Emerald Qld July 14, 2024

 Emerald Qld July 14, 2024

Good run across to Jericho, but then you approach the Great Dividing Range and it turns a bit ugly. The road is winding as it climbs to some 500 metres and the narrow road surface is best described as “rough”. Not pot-holes as such but bumpy and jolting. Turned a dream run into a very long day in the saddle.

We have decided to stay in Emerald itself this year and take a run out to Rubyvale tomorrow, rather than camp out there again.

Sky's on fire. Emerald Qld

Well, its tomorrow and we set of at a leisurely 10 am or so and wandered out to Rubyvale, via the Snake crossroads and Sapphire. Nothing much seems to have changed in town since we were here last year, except the Miners Cottage fossicking place has changed hands. First thing the did is double the price of the buckets of wash, and halve the number of fossickers. Or so it seemed to me. Still, they do give you scones with jam and cream and a nice cup of tea for ‘smoko’, so it’s not all bad. The $30 bucket of was wasn’t very productive for potential emeralds, and at that price, we weren’t backing up for a second one. The wash itself just looked like a bucket of course river sand and stones. basically rubbish, I reckon. The thing is, they now have a “Premium Bag” at an eye-watering $100 a go. So that tells me that despite their claim that the wash hasn’t been gone through already, they have done some sort of sorting to come up with the basic bag and the premium bag. We for one, doubt that we will go back. You’d be just as well off at Bobby Dazzlers or Heritage Mine. Good job that it’s just a bit of fun.

JB head down and eyes wide open for that pop of colour. Miners Cottage, Rubyvale Qld

Ooh, aah. Could be a winner. Miners Cottage, Rubyvale Qld

 Miners Cottage, Rubyvale Qld

Had a great wagyu beef burger in the pub though, so that's all good.

It's hard to imagine, but they grow cotton out here. I thought it needed lots of flood irrigation and as far as I can see, there isn't much water around. But here's the proof...

Them ol' cotton fields out west. Emerald Qld

Not much else to see or do so we came back to town, bought some groceries, filled up the car at $1.95 a litre and retired to the van.