Gem Fossicking was our last planned central Queensland adventure so we drove to Sapphire before Emerald today.

We stopped at armfest to fossick for sapphires and it didn’t disappoint. The property charges $25 per bucket to fossick through their machinery dug wash. We learnt about how the stones are so heavy- the process of fossicking is basically shaking the wash in a sieve to sink the sapphires to the bottom. Then you flip the sieve (Craig’s Job!) and the sapphires are staring at you. You start with the bigger rocks and the smaller ones fall through to a second sieve which we then shook and flipped.

The kids both took turns in all the jobs and enjoyed most of the process but gave up looking for stones pretty quickly because the machinery was more fun. That suited me as I was happy to sit and sift through the stones to find something I can have made into jewellery. After you find your stones the owner goes through the stones and grades them for you- sorting into “show and tell” for the kids (no monetary value); star caps (these have a metallic side and don’t look great as jewellery but are valuable) and gems to have cut (worth something). I have a 20crt sapphire to get cut and it looks fairly average but is heavy. We’ve got a few star caps and a bag full of little gems to have cut. 

This one hour of our morning really completed our tour of “how people make money in the outback”. 

We arrived in Blackwater by 4pm after passing through lots of small towns with very little to offer. Emerald was a welcome sight as we were able to go to coles!! Once we were in Blackwater we checked out the Coal Centre and saw models of machinery and toured their Japanese Garden. The garden was pretty minimal (is this a Japanese thing?) but my expectations were high after seeing the Toowoomba Japanese Gardens!

We drove around to find a spot to camp and after going out to the Bedford weir we put the legs down on the van and made our home for the night. This free camp spot has beautiful scenery, campfires and a lovely dam to look at. The kids took their bikes to check out the scenery and Craig and I walked.

We made choc chip cookies on the Weber and then pizza before sitting around the campfire.

It really was a lovely way to finish our tour of the central and west Queensland as we head to the coast tomorrow.