My thoughts were definitely on the fat orange lasagne-scoffing cat when I spotted a sign for the Garfield Water-wheel!Nick turned around and we headed along a dirt road, not sure where we'd end up - or what connection there was between the cartoon cat and turning water.
As it happened, the site wasn't far from the turn-off and (not surprisingly) had nothing to do with Garfield the Cat!
We were super impressed by the remains of the wheel - which had been known as the largest of it's kind in the Southern hemi-sphere, back in 1887.
You can read about it, here and here.
There was an information board at the site, which detailed the history of the wheel and the mine.
"Water from the Expedition Pass reservoir passed along a race and, for the final 240 metres, along a sapling supported flume to the top edge of the wheel. After falling to the bottom of the wheel, the water continued down the hill to power the quartz-crushing battery of the nearby Manchester mine."
It was neat to see the old photos and try to imagine the wheel as it had been. We were all happy exploring for some time. As impromptu detours go, this one was well worth making - even if Garfield didn't make an appearance!
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