GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!

Sovereign Hill, marketed as an open air museum that depicts Ballarat in the 1850's after the discovery of gold. Admission fee is a little on the expensive side however we saved some money by leaving Andy back at the house to work and became a family of 5 and a single adult. Also we were informed while paying that we could use our ticket to come back tomorrow if we had it stamped at the post office.

Joined by a few other Sydney orienteers, the 5 girls charged off down the main street wandering in and out of the different old fashioned shops before we herded them towards our first demonstration of the day - gold pouring at the Gold Smelting Works. We were all enthralled watching the glowing golden liquid being poured into a mould, then cooled in water to become a large ingot worth around $150,000.

Leaving this beautiful ingot that was securely locked away in the safe, we now were going backwards through the gold mining process. We made our way through the noisy Battery watching the machinery smash up the gold bearing quartz. On exiting this building, the Poppet Head was an obvious attraction. The girls climbed this 20 metre towers as fast as possible to enjoy the views over Sovereign Hill.

At Hewett's Candle Works we learnt many interesting new facts: how candle makers used the Nodding Donkey to dip their wicks between 150 - 250 times (depending on the size of candle being made and the weather); the racks of candles were hung from the ceilings at night to stop the rats eating them; candles were initially made of tallow (animal fat) and smelt really bad when being burnt; candles that were dipped in green were purchased by the mines and only to be used underground, while the plain white ones were for use at home.

Across the road from the Candle Works we tested our skills at Ninepin bowling before having a break for lunch.

Post lunch with tummies full and energy levels restored, it was time for some serious gold prospecting just what Eoin had been hanging out for all day. Gold was first discovered in Ballarat in 1851 at Poverty Point and once the word got out, thousands swamped the goldfields. Luckily for us, Sovereign Hill 'salt' their creek with $50,000 of gold each year and so you are pretty much guaranteed to find a speck or two!

Eoin with his gang of eager followers were straight into it and once they mastered the correct techniques, gold specks were sparkling away. Cath promptly bought everyone a jar from the adjacent Waterloo Store in which to store their finds! Gold panning was certainly addictive and relaxing and before we knew it 1.5 hours had past!

Reluctant to leave the creek, the girls were enticed away with the sweet making demonstration at Brown's Confectionery Manufactory. We watched humbugs being made. Another interesting education especially 'hooking' where the toffee mixture is pulled over a hook on the wall changing the toffee's colour from clear honey to pearly white before being combined with the black toffee to make the classic humbug stripes. The kids were amazed to learn that sweets were very expensive and thus only for the upper class adults! We all loved the free sample.

From the Sweet Shop we detoured back to Hewett's Candle Works so the girls could dip their own colourful candles. Ella chose a smooth one while Katy opted for the larger bumpy one. Nice way to finish a fun filled day!