It's road trip time again and I wasn't too sure where I was headed this trip. I wanted to go smokey quartz fossicking up in Ewingar, nsw but I also wanted to explore with my metal detector down south around some of the old town of Dalmorton so this pic is me at Casino still debating which way I should head. As it happened there was a very slow car in front of me that turned right at the Tenterfield turn off so that was enough for me to make up my mind as to what direction I was headed because it was way too early to be stuck behind a slow car that was going to drive me nuts. Dalmorton here I come.Me driving past one of my abandoned explores I'd done a while back. Every time I drive past here I feel like I'm driving through a gate to an amazing place here in northern nsw. The house is started to look a bit worse for wear since I explored it. Probably good I filmed it when I did.The second video is of me arriving in dalmorton and crossing the river hoping no one was in my camp spot that I wanted and YAY! no one was there. Come to think of it there was no one around at all for most of the time I was there. The local council having placed restrictions on dirt bikes and 4wd's in the area has been a good thing in helping preserve the environment from destruction due to some 4 wd's eroding the river banks which was happening a lot. I don't begrudge people 4wding but there are always the irresponsible ones that will ruin it for everyone.
First pic of camp and surveying the situation at hand as what I need to do. The area was in good shape and thank you to the last campers for leaving the place in a good state for others as I did when I left. The river was very low this trip and not the best for a good swim so I just paddled more than anything.Just me getting organised and setting up camp. I'd already set up the tent so it was time for the fire. Lots of bark is a good start for my fires, they light every time without all the drama of huffing and puffing and swearing because you can't get the bastard lit.
All set up and whats a guy to do? Have a beer and relax while I decide what plan of action I was going to take for my time in Dalmorton. Lets go have a look at the river and see what the water is like. The water was nice and warm which works for me but the slime doesn't. Manky!
Having done everything I needed to do and having finished my beer I decided to go have a look around and see about some photos. Just a view of the bridge crossing the river. Very deceiving as the river can a raging torrent when it's in flood and the water can be 4ft over the bridge.
Just a view looking down stream facing east.
Just a snap of me headed over to the bridge. I liked the look of the track so I snapped it.
I found this clump of trees beside the bridge interesting so I snapped it. I like it.
You can see the effects of the flooding the river endures when it rains heavily in the area. The bridge in the foreground is being buried by the river pebbles that get washed down with each flood. The right side is now flat with pebbles where the left side is still around 5ft . Just an interesting little detail I thought I'd put in there because I can.
It was way too hot too keep looking around so I didn't and headed back to camp. I found some cherry tomatoes growing very happily in the growth behind my camp. Thank you to the previous campers that threw their veggie scraps into the bush as they were nice to eat and free as were the chokos and cucumbers that were growing in the area as well but weren't ripe enough to eat yet.. Some other camper will be happy with the crop though or the cows as they roam around everywhere in the area. As you can see it was beer time again as I was parched from my exploring ha!
The day was coming to an end so it was time to grab the camera again and see what I could find. This is the hill again that I've already posted but I love the light that always amazes me in this area. I haven't experienced this sort of light in any other area I've been too so I snapped another one.
I'm glad I took my serious camera with me because the sunset up river was very pretty apart from that there wasn't much to shoot so called it a day and headed back to camp. I spent the evening starring into the fire aimlessly and cooking myself something to eat before going to bed.
Oh no I didn't just go to bed. Are you kidding. I'd never done night time photography before and I'd thought about wanting to do it for awhile now and this was the perfect opportunity to try it so, I waited until it got really dark and LORDY! it got dark because there was no moon at all. I walked to the old butcher shop across the bridge with my torch and nothing but black all around me. It was a little unsettling only because I was i a ghost town just me and the cows and here I am sitting in the dark in the middle of no where waiting for my camera to do it;s thing. It looks like there was alot of light but I had the torch shining under my tee shirt so it just barely cast anylight. I'm thinking if there was a moon I would have been ok to not use a torch at all and let the moon light the subject. After a fair bit of trail and error and trying to see in the dark, I'm reasonably happy with this shot. Not the best ever but I know now what to do and it really was weird sitting in a paddock in the middle of no where in the dark letting my mind get away from me.
