The Sapphire Hunt

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Hi all,
Well we didn't find the fortune that we had hoped for and didn't even find a stone that was big enough to cut but we had fun trying. We spent a week at Sapphire looking for the elusive stones that we didn't find last time, to no avail. John thinks that we need three strong sons to do the digging for us as it is hard work. We did meet some lovely people and sat around campfires singing and listening to a bush poet and all for free so we can't complain about that. All of the caravan parks were booked out so we stayed in a free camp at the Lions Park and it was lovely. We are finding that the free camps are a lot more social than caravan parks so are hoping to try a lot more of them. On the way home we stayed at Calliope River which was also a free camp and was beautiful. Arrived home yesterday afternoon and will now do some chores and study the maps again to work out the next trip.
Love to all
Maree and John

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Photos

Duiringa
This was a waterfall in the park at an overnight stop on the way to Emerald

Horses in the Camp
These horses were trying to follow me into the camper and were just grazing aroung the camp area

Camel on the Roadside
These camels were grazing on the side of the road on the way to Rubyvale and were very friendly

Digging
This is the hard bit

Sifting
Can't remember the correct term but basically this is sieving the rock and getting rid of the dirt

Washing the rocks
Again not the correct term but getting rid of the mud.

Searching
This is the stage that you will find your fortune or NOT

Bottlo
This bottle shop was in the middle of nowhere but was on the Tropic of Capricorn so of course I had to buy a bottle from there

Bottle Tree
A bottle tree on the road near Blackwater whichis a coal mining area.

Calliope
This was the free camp that we stayed at on the way home. A very nice spot.

Comments

[anne & John]

the sapphire hunt
Hi Maree and John, we too had trouble finding anything though we did find a couple of very small green and party type sapphires. We found the Retreat river a wonderful place to fossick for unusual stones and fossils. We stayed at the Bedford caravan park.. If you get a caravan spot around the back of the manager's house you will see potaroo's at night feeding from the bird seed left by the many parrots etc that are fed during the day. we've been to the sapphire annakie and rubyvale area twice now. there are also markets selling produce as well as various finds from the gem fields. There are some really amazing people living in this part of the world. we camp in a quite basic 1980's viscount caravan which has bed table and sink, we put an ordinary bar fridge, which we bought in Emerald on our second trip. ( the first trip we did with a cavalier camper which was a lot of fun). If we don't have power at a site, we just use the ice cooler, and all our cooking is done outside. we have affectionately called our caravan 'tigger" after our late ginger cat who was a one of a kind terror. Next fossicking trip will probably see us in the Glen Innes area,We are from the A.C.T and will also try the Grabben Gullen area where, especially back in the 60's 70's area it was a very popular area for finding green and blue sapphires as well as rubies. (anne) I can remember many a time just sitting in the river with tweezers and a pan and just digging in the sand of the creek. Unfortunately the creek looks very different to how l remember it as a child. Where ever we go whether its Cooktown to Mount Garnet or Mount Surprise, we have been met with warm hospitality (except the time we had shots fired over our head ( can't remember the place except it was somewhere 20 ks or so from the Rubyvale area , I can laugh about it now) We'd love to go back to the Retreat river and have a dig there again. and one thing ... never never forget to take at least 2 large containers of water at all times as it can get mighty hot out there even in july/ august. signing off for now anne and john