When is a pond not a pond?

Sunday 7th. Our last exploration in this area was down to Roxburgh, due south from Alexandra. 

The drive there followed the River Clutha most of the way. The road twisted and turned and went up and down like a roller coaster. 

On arrival at Roxburgh we filled up with petrol and I took the opportunity to ask the garage owner what there was to see in Roxburgh. He answered: 'Not a lot'! But we did talk about a river walk and a good lookout point. 

We parked up and saw that there was an information office and that it was open. In we went with the same question - and got the same answer: 'Not a lot'! Again we talked about the river walk and a place called Pinder's Pond. We asked what was special about Roxburgh, and, guess what, it used to be an old mining town! Another one! 

We followed the river walk and it was quite beautiful. We saw several finches which were either gold or green and a fantail that came close but was too far away to photograph. 

Plenty of old Fords around over here. 

The walk was circular so we came back out onto the Main Street where we found a cafe for some well earned refreshments and a bag of chips. 

After that we drove out to Pinder's Pond, not exactly a pond but the remains of a hole dug by a gold miner 'Big' John Ewing. He wanted to dig down at this bend on the river to reach the old river bed where he believed there would be alluvial gold. 

Unfortunately, no such luck. So, really the pond created should have been Ewing's Pond but people called Pinder bought the land and the name stuck. 

When we got back home, Gilly made lasagna which, with a bottle of wine that we bought in Roxburgh, we polished off outdoors in the evening sunshine. After that Gilly sang several of her songs - she's a professional blues singer who has performed all over the world. A truly magical evening - or, as they say over here - awesome!