I've added this pic to show how your mind plays silly buggers with you. I'm not happy with this shot btw it's just to show you what I was talking about. I was trying to work out the lighting etc and this one was my shining the torch straight at the butcher shop under my tee shirt, anyway, when I waited the 30 seconds exposure I saw this crazy weird stuff in the sky and thought to myself, self, Whatha!!!??? Now if I'd been a spooked type of guy I probably would have freaked and packed my shit and bolted for camp but no, I stayed and said don't be bloody stupid Michael what the hell could it be??? What it was was moths flying around and because of the long exposure left a trail in the sky. Pretty freaky though huh?
GOOD MORNING! Lets get this day started. I've cranked up the fire and saw about some coffee before seeing about heading back to the butcher shop for some sunrise pics.
I spent some time at the butchers shop waiting for the sun to do it's thing for the day and I'm reasonably happy with this shot. It was already hot and a sign of how the day was going to pan out.
Nice shot of the river heading back to camp for some breakfast.
interesting root formations laid bare by the force of the water when in flood.
I got myself sorted for the day and decided to go prospecting then head off to go see the local farmer to see if he'd let me go see the old "heritage" listed (I found out) gold mine hidden away from the world on private property up a gully you wouldn't even know held a gold mine. So, back to this pic. This was headed out to go see about some prospecting and I just love this old history. This cabin is on private property so thankfully is safe from tourists vandalising it. As you can see I was on the other side of the fence and being a good fella.
The old dunny right down the corner . The cabin is behind it and as you can see there is an abandoned caravan sitting in the paddock open to the elements which is a shame because it looks to be a nice van and could be nice restored.
You had to traipse a fair way to get to the toilet from the cabin back in the day and wouldn't have been much fun in the rain. The toilet is now empty of it's long drop.
Just a closer shot of the back of the cabin. Shame I couldn't get to see what it looked like inside because it is boarded up.
Ok, My bad, I jumped the fence because I needed to get this shot. Too much interest in the composition to not get it. People sure were a lot smaller back in the day because this door is very narrow and short. I would have needed to turn sideways slightly and bend my head to get in. The butcher shop back door was the same.
Enough of the cabin, I got my pics and times a wastin. I set off down the road to a creek that I thought could be interesting as it looked like it had been mined in the past and could get me something. My metal detector went crazy and I got excited and I dug and I dug and I ran my detector over the area some more and it went crazy and I got even more excited. GOLD! I found me some GOLD! A big giant nugget. Woohoo!
I got tired of detecting because that was pretty much all my detector picked up in that area. Maybe they found it all. There was a lot of resent diggings around so it wasn't looking good at all. I headed back to camp to check it was ok and this is the track leading in from the bridge. Nice and private and all was good.
I headed down the road that runs beside the Boyde River and through the historic convict tunnel that convicts didn't actually dig. It is an old wives tale and was built by cheap labour. The autumn colours are already starting as you can see and makes for a pretty photo. I went to see the farmer about getting permission to explore the old gold mine. He was a little grumbly at first because he was saying that people have been trespassing on his property from some company that is interested in the mine for their financial gain. 
He became more approachable as I spoke with him reassuring him that I just wanted to explore the mine and was not some one sent in to look at it for some company. I found out that he was an indigenous Australian and his ancestors were killed over the hill (as he explained it) which was not so pleasant to hear. He also said that these companies wanted to reopen the mine but their take on reopening it would mean blowing up half the mountain the mine is in and that would be horrendous for the area. Great for the companies and their hip pocket but environmental vandalism. He was even kind enough to show me the way to the mine. He in his ute and me following behind in my car. Crikey!! Thank god he showed me the way because there is no way I would have found it on my own. He was/is a very interesting man to speak to and I would have loved to have had a few beers with him and find out more history on the area but maybe next time. He showed me roughly where things were and said his goodbyes and down the track he went. OMG! I had no idea that I would be finding this or the extent the actual mine sight was. It is Amazing. 
