Not Barth-hirst it’s pronounced Bath-urst, think bat add the ‘h’ and urst on the end.

Bathurst, the next stop on the road is the oldest inland settlement in Australia and has around 35,000 people living in it.

Bathurst was established in 1814 and was site of the first gold discovery and where the first gold rush occurred in Australia.

In the early years of settlement, Bathurst was a base for explorers headed inland.

In 1823, flecks of gold were found in Fish River and later ‘payable’ gold was found in 1851 at Ophir and Hill End.

Here’s some trivia for you on the gold mining front!! Hill End’s claim to fame is the Holtermann Specimen (correctly the Beyers Holtermann Specimen) found on 20th of October 1871, it is the largest single mass of gold ever discovered in the world and still retains that record today.

Bernhardt Holtermann and the gold Specimen.

BUT! We are driving and almost anybody knows (especially in motor racing) that Bathurst is home to Mount Panorama, hosting the Bathurst 1000 and Bathurst 12 Hour motor races!

The track is 4 miles/ 6.213km in length, is technically a street circuit and is actually a public road.

Historically the circuit saw motorcycles and open wheel car races but times have changed, safety restrictions tighter and now only closed-bodied cars can be raced on the track.

In 1992, Jack was a driver in the Under 2litre Sports Sedans and has raced on this very track!! (I’ll post a picture of his car later)

So of course – as one does – and now we have a manual car – he had to drive the track, ride the curbing, touch the wall (I exaggerate here), and give a running commentary on gear change, speed and who overtook him where! 😂😂🏎🏆

Mount Panorama offers a great experience and spectacular view, and maybe just the occasional wallaby sitting in the paddock.

On to Mean Mongrel Matt and Sassy’s for a visit.

Start your engines, open the throttle and let ‘er rip!!

Kat xo