47 days of sleeping in a narrow single bed.
We left Ilford and drove just over 70 kms to Bathurst. Again “more bloody hills” and this time we had some very tight bends.
We stopped briefly at Sofala to have a quick look around. Sofala came about as a direct result of the goldrush which had been spurred on when Edward Hargraves discovered gold at Summerhill Creek on 12 February 1851. By June of that year, thousands of people had set up mining operations in the valley and both the Royal Hotel and a General Store were built in 1851 to handle the increased demand. By 1880 it had a population of 25,000.
Sofala has been reported to be the oldest surviving gold-rush town in Australia. There are still small-time gold prospectors who pass the time using metal detectors, gold pans, and sluice boxes to recover small quantities of gold dust. The 1974 Peter Weir film The Cars That Ate Paris was filmed in the town. Village scenes in the 1994 John Duigan film Sirens were also filmed in Sofala.. This bridge used to cross the Turon River but was washed away by floods in the late 1800’s. Some years ago it was recovered from the river and resstored and is now on display beside the Turon River.
We arrived in Bathurst and decided to camp at the historic looking showgrounds. Photos to come. 
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