The next day dawned beautifully clear, the ground was soaked and all the trees and bushes sparkled after their big wash! So off on another trip of discovery.   This time to the Adelong Gold Mining ruins.

Put me in the ancient or not-so-ancient ruins of any civilization and I am happy as a sandboy (what does that mean anyway?) for hours.

No different at these ruins.   Again I am thrust back to another time, another world which was dirty, extremely noisy and hard work just making a living!   I am passionate about this sort of stuff and look in every nook and cranny, scan the ground – anything to give me more on how these people lived and worked.   I think our photos show just how well this historic site is maintained.  

We walked over the river on a low footbridge, cemented into the smooth river rocks.   On the other side we notice a little turtle foraging for food close to the edge of the clear water river.   He popped his head up out of the water, took one look at us and swam away very quickly.   I didn't think we looked that bad!

We walked down into the ruins, while all of the sad, non-adventurous people (Alice H. you know what I mean) stood up on the high platform looking down onto the scene.   I was in my element;  I just loved it!   I climbed up to the 20metre high chimney which was fed by a furnace at the bottom of the 30 metre hill where the flue tunnel was dug.   Climbing up and down poking my nose into any little crevice that looked interesting.   Pity I never found any gold!
 
Sunday was our last day here at Tumut, so we headed for Junee which is quite a big town, about an hour and half away through rolling hills, then onto the plains with sheep and cattle contentedly grazing.   Except for the gum trees it could be mistaken for some colder parts of NZ.

It boasts the best licorice and chocolate factory and a haunted house.   Bill is none too keen to come with me to the haunted house.   I'm sure he is not a fraidy-cat, just doesn't believe in such piffle! So then there is nothing to worry about except take in the grandeur of this huge, beautifully restored mansion.   As my friend Pauline said (cracked me up) "just hold hands Bill, and you will be okay"!

Built in 1884 this Victorian mansion commands fantastic views of the surrounding area and was the social centre of all the farmers (should I say pastoralists) in its day.   The guy who built it really was the founding father of Junee.   We didn't (sadly) have any ghostly encounters but thoroughly enjoyed roaming the house, with all the rooms set up as in the day, and stables and reading up on the strange deaths which are part of the history.   Like the bleach stain on the top outdoor step, apparently where blood was washed away after a maid threw herself off the upstairs balcony, apparently after she had realized she was pregnant (I wonder if the master was responsible)

And then there was the, apparently, mentally retarded boy who was found to have been chained up for 30 odd years – and there were more stories

A stop off at the Chocolate Factory, interesting place where you could read the blurb, above big picture windows which looked into the small production areas. Not overly exciting and I didn't like their licorice much, although I did buy a little box of chocolate coated cherries.    Sounds yum!

A coffee and a muffin (no more pies – we are getting fat) and we head back to camp.   We like to have a leisurely clean up and pack up on the last afternoon and there is washing to be done, clean and wash the car, vacuum the van, give Bill a No. 1 (he will be able to brush his hair soon) , get my blogs up to date and Bill sorting out the photos for the blog, then getting ourselves ready to leave sometime tomorrow.   We are in no particular rush and only have about a 90 minute drive.

Dinner at the pub tonight.    Locally caught Snowy Mountain Trout for me and local beef rump for Bill. Both amazing meals and we stuff ourselves!   Disgusting!   Back to camp and into bed and a dessert of chocolate covered cherries from the Chocolate factory.   Num, num, num!

So Bill cooks a silverside the next morning, yum!    I walk into Tumut for a little retail-looking and we head off from Tumut, which is a lovely little town, for a free camp at Tintaldra via Tumbarumba.