For the long ANZAC Day (similar to Veteran's Day) 3-day weekend we headed out west to the old gold mining town of Hill End which is about 3 hours from Denman.
We had just finished setting up our camper trailer late on Saturday afternoon (just in time) to see the skies open up and "piss" down rain. By the next morning we discovered that we had received 1.5" of precip over night!
Wet, wet, wet!
Fortunately thanks to Ben's quick thinking and trenching skills we kept things relatively dry or at least less muddy around our trailer! Of course those in tents below us were drenched completely and vacated the campground at dawn. Weather.......it's all part of the adventure!
Sunday started out grey and dismal but by noon the sun decided to intermittently break through the clouds - just in time for the ANZAC service in the center of town.
With deciduous trees scattered everywhere around town the signs of autumn were absolutely brilliant and made me wonder if this is how Maine looks in October. Hmmmm? One day I hope to find out first hand.
In 1851, gold was discovered at Hill End, then known as Bald Hill, and by 1872, at the height of the great gold rush, the town was the largest inland settlement in NSW (New South Wales) with a population of 10,000 and a kilometre (2/3rds of a mile) of colourful shopfronts, including 28 pubs, an opium den and an oyster bar!
Gold occurs in quartz veins generally parallel to the bedding in a sequence of slate and sandstone. 
So, what's a trip to a gold mining town without a mine tour?
Below is the entrance to the Bald Hill Mine nicknamed the "Born Loser" .
Even though gold was expected to be found at this site none was ever discovered.
Sounds like alot of diggin' for nothin'!
At the end of our tour by Glen, the Hill End resident hippie, guests were invited to ascend the 10-story latter up through a series of narrow mine shafts. I chickened out but Ben went as our family representative and photographer.Don't slip now because it's a long way down that small hole!
Gold mining activity gradually dwindled, until there were only a few hundred miners left by the 1920s to pick over the former diggings. 
An old abandoned mine shaft in the bush that was shown to us by a hobby fossicker (one who rummages or searches around, especially for a possible profit) that was on our mine tour. We were lucky this one was covered over with logs because there are many left open so hiking around in this area could be very hazardous to your health!Gold was first discovered in the Hill End area at Golden Gully in 1851.
All that remains today of these old "diggings" is an eroded dry creek bed.
Camper Benjo at Golden GullyNow, with only a small resident population of approximately 100 people living in Hill End, there still remains echoes of the past among the old builings and homesteads. I felt like I had stepped back in time as I strolled through the streets of this once bustling gold mining community.
Grazing sheep
Warry Cottage
Old homestead
Church
Post Office 
Courthouse
Another old church
Old Produce Store
Last pub standing from the original 28! 
Resident kangaroo on the lookout
At last, the sun is finally shining!
Fall On the Vine - photo taken at a pub in Rylston where we stopped for lunch 
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