There's gold in them thar hills...

We finally got up to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat this weekend. Sovereign Hill is a living museum -- a reenactment of life at the height of the Gold Rush.

We watched a wooden wheel being made and bronze being turned, tried hand-made candy and saw how gold is refined and poured. We even interacted with some redcoats:

And attended a penmanship lesson at the local school:

Best of all, we panned for gold in a river that is seeded daily so you are guaranteed success:

We set up quite the production line. Nik collected the tailings, Ben and Ian did the first sort, and I was in charge of doing the final panning and collecting the tiny gold nuggets -- the size of grains of salt!