30th Sept, Sapphire, Heaven and hell

Sod that for a night, it urinated down. Both Lin and me had trouble sleeping. The grease proof paper tent seemed to hold up pretty well. Had the odd leak on the window zips but the gaffer tape repairs and the rest of the tent didn't let us down, so we both crawled out of bed dry.

Its so nice and peaceful here we decide to book in for another three days even though its still overcast. So everything else gets put on the back burner cos theres only a small general store here and the larders starting to look a little bare. Right, its on to the bike and into Emerald to check out the local shops and lighten their shelf's a bit. Its only forty four K's away, so just down the road. Unlike most of the towns out here, Emerald has a shopping centre, now don't get the wrong idea, its not like Lakeside, all this comprises of, is a Cole's supermarket (about a third of the size of a Tesco) and about a dozen other shops all under one roof. I know it don't sound like much, but people come from hundreds of kilometres to get the shopping they cant get at the local store at home, like clothes, electronics's, shoes, well everything really. With the sun trying to break through (the spells wearing off), panniers and topbox loaded with goodies, we bounce along the road back to the campsite at Sapphire.

On the way,we pop in to see if our little gem is ready, low and behold, there it is, all bright and shiny in its little box. The blokes done a great job and the Sapphire comes in at an impressive .67 carats. That's it, my interest in this fossicking lark just picked up and we make plans to have another go tomorrow.

Things seem to have changed a little in the few short hours we've been gone. It seems the site has got a little busier and a lot more noisier. Its a school holiday out here and appears that all the Mums and Dads have thrown their little ankle snappers into the caravan and driven them off to share them with the people who thought the world was a peaceful place. I'm beginning to think one or two of these mini tornado's, may not make it home.

It's funny how this fossicking thing takes you, if you let it. It seems to be the main topic of conversation, where did you try? did you get anything? we've been coming for so long, Bloody hell, the list go's on and on. Some people are really secretive about it and been digging holes all over the place for years. I just hope their looking for gems and not burying body's. All this causes a pain in the neck, no, it really does, because the gems can be found all over the place, yer tend to walk round looking down, no it ain't daft, people really do find them just by knowing what their looking for and yea, I've got a sore neck.

That's it for now, gonna try and make up for the sleep we missed out on last night.

Love you all .................... (Row, no more spells, OK??? or I'll kick yer broomstick)  

Here come the piccies

This is the road into Armfest, its the sapphire mining company where we 'fossicked' our sapphire...

One of the miners camps... yep, you park, set up your camp and move in and that hole is yours...

More camps...

 Someone lives here and is no doubt mining away...

Driving through Sapphire...

These guys along with their cattle mates have rights of way and Land....

Some mining equipment, second hand and all for sale...

More Sapphire....

Our little camp... lol... but no mining...

This is the 'wetlands' at the back of our tent...

Me and sword in the stone...now for the ladies this causes what is called 'LBL', for the men, mind your own business.....and no I did not manage to move it (the sword I mean)...

Now he just grins and bares it !!! did it move... no Exhalibur stayed very strong and stuck... John said he thinks he 'dropped something' during his attempt, but hey ho... Ladies get LBL, and men drop things !!!!!, you work it out....

The fields of wheat as we drive from Emerald to Sapphire...

Some mining....

Can you see the car on its nose... well it has a closed sign on it lol.......

Down through Sapphire...and on the way to Rubyvale to pick up me treasure...

And here is the little Beauty...0.67 of a Carat and worth about $125....very satisfying to find.....its a party sapphire as it has a yellow section, you can just see it in the piccies on the right hand side, this makes it more unusual and a little more valuable...

There we go folks, piccies explained and another exciting day over...

Love to all, OH.....And a Happy birthday yesterday for our Lou.... (love that girl, she does all our PA work, back home, think I will give her a day off soon....)

Byeeeeeeee xxxxx