As we traveled east along the Capricorn Highway we came to some signs to Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows Gemfields. This little area of Australia is known for it's sapphires and in some areas you can go fossicking.
The Willows was a tiny little town with a hall and RFS and a caravan park, so we stopped in at the caravan park to ask what the go was with fossicking.
I think most tourists give The Willows a miss and head for Sapphire or Rubyvale. The owners of the caravan park were very excited we'd come with kids to look for sapphires. The tattooed couple got out a map to show us where to look and showed us what to look for, pretty much black glass pebbles.
Out past the rubbish tip, on the road into town you could drive into some land, covered with dry gum forest, and dig. Old school, shovel and pick. There were small mounds of rock next to holes but less than a metre deep. If a hole had an upturned bucket in it you weren't allowed to dig there. This hole was reserved for 48 hrs.
There was an old man digging not far off so we went and asked him if he'd found anything. He hadn't from this hole, or so he said, but he showed us how you dig under the layer of ash and pebbles, then sift it and see what you find. He also showed us how he used his divining rods to see where it dig, interesting...
S and I did not have a pick or shovel or sive but we looked around on the surface for a bit. We didn't find anything.
As we'd come down the road to The Willows we decided to continue along this minor road to come out at Springsure and miss Emerald altogether. There was a stretch of dirt but a nice country drive.
We made it into Carnarvon Gorge later than that afternoon.
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