Today we decided to head to Blinman and do the Copper Mine Tour. We knew that the tours ran at 10 am, midday and 2pm daily. The road to Blinman was bituman the entire way, so we ended up getting there at 9 am. When we found the office to book into the tour, we were told that we had filled the tour. They take a maximum of 10 people on each tour. It cost us $65 for a family ticket.
The tour was fantastic. The mine ran for 45 years and closed in 1907. The project to open the mine for tourism took 10 years to complete and there was lots of volunteer work and fundraising. It is now pretty much run by volunteers, though the tour guide was one who was paid. We had tickets on lanyards that we had to leave on the hook where we got helmets…this was the equivalent of miners ‘tag in’. We saw small copper seams which had been left by the miners, and we had old mining methods and how the mine worked explained to us. The boys were pretty happy to be wearing the helmets and playing with the lights on them. After the tour the tour guide helped the boys find a special stone each to take home. They ended up taking two each, one with Pyrite (manganese) deposits and the other with copper deposits. Before we left we went for a walk around the site, which we were able to do on our own.
We then took the road to Parachilna that went through Parachilna Gorge. It was a very pretty road, and we found a lovely spot for lunch on the edge of the (dry) river. Before we reached Parachilna the ranges had ended and we were back in the typical flat terrain of inner Australia. From there we drove to Leigh Creek. A bit further on was an open cut coal mine, but we couldn’t find a better view if it than from the main road. South of Leigh Creek we went to Aroona Dam which was a pretty spot, definitely a great picnic spot.
On the way back to the campsite we again stopped where there was a small stream of water flowing alongside and over the road. The kids spent ages paddling and throwing stones into the water. We also saw a dozen yellow footed rock wallabies on the way.
Lunch spot
Lunch spot
Open cut coal mine
Aroona Dam
Yellow footed rock wallaby
Yellow footed rock wallabies
