Chester Mine Underground

Although the main objective of this trip was to finish off our adventure in and around the Chester area Jacinta and I decided to make the weekend of it and stay down in Tullah and check out a few other areas.  Now once again the weather man threatened us with abuse of storms gale winds rain and snow but once again he was full of S**t haha.  So after getting down there on Friday we where lucky enough to wake up early on Saturday morning in a house whose backyard is basically Lake Roseberry.     (Yes my new camera has finally arrived all but 1 lens anyway.) So after taking in the beautiful morning views we where off to explore the area.  The first place we wanted to go was Silver Falls on Ross Creek but at the time it was drizzly and didn’t really want to get on the bike and get soaking wet first thing in the morning so we kept driving on to the next one in the hope the showers would pass and they did.  So we walked through hell literally ( Thick Sword Grass ) and down a horribly steep bank to find the rather scenic John Lynch Creek Falls.  This was the first waterfall on the new camera and as you can see I need some practice. Now unfortunately when we where down there taking in the views the rain decided to come back and saturate us so it was a rather rushed trip back to the cruiser and of course Jacinta managed to fall over some air and cut her hand up.

After changing into some dry cloths we continued on further down the road checking out some forestry tracks and then came across some pink ribbons.  Now I always say it amazing what you find out in the bush in Tassie and this was no exception.

After following  the markers and crossing  a creek we came across a make shift walkway

It felt like we where kids on an Easter hunt following the pink ribbons and seeing all this man-made stuff and coming across strange-looking vehicles.

After walking uphill for way to long and listening to Jacinta sook all the way we came across this.

There was about 10 others like it exactly the same.

Also there was a great looking Hut/Kitchen.

Toilet and washroom.

Turns out it is part of the ‘Tarkine’ eco tourist thing that Bob Brown has his mitts all over It cost about $1800 for 3 nights which includes walks food etc. I’ll do it for 800 haha.

After checking out the camp and area including one of the biggest Burl I have ever seen  we made our way back to the cruiser and had some lunch and I noticed a bush that I absolutely hate as it is just one giant pickle but it was rather colourful as it was in flower.

So after having a feed and avoiding getting jabbed by the bastard bush we thought we would jump on the ‘Slug’ and go and check out another waterfall in the area.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get anywhere near it as the tracks that are around it where  to overgrown for the ‘slug’ and even walking but in our travels we did come across an adit that was full of water.   

After giving up hope of getting to the falls we decided to head back to Tullah and I had a play with the camera and drone over Lake Rosebery.

Tullah Village

Late afternoon Sun.

The next day we where up early again to go and see if we could find the underground part of Chester Mine.  ( Chester Mine started well over 100 years ago and consists of an open-pit and underground mining.  The main commodity was pyrite (Fools Gold) which was used in smelters in Queenstown to lower the boiling point of other minerals.  Also at the bottom of the Chester mine is the old township called Chester.)

Chester Mine from Tullah.

So we caught up with Bradley, Heidi, Dirk, Michelle, Darrell, Teena and Randell (our mining guru) unloaded the ‘Slug’ and the Zook’s and we where off.  The track in was a good little challenge and rather overgrown and Bradley came close to tipping the Zook in the first 5m.  After getting to the end we where back to walking again as fallen tee-tree just about every 10m for 100’s of meters had blocked the track.  So after pushing through leech infested bush for half hour of so we finally came across the Chester Adit.

Unfortunately it was completely flooded and unless we where willing to wade waist deep in freezing water we weren’t going in.  With the visible ruins around the area though our disappointment was soon forgotten and it was everywhere.  There was a lot of infrastructure here back in the day. We believe this may have been the old Blacksmiths workshop.

Old tramway that we think might have gone back to Tullah.

Massive gear that might have been part of a winch for the tram-line or shaft somewhere.

Some Random yellow fungi in amongst the ruins.

What we think may have been the site for the Boiler.

In the left of the picture we think this might have been some type of tipper and in the centre could have been the stack for the boiler???.

So after been wowed by the history in the area we headed back out to the road loaded the toys up and went and checked out the next mine that the tour guide had planned for us and this one was a ripper. It was the Mt Farrell Mine which back in the day was a pretty big operation old photo’s of this can be seen in the Tullah café and it was pretty impressive for the day and age. The first thing we seen in the adit was minerals forming pure white stalactites.

Then not much further up you come to a ‘T’ Intersection and come across a shoot in the wall.

Back when the mine was in use this would have a cart parked under it and would be the collection point for the mined Lead/Silver above.

Not much further up we came across this. This is a personal access shoot to the levels further up in the mine, at the top of the photo you can see the bottom of the ladder.

It’s a bit hard to tell from the photo but this gives a good example of the levels in the mine.  Before it collapsed I’m guessing this may have been another access point to further up or down the mine.

The Lower levels were filled with crystal clear no doubt poisonous water.  Also in the mine we came across a waterfall.  It’s not every day you see one of these underground.

Hope you all enjoyed

Cheers

Brendan & Jacinta

Full Video here: https://youtu.be/15tpL9x3GHk

Thanks to Bradley & Heidi Horton, Dirk & Michelle Schumann, Randle Chalk and Darrell & Teena Horton.