We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am
Last Saturday the rain meant a walk in the forest was a reasonable choice, saving the days with better weather for the hikes with wonderful viewpoints. First the short drive to the gravel pit turnoff just north of Gillies Bay and then a short way along to park at the sharp corner. Walking past the new iron gate at the entrance to the gravel pit then on to the old horse riding area and along the pleasant old logging road for a while then keeping right at the next road junction onto the long old road that eventually reaches the High Road. But this time not that far as we took the less well used side road to the old Cap Sheaf mine. It was rather wet pushing our way along the last part of the road that has become rather overgrown now. We finally found our way to the welcome opening in the forest and the old mine shaft and waste dumps. After the hike a quick Google search came up with the facts that the shaft had been sunk before 1900 by the Cap Sheaf Gold Mining Co. and had reached a depth of 90ft.
The photo [thanks Tom] shows the top of the shaft with some of the original timbers still visible in the dry section above the water level about 20ft below the surface.
JD.
The top of the 90ft deep Cap Sheaf mine shaft now well over 100 years old. Water fills it to about 25 ft below the surface.
