Gold Country

A leisurely drive to the south today. We decided to skip the glowworm caves, which cut our driving time by several hours. We’ve learned you have to add 25% or so to the GPS calculated driving time, which is supposedly based on speed limits and traffic conditions. The speed limit is usually 100 kph, but you’d have to be nuts to try to go the fast. The highways are good, but narrow and winding.

Instead, we went hiking through another gold mining area in a beautiful gorge. There were plenty of glowworms in the tunnels. Unfortunately, they are not photogenic. We had a late lunch at an extraordinary café across from the park, and continued on to our farm stay.

Soon we found ourselves in a land of grassy hills, dotted with sheep—picture perfect countryside. It was just what you’d expect to see on your way to a meeting at Bilbo Baggins’ house in The Shire.

In the late afternoon we arrived at the farm. This turned out to be a large, modern house surrounded by dairy cows and a small flock of sheep.

We traded wedding “war stories” with our hostess, Joy (who also has a catering business) over a delicious, home-cooked meal straight out of the garden. That was followed by lots of cat-petting and some music-making.