Day 8 27/3/2019 Goulburn to Leura

Day 8 

The day started with wonderful sunshine.  Our day also started slowly this morning as Alan and Michael had to replace the manifold gasket on the Cream 12/50.  Fortunately both being very capable this was done quite quickly but it did mean we didn't get away until about 10:45.

Noeline and Maritta wait - taking in the warm sunshine in Goulburn.

Peter holds the brolly while Alan and Michael set about changing the head gasket.

Goulburn's "Big Merino"

All Alvis's are back on the road heading for Mayfield Park just before Oberon.

Once on the road we had a pleasant, although tiring, drive to Mayfield Gardens for lunch. The road had some very serious hills along the way which required Alan to once again select 1^st gear on a number of occasions and even though we left a good 45 minutes after everyone else we made it to the Gardens just in time for our 1pm lunch appointment.

Several of the Alvis's cut a fine figure in the Garden's carpark.  Richard (on the phone) was busy keeping Pauline informed of his progress.

The extensive Mayfield gardens from the lookout - has a large variety of plants and unusual vegetables.

The lunch was excellent with a variety of fresh cut sandwiches, a lovely garden salad and finished off with a delightful in-house made caramel slice.  The staff couldn’t have been more helpful or friendly.

David and Bev ponder the gardens.  The stone walls are amazing - dry wall stacked stone.

Adrian leaves lunch and heads off to take in the gardens.

Lesley and Bob admire the stone walls.

Back on the road heading for Leura

Now the roads get a little more interesting - from there we proceeded through Oberon and Black Heath, over a few more big hills and up into the beautiful Blue Mountains arriving in Leura for our overnight stop. Tonight we are having dinner in Fairmont's dining room and Noeline has a general knowledge quiz for us to battle our way through.

The 12/50 merges into the Great Western Highway and back into traffic.

Heading up into the Blue Mountains.

Day 7 26/3/2019 Bermagui to Goulburn.

Day 7

Weather today was simply perfect for touring in the Alvis and I (Dale) got lucky and had the offer of travelling with Alan in his 12/50 whilst Noeline kept Maritta company in the Navara.

 

Leaving Bermagui - black swans on the lake.

It was an excellent drive up the eastern coast of New South Wales along the shore line roads toward Batemans Bay via Batehaven.  There were a couple of navigational "faux pas" on my behalf (and it was not the instructions this time).

We stopped for a short break for a cup of tea in Batehaven before tackling the notoriously steep road up Brown Mountain.

Time for a cup of tea in Batehaven - 12/50 and Speed 20 arrive.

Noeline, Maritta, Alan and Mark discuss the route up the mountain over a cuppa!

David and Kay in the Speed 20, Alan and Noeline in the 12/50 and Mike and Liz in the Alpha - Batehaven.

View of Mike and Jan in the MGB motoring up the highway.

Beautiful open roads inland towards Braidwood.

The climb up the mountain took us from sea level to 600 meters very quickly. It has to be said that although a little down on power compared to my Silver Eagle, the 12/50 is an all round better car and a delight to travel in even if you have to use the gearbox a little more.

A quick stop to check if everyone is OK.

David and Kay set off.

Allowing traffic to pass....

The climb begins....

Once over the mountain the next stop was Braidwood a lovely village full of small interesting shops and Noeline even stopped to purchase locally grown garlic.  We had an excellent lunch, then headed off for our overnight stop in Goulburn.  Just outside Goulburn the 12/50 of Pat and Michael ran out of petrol - so the Navara crew had to race off to get fuel.  


We stopped at a private homestead on the outskirts of Goulburn - "Coorigang" which is aboriginal for black swan.  A lovely house which is still a family home and had a history as a boys school dating back to the 1880's.

Afternoon tea at Coorigang homestead.

Outside the homestead

Glorious sunshine greets us in Goulburn.

Day 6 25/3/2019 Around Bermagui

Day 6

A leisurely start to the day although there was some confusion with timing and the interpretation of the route. Anyway, an excellent breakfast across the street at the Sundeck was followed by a short drive out to the Montreal Goldfields.

Bermagui boat marina -  some very nice boats are moored here.

Breakfast at the Sundeck overlooking Bermagui marina

A Cormorant takes in the morning sun.

The Alvis line up at the Goldfields

Volunteer Jack gives us a walking tour of the Goldfields.

The Montreal Goldfield is an alluvial goldfield and is unusual as it is one of only two alluvial goldfields in the southern hemisphere which finishes in the sea.

The vegetation regeneration.

Examining the mining pits which are approximately 12 meters deep.

The group gathers for another talk.

Maritta moves to the next stop!

Full Alvis line up at the Golffields

Most of the gold in the old river bed is about 12 metres underground and was all retrieved by digging a shaft down and then tunnelling a short distance along the old riverbed, before panning out the very fine particles of gold. These fields produced about 240Kg of reported gold which was removed from the field in its 3 years of operation, it is anticipated probably twice this figure was actually removed. It is also believed that probably the same amount again is still in the ground but the area is now government protected. Its probably not economical to remove it at the moment.

From here we took a short drive to Central Tilba for lunch and a visit to the cheese factory.

A massive lunch in Central Tilba!!

An uninvited passenger....local locust.

An Orb spider weaves a web across the path in Bermagui.

Quick running repairs back at the motel.

We returned to Bermagui to visit the Blue Pool and then had a restful afternoon ready for the long drive to Goulburn tomorrow.