Well they say bad things happen in three’s and today they did….. Broke the Drone, Wheel nearly fell off the Cruiser and Trailer Pin worked its way out and lost the trailer with the ‘Slug’ on it (Fastest it has ever moved). But that still wasn’t enough to wreck the great day out.
After a couple of weeks of fails and not finding what we where looking for it was good to come across another fantastic historical spot in the Chester Mine. So we where once again up early and on the road. We caught up with Bradley, Heidi, Dirk and Michelle at Fossy River Rest Area and then where off. It wasn’t long before we where in amongst it and basically lost as there was a labyrinth of tracks to choose from to get to the mine. The first place we found ourselves at was what we think was an old quarry called the Pinnacle.
At which I also found some strange fungi
Although I couldn’t replicate it with the Phone Camera (The Actual Camera I ordered still hasn’t turned up) these actually appeared light pink to the eye. So after checking out the area we eventually found the correct track and we where on our way to Chester.
The Track to start with wasn’t to bad it was pretty open and rocky but as you get deeper into the myrtle forest it soon becomes enclosed and very slippery on the surface which made it interesting in some areas particularly on the way out. As you get closer to Chester Mine it gets even worse.
Had to get the chainsaw out a few times and as it turned out this time was pointless as we only went as far as the gumtree in front of us and had to walk the rest of the way.
The walk to the mine from here wasn’t to far but it was pretty challenging as we had to walk part of the way straight up the mullock heap 
and to make things even harder I decided to bring the drone up so I was one hand short but the rocks where well settled so it made the climb slightly easier. The efforts are well rewarded too as the view up there is fantastic. 
It’s hard to tell from the photo (once again new camera hasn’t turned up Grrr) but it is looking directly at Tullah over Lake Rosebery, would have been spectacular shot on a clear day. 
Old Relic’s on the mine site.
The Foundations of the old mill (I think it was) are still standing but the rest of it has burnt down. There is a great photo on the Internet of the whole complete building that was standing here but unfortunately I can’t find it to share it with you.
This is where my trouble started for the day.
Whilst capturing the area on the drone I thought I would try to get a bit adventuress and get some cinematic footage by flying up close to a rock wall and then sticking low to the ground and gradually climbing, trouble is, is that when the drone goes behind something like a rock it looses it signal to the controller so with no control it decided to fly itself into the rocks breaking a propeller an ND filter and the protector lens on the camera and also put a small scratch on the lens itself hopefully it won’t affect it too much as when I got home and checked the prices for the camera I nearly cried at $500.
After I gathered myself and caught up to everyone else we came down from Chester and had some lunch. After lunch we thought we would try to find a couple of the Adit’s, as we where walking down a track that seemed to have more trees fallen on it than a timber mill had logs in the distance we could see a white shiny thing down in the bush so we went to investigate and came across an awesome little hut. 
Even though it was very small it could sleep 6 or more people as it had 2 lofts you could also sleep in, one above the fire and one on the other end and I reckon it would get bloody hot in there too as it’s a big fire-place for a very small hut. After checking out the hut we continued our search for the Adits in the area and found quite a few interesting area’s. 
Old Water Race or Mining Trench???? 
Possibly one of the Adits that has since caved in 
Old Foundations near the entrance to the collapsed Adit. We spent the next hour or so raking the bush in the area for the other open adit and a possible bake house but had no luck finding it so we went back to the 4wd’s to start heading back 
after a quick photo shoot flexing the brick.
Most of the way out I had a funny feeling something wasn’t quite right but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it so we kept on keeping on and then about half hour later I heard this horrible grinding noise coming from the front end right wheel and straight away I was swearing and cursing thinking that for some reason the hub and given way but when I got out I seen my wheel was all cocked up and there were 2 wheel nuts missing. Somehow they had worked their way loose, now I have heard of this happening on Alloys but never steel rims anyway I pinched a nut from the spare wheel checked the threads which where ok done it all up again and we where off again. We made it to the trailer and hitched up and continued on our way out and within 2 minutes the third thing happened, the hitch pin worked its way out and the trailer fell off with the bike on it. Luckily because of the safety chain it didn’t disappear down the embankment and no damage was done to the back of the cruiser. Because this has happened before I always keep a spare so very carefully (thinking something was out to get me) we connected the trailer back up and we where off again. Thinking I was going to die pumping my tyres up I was very cautious but little did I know my luck was about to change for the better whilst I was waiting for my tyres to pump up or blow up I was just kicking the ground and found $2 I thought all my Christmases had come at once and that has hopefully put an end to the bad luck for a while.
Cheers (There will be a number 2)
Brendan & Jacinta
Full Video Here
Thanks to Bradley & Heidi and Michelle & Dirk for another great adventure