Central Highlands Adventure Part 2

The Gemfields

September 5, 2011. It was a monday so we were up early to earn some money. Fossicking in Sapphire starts at 8am! Sapphire is just over 40 km west of Emerald. "The Sapphire Gemfields cover almost 900 square km of one of the world's most significant sapphire-bearing grounds and takes in the delightful townships of Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows."

Having read an article a day ago about a tourist who accidentally found a huge rare sapphire in 2006 which was worth almost 90 grand, we were thrilled so we approached the guide right away as soon as we arrived at the fossicking park. We grabbed a bucket of wash and tried our luck. We could be the next lucky gem seeker!

 

Buckets of wash. Grab one for $20.



 
Now what exactly are we looking for? What is a wash? What do we do?  "Sapphires are found in a layer of gravel refered to as "wash". The depth of the wash layer varies from one area to another, from being right on the surface to as deep as twenty meters or more. Once the topsoil has been removed to expose the layer of wash, you dig out and sieve the wash using a willoughby to make the job much easier. The action of the sieve plunging up and down in the water brings the heavier stones like sapphires and zircons to one spot in the center of the sieve. From there, the stones are easy to find either by flipping the sieve upside down on a sorting table or just working through carefully from one side of the sieve to the other."

"Sapphires formed in a six-sided crystal formation deep in the Earth. It is generally believed that they were spewed out of volcanoes and then cooled tumbling along watercourses. Because of the tumbling effect on the stones, and the flaws in some of the crystals, many of the pieces broke apart. Many pieces can be found showing some of their original sides although on some pieces none of these sides are clearly visible. Rough sapphire generally looks very dark but some light colours, like yellow, can be seen without holding the stone up to the light. Generally, you look for dark pieces of stone that usually have some sparkle as you turn them in your hand."

After 2 buckets and more than 2 hours under the sun we were surprised of what we found. The guide had a look of the pile we got (mostly pet stones) and she was amazed with the good quality stones we found. We have 2 gems cut and polished which cost $25 per carat. Below are photos of the good gems we found.



This is called a star sapphire because it "exhibits a star-like phenomenon
known as asterism" The largest black star sapphire which weighs 733 carats
was discovered in Anakie in the 1930s.  It is named the Black Star Of
Queensland which in 1949 has an estimated value of $1M.




Zircons




Green Sapphire







We have this cut and polished into
 .9 carat green sapphire and 1.5 carat blue sapphire



Central Highlands Adventure Part 1

Blackwater


Our first stop was Blackwater. It is 190 km from Rockhampton; west on the Capricorn Highway. So we did not get that far on our first day. Actually we are to head straight to Emerald but there was a cattle truck road accident so the highway was closed. We changed course and drove 25 km  north to Bedford Weir to camp which is surprisingly a very good site. The view is nice and it has bbq facilities,public toilet, shaded area and you can do fishing, skiing and kayaking. We did not get to do any of these except for bird watching and walking. Not bad for the first day.

camping is free!!!

kookaburra the caretaker

  


Good spot to park? In fact it was but the bus was a bit tilted to the right so we used the leveler and problem solved.

  



Blackwater Powerboat and Ski Club





This would have been a nice spot to camp but its for members only.





The Bus

We should have posted this before we started the journey but we got lazy and we were busy days before the big day. Almost 2 weeks on the road now so no more excuses. Here it is. Allow us to show you around the motorhome which will drive us around Australia.



Winnebago Longreach

 

the interior

dining and lounge

kitchenette

bedroom

ensuite



The delivery man (previous owner) was just in time! 

The bus was delivered in Brisbane on June 29,2011.



hmp ...Is the bus big enough?

Definitely not. So we are bringing the Vitara.



Spare tire (tick); Bullbar (tick); Diet Coke (tick);
Camera (tick); Sunscreen (tick) All set!

 All ready for the start of the Australian exploration. Where we are heading? What we will see? How many flat tires? (so far one after 2 weeks on the road) Who knows!