Going to the annual St Bathans Fete is a no brainer. Tucked away in the hills, St Bathans is an old gold mining town with it's own lake filled from a big gold digging hole. The local rock is limestone and lately archaeologists have found prehistoric remains of crocdiles. Amaze balls! Who would have thought such animals lived in Aotearoa. The old St Bathans village oozes human past lives. I've swum and camped here and the energy draws me back, ghosts of old miners and their families. The climate made St Bathans a hard place to live but photos attest to the human spirit of these fortune hunters. They brought their families, formed a community and got on with life. In the cemetery I find the family plot of a former boyfriend, O'Hallarahan; part of a strong Irish presence. Just down the road in the Cambrian, the Welsh formed a community and dug for gold. The school house displays pictures of a thriving community into the 1950's. Today, a few houses wait keep the flame burning. Turanga waewae.
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