that you had a wonderful time, it certainly sounds like an idyllic place! That ghost town sounds incredible! I love anything creepy, and even old machinery is fascinating I think, to see how things used to be done and how much work was involved. Really makes you appreciate all of the mod cons we take for granted! There's lots of little old fashioned sweet shops around the UK like that, I always love to visit them myself and go a little crazy! Often you can buy packages of selections of popular sweets for each decade and because I'm a bit soft I love to get the '60s one from time to time, helps me to pretend I'm really in the era. My parents used to own a new age mineral and fossil shop and all of that stuff really is quite fascinating. I definately understand why you took a liking to pyrite, you don't imagine anything so perfectly shaped to occur naturally. And I agree that diamonds are completely dull, I don't understand the fascination for them myself. I'd much rather wear a beautifully coloured gemstone!

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    1. Thanks, Faye! The ghost town was quite brilliant. I think we would have enjoyed it even more though if we hadn't gotten so car sick on the way - we wound and warped through the mountains in a constant fog and I think it was a little too early in the morning for that! I think so too. It was incredible to read about the struggle everyone that lived there went through. In the end much of the town population, wildlife and plantation was poisoned as a result of the arsenic used for the gold mining. It was extremely cold there too, so it really does make you appreciate modern life a lot more!
      The sweet shops over there sound quite amazing, especially those decade packages. Would love to get myself a 60's one! I'd be doing the same!
      Wow, that must have been really great and I can imagine you saw some incredible things while they owned the store. And glad that you, too, agree with me!

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  5. Oh man, I would have loved to visit that sweet shop, too! :-)

    -Kati

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    1. It was pretty good! Something for everyone I bet!

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  6. It sounds like a wonderful trip, and I love the beautiful photo of your candy haul. :)

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  7. It sounds like you too had an interesting trip!
    It almost doesn't matter that you have no pictures to share as you recounted it so vividly. I must say sugared almonds are very much my weakness too- at one stage in my life I'd always make sure there was a little jar full in my room (nowadays I just pick up a few if I happen to be in that area of the city.)

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    1. It was very interesting and we learnt a lot.
      I am glad that you think I recounted it vividly, that made me smile. Glad to hear that I'm not the only that pines over sugared almonds. Would love to have a constant jar of them in my room. We don't have them anywhere up here.

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  8. I can relate to the frustration of not being able to take pictures when there's so many interesting subjects to be remembered. However, I'm glad you had such a great trip, and I love that first picture!
    xx Tessie

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    1. Yes, I was quite frustrated! But there is always next time. It is a real shame too because the boy's photography is quite brilliant and I wanted to share it on here for the first time. But it's all good. And thank you!

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  9. That sounds like so much fun! I'd love to visit a ghost town one day!

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  10. I really love gemstones, I make jewellery from semi-precious stones and can't get enough of them! I also have a small collection of tumbled gemstone. The mineral museum sounds really interesting. I don't have any pyrite in my collection which I should remedy.

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    1. Oh how great, I'd love to see some of the jewellery you make. I am slowly, slowly compiling a collection of gemstones. My best friend and I usually buy them for each other. The museum was quite an educational and enjoyable experience. I am glad to say that I have some pyrite to call my own. But it is quite small and to see it's geometric perfection on a larger scale was quite incredible for me!

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