A ticket at Barkerville is actually valid for two days - that's because it's impossible to experience it all in one. Our second day started with a guided tour round town by one of the saloon owners, whereby we learnt a lot more of what went in tow including the 'Hurdy Gurdy Girls' - dancing girls that would do more than dance if the miners would part with enough gold. Donna was drawn to the bakery by someone eating a Cornish pasty, the price put her off though...

It's 1862 and someone is hand digging through layers of soggy, worthless gravel, hoping and praying the next shovel-stroke will expose a fortune in gold. Everyone says he's crazy, but there's too much at stake to give up. Then at a depth of 52 feet the greatest creek-side gold nugget deposit the world has ever seen is discovered. The man is Billy Barker from England and around this rich claim the boomtown of 'Barkerville' is founded. In 1868 just as winter was ...