Clermont Qld July 17th 2023

Clermont Qld July 17th 2023

Feeling lucky, we went up to Sapphire to Pats wash-n-wish and ran a bag of their wash through the process. This time it was a different technique, only the one fine sieve and no Willoughby to wash with. And just shake the dust onto the ground. Washing was done in a trough by hand and worked just fine, there not being a lot of mud on the stones, but at least some.

And you get to sit down at the sorting table and take your time making sure you picked up every little bit of coloured stone. Well not all the coloured stone,. most is rubbish, just as well Judy has a good eye for this and quickly filled the jar-lid with her treasure.

Judy at Pats, Sapphire Qld

The people here are new since last time and very friendly, however, the expert was a bit off-hand about Judy's gems, not declaring any as "cutters".

Even though it was a very pleasant spot to sit and drink coffee and chat with the locals and their dog, we had already made our minds up for a change of plan.

We had decided to leave Rubyvale a day early and move up to Clermont, which is 120km north. It's not much but brings the next day's run down from 490 to a more manageable 370. Actually we ended up taking this nice quiet drive up a narrow, winding hilly backroad, but one with great views of the volcanic plugs and the fertile plains. The backroad is 35km shorter than the main Gregory Highway, but probably takes just as long as its 85-90kph touring, the road being quite narrow and no marked lines. 

The surprises keep coming. On arrival in Clermont CV, we are summarily told to go straight back out again and take ourselves down to the overflow parking area, which is ok for one night but a bit off-putting nonetheless. The site allocated is quite steep for a van park, I had to take extraordinary measures to get the van unhitched, then even more extremes to jack it way up high to get it level. The back is so low I couldn’t use the legs and had to resort to our small bottle jack. A first for us, but not a bad spot once we settled in.

Angle parking, Clermont Qld. OK so the van is level, see how far the car drops down!

We had lunch down by Hood’s Lagoon, one of those little gems one finds in remote towns from time to time. It’s a man made lagoon, complete with a bridge, boardwalks and three fountains. 

 

Forest Kingfisher sitting on a safety fence. Clermont Qld

Hoods Lagoon, Clermont Qld

Rubyvale Qld July 16 2023

 Rubyvale Qld July 16 2023

A quiet day on the gemfields. Actually it is very quiet out here this year, lots of vacancies in the various caravan parks. Odd.

With the Miner's Cottage closed we had to look further afield for our bag of "wash" to play with and find our fortune.

So up to Sapphire we went, about 5km back toward Emerald from Rubyvale. First though - The Markets. There is always a market somewhere, and here of course they are predominantly about sapphires and other shiny things that are appealing to the eye. Not that you would buy anything from a market, certainly not gemstones, as there are so many sharks out there. 

Markets. Sapphire Qld

I found two great gems though: Passionfruit butter and ANZAC biscuits cooked just right! Yum

Passionfruit butter and Anzac bikkies! Sapphire Qld

We followed a Tourist Trail that went all of half a kilometre to yet-another-fossicking place where they sell bags of wash and provide facilities for doing just that with your rocks.

Back at the Miner's Hut, the stones are in a bucket and covered in clay and mud and have obviously just come out of the ground. Here though, they are in a small bag and look for all the world like the rubbish we throw out at the Miners Cottage. Nice clean stones, they don't even need to be washed you could just dump them on the table and start looking.

Looking through a bag of wash. Armfield, Sapphire Qld

Judy is happy though, she collected a few more bits and pieces of colour to add to our growing collection.

Didn't do much else, wandered around a bit looking at the scenery and sites, 

Ended the day at the Strudel Hut for the obligatory coffee and strudel, which was as nice as always. The man who runs it spoiled the whole effect by coming over to our table with a parrot on his shoulder. Judy, who has ornithophobia, was not a happy camper, and the little man was quite agitated that we didn't fall in love with his Eclectus Parrot. Oh well, this stuff happens.

End of day, I had a nice glass of Prosecco brought from home

Wine tasting. Rubyvale Qld