From gold in Sofala to car racing in Bathurst, Australia

Since we had unexpectedly headed north again to Glen Davis, we had to head south towards Bathurst instead of west like we had planned. To make the most of it, we decided to take the back road through Sofala, a historic town from the old gold rush days.

Gold was aplenty around Bathurst during the gold rush, and there are many old gold mining towns around that are now hardly more than ghost towns, but Sofala has really been preserved as it originally was, apart from the lack of rowdy old prospectors.

A house in Sofala that looks like it was once a hotel

As soon as you enter Sofala, there is a park with an old foot bridge in it that once crossed the Turon River. It may not look like much, but it has a history all of its own. The bridge itself was actually made in England and shipped to Australia in the 1860’s. It was transported by Bullock across the Blue Mountains and assembled elsewhere in the area, before it was again moved to Sofala. At the time before the bridge arrived, the Sofala Police Station was located on the North bank of the river while the rest of the town, including the courthouse and gaol, was on the South bank. And so when the river flooded the police couldn’t get into town to sort out the rowdiness that occurred in a typical gold rush town. The bridge therefore provided much needed access for the police.

The old bridge in Sofala

Old gold mining equipment on display in Sofala

Many of Sofala’s original buildings are also still standing. The old post office is now a café, while the pub that is still standing is still used for exactly that. As I walked through the town, I really felt like I was in an old gold rush town. I could imagine prospectors riding along the streets to spend their findings at the old pub. It must have been such a different time.

The old post office

A cottage in Sofala

An old car drives past the Oldfellow’s Hall

The Sofala Royal Hotel

Old buildings in the process of being restored

An old mining cart on display outside the gaol

A rickety old house in Sofala

More old houses. So much character

From Sofala it wasn’t all that far until we got to Bathurst, which is quite a decent sized country city. We stopped to pick up some supplies and then went looking for a picnic spot. I chose Mount Panorama.

For those who aren’t Australians, Bathurst is probably the car racing capital of Australia. The race track that climbs up and over Mount Panorama is well known all over the country, and the V8 racing at Bathurst is the highlight of the year for a lot of car nuts. While the races aren’t on, the race track is just treated as a normal street that you are free to drive on in your vehicle. For us, that meant taking our old campervan on the race track. We possibly recorded the slowest time in history, but not everyone can say that they have driven on the Bathurst Raceway!

Driving along the race track in Bathurst

We stopped at the top of Mount Panorama to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the panoramic view across Bathurst.

The view from Mount Panorama

Our plan was to head to Canberra next, so we located a campsite that took us down another back road past another old gold mining town called Trunky Creek. Our campsite, located on the banks of the Abercrombie River, turned out to be a great pick. There was a large area of campsites to choose from and there were hardly any other people there. We found a beautiful spot right on the river where we enjoyed a delicious campfire dinner. Steak and roast vegies, plus a couple of glasses of Hunter Valley wine. Perfect.

Our camp on the Abercrombie River

The Abercrombie River next to our camp

Cooking on the campfire