Melbourne day 4 - Central Deborah Gold Mine

Today I am back in the car, and this time heading out to Bendigo to do something a bit different and adventurous, I’m heading deep down into a gold mine.

Luke and I, tough rough gold miners

It was a 90 minute drive heading out in convoy as Luke and his daughter Sophia are joining us today to visit the Central Deborah Goldmine.

Julianne and the three kids are doing a 90 minute tour that goes into the mine down 3 levels, whereas big Luke and I are going all out on a tour that takes four hours and goes all the way down to level nine in the mine, 228 meters below the surface of the earth.

The first thing Luke and I did was to get kitted out in overalls, headlamp and a climbing harness and then when we had a look at the lift mechanism that will take us into the mine.

Original lift mechanism

All the equipment is original and with the lift itself is really small and tight. After squeezing into the lift we headed down to level 6, and what was an amazing bonus - Julianne and the kids just happened to be outside the lift shaft on level 2 as we descended past so we all got to briefly see each other as our tours passed each other. I could hear the excitement in all the kids after seeing us as we descended down into the dark.

Sophia, Robin and Luke

Cosy lift

Down on level 6 we learnt all about the geology of the surrounding ground which lead to all this gold being buried in the quartz around Bendigo. We learnt how they knew roughly where the gold was from a neighboring gold mine so they sunk down this lift shaft to a similar level and then went off sideways towards where the gold was. Once the found the gold they went left or right as required to see if there was enough gold for it to be mined.

They showed us how the rock in Bendigo is so really hard that the miners drilled 9 holes and used explosives to blow apart the rock.

I then got to descend using the ladders instead of the lift down two levels to level 8. The ladder shaft is located to one side of the lift and is a tight squeeze even for me, and there are 5 ladders between each level – so I got to climb down a total of 10 ladders in this narrow dark space with water constantly dripping onto me – I absolutely loved it! You wouldn’t want to be claustrophobic that is for sure.

final ladder onto level 8

Down on level 8 I got to see the drill which was used to drill the holes for the explosives back in the past, and then they let me have a go on a more modern real functional drill that they used to drill in supports for modern health and safety. Using the drill was fun and very noisy.

old mine workings

working the drill

Then it was into the lift to go down to level 9 which is where most of the gold was discovered and what made this mine so profitable. Luke and I had a good look at the old mining area then we stopped for lunch of all things. It was strange but fun to be eating a Cornish pastry 228 meters (748 feet) underground – defiantly one of the highlights of the holiday!

Finally it was time to take the lift back to the surface and meet up with the rest of the families to explore the surface parts of the mine.

I never thought visiting a gold could be such fun, but it was a great day and it was nice Luke was able to come along as well.

Afterwards we drove up the road to visit Bendigo Pottery, who have been making pottery onsite since 1858. This was a huge site with pottery everywhere and a number of specialised local art stores out the front. We saw several men who were busy making pottery by hand which was great to show the kids.

Making egg pottery egg cups

There was also a museum which I went through which detailed the history of the site and the changes over the years.

We brought several pottery pieces that we are missing in our kitchen. I am always amazed that Julianne can pack up delicate pieces such as pottery so they can survive an airplane ride home. She successfully got some delicate glass pieces back from Turkey back in 2015.

At the craft stops we watched a glass maker in action which the kids especially enjoyed. Luke choose her to make a Koala, Sophia chose pink and Robin choose what type of pink.

Then it was back in the car for the long trip home.