She mined in the Collingwood area and then, after a long overland trek to the West Coast, in the vicinity of the Buller River.
Gold prospecting involved scooping up, cradling and panning sands from river and stream beds.
On the other hand, a poem entitled 'Biddy of the Buller', by the popular West Coast poet Hugh Smith, who moved from Ahaura to Reefton the year before Bridget Goodwin died, gives the name of her male companion as 'Jack'.
During her Reefton residence, Bridget Goodwin was an Anglican and received regular visits from fellow parishioners, whom she entertained with stories of her early life.
Yet her reputation for hard work under conditions of enormous hardship, for hospitality, for loyalty to her companions, and, strangely enough, for cleanliness, seems to have won her the affection and respect of contemporaries.