Fossicking

 02/07/2012
  What a nice neat and tidy campsite Koumala is just a shame it’s so far from anywhere and no walks. We weren’t sorry to get away from the race track they call the Bruce Highway. The speed of the traffic and the condition of the roads makes it a death trap. So, after a bit of swearing we finally cut inland, swearing at the diversions in Sarina  which gave us a wrong footed   tour of the local hospital and a housing estate. We have left sugar country , gone through cattle country and are now camped by Bundoora Dam in coal mining country. It’s a most unlikely spot and was difficult to find as there are no signs off the main road. Once we found the dirt track that leads off the road, we followed it until it opened out onto an enormous picnic area beside the lake. It’s obviously well hidden as there are only four other vans here for the night. A nice spot, clean amenities and it’s free!!

 03/07/2012
   The temperature at night drops like a stone and last night by the lake it was very cold. Without mains electric we haven’t any heating , and it’s not going to get any warmer the further we go inland. We will be getting away from the mines , though they are not an eyesore being mostly well off the beaten track. The big problem is the mine transport that hurtles along these poor Queensland roads at ridiculous speeds . If it’s not pulling three wagons full of spoil or minerals, then it’s transporting huge machinery, earth moving equipment. One smaller vehicle passed me today going, I would guess 110 kph, carrying a sign on the trailer saying “Danger Explosives” Going that fast it would never stop in an emergency
 So hopefully we are moving away from the coal and mineral fields and into the more genteel pursuits of precious stone fossicking. We stopped in Emerald for lunch and phoned ahead for a campsite at Rubyvale, but all the camps were full, as is the town of Sapphire. Bloody school holidays innit! We have ended up at a bit of a rough van park at Anakie, where happy campers spend their winter months away from the cold south……..digging. We didn’t join in but did feed the dozens of rainbow lorikeets and apostle birds that live there.

 04/ 07 /2012
  Anakie was alright for one night,  we did have limited internet service  and the bird life was pretty spectacular We moved up the road to look at Rubyvale and Sapphire as we were curious about this fossicking lark. It seems people travel from all over the place to spend a week, a month or even longer grubbing about in the dirt looking for gems. Most of the two towns comprise of people who have staked a claim to a small plot of land, built a shed on it or parked a caravan then spend all their lives mining or fossicking. For the tourist you get the privilege  of buying a bucket of mud and rubble for $8 to $10 from the landowner then set about looking through it for rubies, emeralds or sapphires.
 First you take your bucket of rubble and put some of it in a sieve, then dunk it in a tub of water several times until all the fine sand and  soil is washed through Then you tip the clean stones onto some sacking and ferret through it all with a pair of tweezers . When you find a likely looking stone you hold it up to the sunlight and if you can see light through it…….Bingo    you have a gem. These gems are usually the size of a matchstick head or smaller. Then you do it all over again until your bucket of rubble is all gone. The difference between a serious  and an amateur fossicker is that the professional digs (mines) his own rubble. Honest, you couldn’t make it up! Once you have fossicked about a kilo of precious stones you get to take the rest of the  week off and you can go to the pub or buy food!   We went away scratching our heads.
   Carrying on out west the traffic is beginning to thin out. We have left the mine traffic behind, though there are road trains hurtling along. We have found a site near the town of Jericho, at the local showground. Used once or twice a year it has power, hot showers  and it’s free which is unusual…….free electric.