Fossicking at Rubyvale

Sunday markets at the Sapphire Rugby Club grounds were a little disappointing for the stallholders.  All 10 of them.  However, we enjoyed looking at the assorted jewellery, old books and knick knacks.  The best part was talking to the stallholders. All very friendly and helpful. One couple had come from Mackay for a holiday and ended up buying a claim and staying on. 

We needed a coffee and found one at the Rubyvale Café, but the coffee there was a bit blah.  They had some lovely mosaics. This one was my favourite.

And this one was R's favourite.

Pretty good aren't they?

People from the markets had directed us to Armfest as a good place to do some fossicking, so after our coffee we headed back there to try our luck.  It was great fun. We drove up and it all looked hot and dusty, but we soon got into the swing of things.

We bought a bucket of wash and swished it up and down in the Willoughby.  The blue bins are full of water and the yellow contraption is what they call a Willoughby.

The big stuff stays in the top sieve and the smaller stuff falls through into the bottom sieve.  We tip the top seive upside down onto a mat on the table and go through it to find the gems.  This is the bigger rocks from the first seive.  Mostly just pet rocks!  In the orange lid, you can see some of the actual sapphires we have picked out previously. We found quite a few, but nothing that will make our fortune.

This is the final seive where we find all the small sapphires.

 Here is Judith sorting through the gems at the table, while the men are sitting in the shade for a while. It was extremely hot, but we were well prepared, with sunscreen, hats and long sleeved shirts. 

Here are Judith and Grant's haul of gems being sorted by Carol, the owner of Armfest Sapphires.  She was really helpful and taught us what to look for.  The gems are tipped onto a mirror which helps reflect the sunlight through the gems and makes it easy to see which are good ones and which are pet rocks. Don't you love that term. Pet rocks.  They seem to use it a lot when looking for gems.

We were very hot and thirsty after our fossicking, so headed back to the motel for lunch and a rest.  Later we went for a drive around the town.  It is an amazing place with lots of old machinery just rusting away where it sits.  There has been a lot of mining here over the years and the landscape is dotted with little humps everywhere.  The houses or structures are pretty basic. It seems people don’t have time to look after their properties, as they are too busy looking for the next big find. Do you think this place is closed?

The men were wondering?

We watched the rugby, well Judith and I didn’t have any option as the men were really involved in the game.  We hope the people in the next unit were watching the game as well otherwise they would be wondering at the noise.

Another early night ready for a day on the road.