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.

Rubyvale Qld 25 July 2019

Rubyvale Qld 25 July 2019

Today we join the ranks of the fossickers and miners, all chasing that elusive bit of colour. We decided to go on a tag-along tour, mostly because they know where to go and what to do, and they have all the equipment. We went with Fascinations Tours, organised through the Fascination Gems shop in Rubyvale. So at 830am we met the tour guide and the rest of the hopefuls at Anakie, back out on the highway.

Meeting fellow fossickers, Anakie Qld
Note Treasure map behind!

 Maybe half-a-dozen vehicles followed Keith out and onto the Capricorn Highway for 20 km, then down a side road for 11 kilometres to The Willows Fossicking Grounds

Road down to The Willows Gemfields, Qld

And then another turn down the side of a side road to the 'diggins'.

Track into the actual diggings. Willows, Qld

Once on-site Kieth gave us a very thorough run-through of the basics: dig, tumble, wash, examine. Repeat till exhausted. The theory is that we are standing on the site of a 'flow' of gemstone from a prehistoric outpouring of some long dead volcano. The stuff is supposed to have gushed out and flowed down the countryside where it cooled and crystals formed. A zillion years later, this flow has been covered by anything from nothing to an unknown depth of dirt and rock as at the surface of our planet changed. I'm thinking 'ancient mountains whittled down', I guess the rock and dirt had to go somewhere.  Anyhow, this area is kept especially for surface pickers like us, as the 'wash', as that thin layer of gravel like stuff is called, is 'close' to the surface.

OK, so here's what the ground looks like:

The Willows Gemfields Qld

Well that's what it looks like after its been dug over by the passing parade of pickers, but still, you take your pick and shovel and bucket and go and find a spot, as if you know what you are looking for. Then you dig dig dig like Judy, and shovel the detritus into the buckets like Brian. (my back suggests that it may have been the other way around!)

Can she dig it? Willows Gemfields Qld

Yes she can! Willows Gemfields Qld

And maybe a bit from here. Willows Gemfields Qld

Sixteen tonnes and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in  debt.
Willows Gemfields Qld

Scrape, scoop, shovel. Willows Gemfields Qld

Willows Gemfields Qld

You then clamber over the spoils left behind by everyone else to the Trammel, which is a device used to seperate the dirt from the rock, the big rocks from the fines. Your pour your bucket of wash into the Shute on one end, turn the handle on the other, and watch as the smaller stuff comes away and is collected in another bucket. But, keep an eye on those big ones fall out the end, you just never know when a giant crystal will fall out.

A trammel, or cylindrical sieve. Willows Gemfields Qld

One then takes one's bucket of fines to the wet sieves, or Willoughbys, as they are known. You stack the two sieves on top of un upturned bucket, fine one on the bottom, and pour in some of your dirt. You place the sieves in the Willoughby and jiggle it up and down for a minute or so, with the sieves under the water. This, in theory, washes away the last of the dirt and allows the smaller stones to fall into the bottom sieve. Anything that goes right through is rubbish. You take the top, course, sieve to the hessian bag 'table and up end it. In theory (there's lots of them out here) the gems will have fallen to the centre and be on the bottom of the sieve, which is now your pile of stones. ready to be picked up. 

Judy washing her wash. Willows Gemfields Qld

Into the Whilloughby they go! Willows Gemfields Qld 

Pump it up and down, give it a good wash. Willows Gemfields Qld

Onto the tables for inspection. Willows Gemfields Qld

Picking through the course stuff, you never know what you might find. Willows Gemfields Qld

 

When you're done with the course sieves and your bucket is empty, you repeat the process with the fine sieve, and if you are lucky, you will find some colour!

And back you go tomorrow for more! Well, maybe next time, I need to get a lot fitter first, all that digging and sieving and stuff is hard work.