The thing was HUGE! It was extremely impressive to see and to think the amount of effort that it would have needed to get it from what ever city it came from by ox and cart up winding dirt roads to get it to where it sits now. To give you some idea of the size when I stood right in front of the "stamper" my head cam to the top of the metal boxes that housed the stampers and it is all cast iron which would be extremely heavy. I feel for the poor oxen pulling the pieces in. A side note about my piece of cast iron I found when fossicking. It happens to be the same size and shape of the rectangular openings that run across the bottom of the stamper and would have once had doors on them to stop the rock from flying out when being crushed. Maybe my old door had once been a door on an old stamper that may have once been at the creek I was at??? Seems to fit.
Some closer images of the mechanism that ran the stamper. I would think the noise would have been astronomical.
OMG! OMG! The day was getting even better. I had no idea that this mine shaft even existed still as preserved as it is. My excitement was through the roof. I had climbed up the rock heap that was beside the stamper and was met with this awesome sight. It looks really small in this pic but I walked into it easily even though I had to bend my head.
Inside the mine still in a great state of preservation. Just a shame I wasn't prepared with a torch and I hadn't installed a torch app on my new phone.
Further into the mine. I went in as far as I could before it got too dark and the bats were getting a bit stressed by my presence so I left. Short video of me exiting the mine. Seriously one of the best experiences I've had in a long time.
I had to get a selfie in with the stamper before I left to do some further exploring down at the dam. Shame it doesn't show the scale of the size of it though.
Walking to the dam that was built to supply water to the mine.
The dam is a good size and when I was standing at the base of it in-between the two angled bracing thingys I might have been about a third of the height. The dam has now been silted in with rumble and pebbles placed there by years of raging flood waters coming down the mountain. All still very impressive. I'm like a kid in a candy shop with this sort of stuff.
Last photo of the dam and last one before I had to leave. I could have stayed all day but didn't want to abuse the property owners hospitality. I'm not too sure what this opening in the dam was for? Maybe it had a cover on it originally for when it rained too much and it was opened to let water out? You can see the rocks that have built up behind the dam but not in this pic. Time to leave. The owner gave me permission to take some photos of an old slab hut he had on his property so that's where I was headed next. 
Check this out! This is the slab hut I wanted to get some photos of on the owners property. It looked cool from a distance but was even better up close. 
Other side of the hut with the owners place down in the distance. I found out that this was the original home of the person that settled the land and I was standing roughly where the old stables were that the old Cob & Co coaches would house their horses in when they stopped off to rest. Pretty cool stuff. Apparently there was an old man living in it not that long ago but he became to frail with age in ended up in an old peoples home down in Coffs Harbour. The owner now uses it to house farm stuff and molasses that he horse seemed rather interested in. The owner came over from his house on his old tractor to see how I went at the mine and see me off. It was like stepping back in time seeing him chuck over on his tractor. I wished him well with his mine drama and thanked him once again for allowing me the opportunity to experience this awesome secret piece of history before heading back to camp.
I stopped at the old tunnel to have a look since I've never checked it out properly before and is this original old graffiti or just some dick thinking he's being clever? I'm going to believe it is original.
Tunnel selfie before I left. :D
I got back to camp and gave it a quick check and back out I went for more exploring. Not time to waste. I'm getting old and not time to be sitting around. I headed out on the road past where I was camped and went down to a creek I checked out on the internets before I left for my trip for possible fossicking possibilities. I was met with this interesting bit of fencing across the creek to stop the cows wondering off. The tin sheets were attached at the top and the bottom was free so that when a big rain came it wouldn't destroy the fence and allow the water to flow freely. There was no water at all.
I walked up the creek around 500 mtrs and there were only small pockets of water left and I spent most of the time trying to save some of the fingerlings stranded in little puddles. I wish them well for what ever fate mother nature has in sort for them. The farmer did say he was concerned about the amount of rain he said was expected next month. The old timers always know so should be listened to. I hope the fish make it till then. It was way too hot to keep looking so I headed back.
