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!