Sovereign Hill

At Sovereign Hill we went to multiple places, and we even went to a lolly shop, but that’s later.

We were in Ballarat and there is a gold mine called Sovereign Hill and it has been famous for finding the Welcome Nugget.

We went through the visitors’ centre and out into the gold mines for the above ground things to do. The first thing that we did was talk to a young woman dressed up as an old lady from the days before us. She said our water was poison and wanted us to buy some of her soup. And we didn’t accept the offer so she said the poison would be our little secrete to share as friends.

The next place we went to was a tour of the diggings and the diggings are the tents that they had in the olden days. The guide told us that when you stay here for longer you get a better tent than a stick tepee tent and you would get an enclosed fire pit and your own area and have your own underground mine to work in and have a comfy bed and chair and table as well as maybe a ‘’family’’ type thing.

Then we went underground on a mine tour that had a gravel floor and a narrow path made from wood of the forest above. We then went by the auto guide to a place where they found the Welcome Nugget. Then we went to a water leak and the auto guide said that he was clearing it and then said it was good to go and we then went through and up 104 steps to the fresh air.

We then went to the lolly demo, and the sweet maker boiled the toffee in a pot and then he went around telling us what happened at this mine when it was working. This company was active, and it sold a load of lollies in their time and was a money maker. Most of the workers were girls baking while the boys found gold to spend on their lollies. At the end of the demo, we got to try one of the hard-boiled lollies and they were the most delicious of all the lollies we tried on this holiday and that’s a lot.

We then went to the blacksmith, and he made us four legs for a basket and then he made us four legs that are shaped in a curl for a basket. As he was doing that, he told us that when you heat metal you use a hammer to do a small curl and then you put it on a large curl mould and then it would turn into a large curl basket leg. He did those four times one for each leg. He also told us that the name black smith is a compound word and black means that it is a dirty job and normally your hand got black. The word smith is standing for a man making things like basket legs and it also means that you can play with fire and make horseshoes.

We went back home and we talked all about the wonderful time we had.