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 approaching the town burnt to ground in just over an hour, but men will endure great hardships when there is gold still to be dug. By 1869 the town was completely rebuilt and 107 of these buildings are still standing and with around 60 other accurately reconstructed buildings Barkerville survives as a living museum set in its first gold rush era (it had a second one in the 1930's). Period characters and stagecoaches roam the streets of Barkervlle and give interactive experiences for you to understand what life was like in a gold rush town in a wilderness which had no railroad or road to access. You don't just get facts splurged out parrot fashion, the whole thing is performed as though it were real. We had to pick and choose which encounters with the 1860's locals we didn't want to miss as you simply can't do it all in a day. First stop we went to school, Donna was made to wear a bonnet, we all had our nails checked and our heads for lice. Donna was in big trouble for wearing nail varnish which the teacher had never seen and thought it was a fungus, she was told to see the local doctor! After both of us did poorly in our spelling tests we were dismissed. Next up was the Secret society meeting which we can't tell you about as it's secret. After a quick lunch stop it was a 1 hour 1860's variety show in the theatre royal during which I was selected to dance with one of the leading ladies. What a great show. Later we were able to meet Billy Barker to learn how he did miserably in the Californian goldrush but then struck it rich here in what became Barkerville. The sheepskin mining company had changed hands from the recently deceased father to daughter along with a pile of debts and on the quiet the gold seemed to be played out and the mine in a sorrowful state. We attended their prospective investors meeting and upon learning I was from England I was moved from the back row to the front row - must have lots of money to invest if I can afford to travel from England! The new gold mines owner (the daughter) and her chief miner put on an extremely amusing show of trying to raise new capital and in the process, you learn how gold is actually mined. They even have a full-sized working waterwheel and sluice. To finish the day there was music and dancing in the street but we slipped away before we were selected to wave our arms and jig. In between all these encounters we wandered into Chinatown, visited the saloon, the blacksmiths, the stables, the post office (run by a lady who used to work in Marks & Sparks in London), prayed in church, browsed in the general store, drooled in the candy shop and popped into many other establishments. There were lots of buildings we didn't have time for and we never took a ride on the stagecoach, but oh what a fantastic place. This is the real deal - Goldrush revisited in genuine buildings right where it all happened. Our journey to Barkerville after tilly had a new fuel pump fitted ended in rain and hail but our day here was dry and slowly got warmer so beer and barbeque were called for - and a fire to help keep away the mozzies.