Gold digging in Australia's Sovereign Hill

At Sovereign Hill in Australia, travel back in time to an event that sparked pandemonium in the 1850s - the gold rush. I stepped out beyond the automatic glass doors and felt instantly dislocated in time. It's wasn't nearly as dramatic as a falling sensation, or coming to a skidding halt smack in the middle of the civil war. But it was time-travel nonetheless. This is Sovereign Hill. An open air museum built on the site of one of the richest gold rushes in the world - Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. And it's always the 1850s here because on these sprawling 25 hectares is where the drama and excitement of the Gold Rush is recreated day in and day out for visitors to experience. Dress the part One minute I was holding on to an entrance ticket to Sovereign Hill, complete with a barcode, freshly machine-minted in 2012, and the next, I found myself on gravel roads lined with ornate horsedrawn carriages. I was surrounded by women dressed in voluminous taffeta gowns, complete with corsets and hats to match; men greeting me with a slight tilt of the hat and a 'howdy'. I looked down at my sceptically jeans and flashy Ed Hardy tee. Almost on cue, I spotted the Red Hill photo room. The photographer standing at the entrance read my mind and asked, "Want to dress the part?" He then lead me to a room where several outfits were on offer - I could dress like a gypsy, a lady or even the other-lady'. I opted for the Bohemian gypsy look, holding a tambourine in my hand. Standing against a painted background, I had a sepia-toned picture clicked with an archaic camera. Posing for just a few seconds in a Victorian avatar made me wonder how the lives of the women played out then, given the historic backdrop - did women play a part in the gold rush? Or was it only the men who panned for gold? Gold(en) girls Turns out, one woman did play a very important role in the Australian Gold Rush -Margaret Kennedy who discovered the Bendigo gold fields in Victoria in 1851. She and a friend panned the first pieces of gold from the creek using a bread-making pan. Word spread and within months thousands of people showed up, hoping to get their hands on the glistening metal. Gold in Ballarat, on the other hand, was discovered by two men - John Dunlop and James Regan. But despite the fact that women didn't discover the metal here, they still gained fame (and notoriety) in Sovereign Hill. For instance, the miners, mostly men, came from distant lands, and they needed something to keep them entertained. That's when the raunchy Lola Montes stepped in, a legend on these goldfields who won and trampled over many hearts with her erotic numbers in The Victoria Theatre, a replica of which still stands at Sovereign Hill. While not many women were miners back then, as the town grew, many women worked successful businesses - the confectionery factory where traditional boiled sweets lured me in; the sweet shop with its enticing horse-head lollipops; the jewellery store where Victorian styles clocks sound the hour; the grocery with its local jams and honey. Having sampled the local delicacies from another era, I was ready for some action at the underground mining tours. Going under I decided to be brave and opted for a self-guided tour of the recreated Red Hill Mine. I didn't expect it to be much of a physical challenge. But as I went down flight upon flight of steps, the lights got dimmer. Suddenly I found myself in a winding, narrow tunnel. The dampness in the air, the almostunlit corridors, coupled with prerecorded sounds of axe hitting against added to the authenticity of the experience. The gravelled, uneven ground had me watching my step, in the darkness, and the low roof had me stooping. As I reached the end of the mine, a hologram of a mine-worker suddenly cropped up, and in a very melodramatic fashion played out the scene of the discovery of the Welcome Nugget - the second largest gold nugget in the world, weighing a whooping 71.3 kilograms. Greed is good While it may not be possible to get your hands on the Welcome Nugget at Sovereign Hill, you can still hold on to solid gold worth 80,000 AUD at the Gold Pour. Here, I watched as molten gold was poured piping hot and moulded into an ingot. Later, I held the oversized and overprized biscuit in my hand and I knew in an instant exactly what lured thousands of people to this little town in the 19th century - pure greed. Be a gold digger This was my favourite part - finding gold! Armed with a gold-pan, I sat by the edge of the Red Hill Gully creek and sifted through sandy waters. Half an hour later, I spotted a few glistening specks. And since finders are keepers at Sovereign Hill, I headed home with several tiny bits of the precious metal, the perfect memento from my trip to the land Down Under. Fact file Getting there: Sovereign Hill is just a 90-minute road-trip from Melbourne city. You could fly Mumbai to Melbourne on Qantas, with a stop-over in Singapore Best time to visit: Melbourne can experience all four seasons in a day. That said, your best bet is autumn, from March to May.