But not before heading up the hill from camp. My camp and the bridge is the middle bottom of the pic.
I did a small amount of photo-shopping to get rid of that pesky tree trunk dominating the photo. Not too shabby. You can see the old butcher shop sitting under a big pine tree middle left and the 50's house (the white one) to the right of it. The road going up the hill is steep and dirt and one lane and this was the only clear spot I could get a photo. I'm happy with the result considering the size of the tree I had to remove.
It was now time to do an abandoned explore video of the town and this is what the inside of the old butcher shop looks like. Love the meat hooks are still there.
Inside the 50's house. This is the kitchen.
Different view looking towards the dining area and the old chimney that would have housed the wood burner stove.
The old grape vine behind the 50's house makes for a pretty photo and the grapes were a tasty treat while filming.
Side view of the 50's house showing the tin chimney and stumps for (I think) the water tanks. I shot my video and checked things out a bit more before heading back to camp for the day. I'll upload the video to my youtube channel soon.
I climbed the hill behind my camp with a beer to get in the view, camp in very lower left corner. The clouds looked promising but didn't eventuate to anything.
Looking up river from where I was sitting. That's about it for this day. I just hung around camp and made some dinner for bed. It was interesting night listening to the Koalas grunting behind my tent during the night all night but then when I got up the next morning to see if they were in the trees up the hill, nothing they all gone??? Bless their grunty little socks.
Good morning Sunday. Another glorious start to the day. The sun still hadn't come up over the hill yet. Nice spot to enjoy my coffee before I packed up to head out because I'd decided to head up north to a crystal mine I'd heard about and wanted to check it out. 
One last photo before I head off. Tortured roots in the river.
The trip out and back up north was uneventful. Stopped off at Grafton to fill up and refresh then cut across to Clarence way which follows the Clarence river, funny that! I searched and searched for the calcite mine that I was sure I knew where it was but NOOOOOOOOOO! I wasn't happy at all. I was up and down that bloody mountain so many times but it was illusive this time. Bastard! I'll find you and when I do....... Anyway, After all the searching and frustration I found this awesome abandoned cabin with even more amazing egg caravan in perfect condition and hidden enough to not be disturbed for a while (Hopefully) So to ease my frustration what was I to do? Film it for my channel is what. Another place I could quite happily live in away from the world. I'll find you mine, I got my eye on you. You haven't beat me yet.
Inside the cabin. Liked a beer they did. The calendar on the wall showed 2005.
Looks like who ever lived there left very quickly from what has been left on the table.
Inside the old caravan. All original condition and I rescued a lizard out of the sink Bless it. I stuck a stick in the sink so any other critter can get out.
I sooooo want this caravan. It's just too cute for words and apart from the pealing paint is in great condition. All wood. LOVE!
Dunny out the back but strangely the actual toilet is missing? Maybe some one discovered it and needed a loo? It was time to leave so off I went some what satisfied after not being able to find that mine....
Not too far from the cabin was a couple of houses that all looked abandoned and one of them I've taken photos of before but the other two might be holiday houses?? mmmm!? I don't think so and I'll be back again for a better check. I found this old truck in the yard of one of the houses. That is seriously old.
I had some time left before I needed to get home so I decided to head into the hills of Ewingar for some smokey quartz fossicking because I needed to feel I hadn't been beaten. The creek had dried up but as you can see still had water once you dug into the creek bed. Pretty messy stuff this fossicking lark but so satisfying when you find something which I did. YAY! Not a bad size crystal and worth squeezing this in before I headed back home. Stinging nettles are a bitch when you brush past them if you've never experienced it.
Ok! That's it! That's my roadtrip for this trip and I'm happy and satisfied that I could end my day with a reasonable sized crystal . Even getting muddy as f**k was worth it. I hope you enjoyed my trip this time and if you've read through my blog post this far then thank you very much and I'll see you next trip if you decide to come along. Bye for now. Love me.