Rubyvale Qld 24 July 2019
Rubyvale is 60km west of Emerald, in the heart of the gem fields, and just as there are no Emeralds in Emerald, there are no Rubies in Rubyvale. There are Sapphires in Sapphire, 6km back down the road and possibly anarchy in Anakie, which is where the turn off is on the main road. But for now we have come to Rubyvale for a few days, hearts set on finding a big chunk of sapphire. That's the plan anyhow.
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Heart of the 'throbbing cattle country' as it was described in days past.
Rubyvale Qld |
Today we went on a tour of a walk-in mine, right around the corner and very interesting it was too. Now we know where the gems come from, how they were made and how to find them. We would have stayed and run a bucket of 'wash', which is the gravelly stuff in which the stones are found, across the table, but the 130 school children pretty much took up the entire area. Travelling back into town we thought we'd try our hand with a bag-o-wash at the Bobby Dazzler cafe and mine, but as it was past 3pm they had closed up for the day. For $20-25 you can buy a bag-o-wash and use the purveyors facilities to wash and sift through the stuff, and you get to keep any gems you find. You then go away, maybe happy, possibly not.
Not to be put off, we went looking for coffee instead and found a bonus 'gem': authentic Austrian apple strudel and a decent mug of coffee. Yum!
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| Rubyvale Qld |
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Poor old Jack, stuck down the Miners heritage mine for 50 plus years
Rubyvale Old |
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| Miners Heritage Walkin Mine, Rubyvale Qld |
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| Bobby Dazzlers. Rubyvale Qld |
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| Bingo! A gem at last. Strudel Hut, Rubyvale Qld |
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