Tyrconnell Gold Mine, The Outback

We traveled farther inland, leaving the pavement, and spent a few days at Tyrconnell historic gold mine in the Australian bush. At the turn of the 19th century Tyrconnell was a booming mining town with a population of over 10,000 and now it is home to 11. This number includes our hosts, Andy and Cate and their 3 cute boys. Cate said that "the outback" is not necessarily a location or type of terrain as much as a mindset and way of living. Tyrconnell definitely reminded me of the wild west. It was dry and hot and dusty but a little kid's heaven: plenty of space to run around, bugs and tadpoles to catch, shiny rocks to collect, and a pond to swim in.
While the students camped out with the big bugs and cane toads, we had an adorable cottage with french doors in every room (including the bathrooms) that opened onto the porches. We had amazing evenings sitting outside watching the sunset.

Checking out the "chooks":

 The reservoir Andy created to provide water for domestic use (and a swimming pool for the boys). They collect rain water for drinking and all of their electricity comes from solar panels.

 Trying to clean off some of the dust:

 These buildings hold the rock crushing/gold filtering machinery. Andy's family worked the mine until the early 90's- producing bars of gold. 

 As far as wildlife, we saw kangaroos and these large piles of dirt (some over 5' tall) all over the place:

Termite mounds! No wonder all the buildings were made with corrugated metal. Termites eat out the center of the eucalypt trees and that is how the wood for didgeridoos comes about.

Did I mention the tire swing? Cadie was in heaven.