Day 54: Fri 18 Aug 23 - Rubyvale

Fri 18 Aug 23 - Rubyvale

Weather: A very mild 18 feeling like 14 Deg with 20km/hr winds this morning reaching 32 Deg, reaming clear and sunny with no wind all day.     

Rubyvale - The changing colours of the morning sky from the Caravan Park

We woke again this morning to the smell of damp smoke which is very unpleasant, but we can't tell where it's coming from, although it doesn't last long. There is also a lot of pollen and dust in the air, which is giving our sinuses a good workout.  After climbing out of bed, a little earlier than usual today (5.30am), I had a very enjoyable walk around the township reading some of the tourist information boards with changing colours in the morning sky. We had originally planned to stay for 3 nights in Rubyvale, but we were keen to do the Lady Luck Fossicking Tour. As we couldn't get a place with the Wednesday tour, we were able to book for today, so we stayed an extra night, and we were so pleased with our decision. We both thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

The Lady Luck Fossicking Tour is owned and operated by Pamela, who is occasionally assisted by her partner Dave, the local paramedic, when he’s not on duty. Normally Pamela would have run the tour today, but she badly cut her hand on Wednesday and needed stitches, so Dave took us today. We all met at Sapphire at 8am, then drove in convoy with others to the Graves Hill Fossicking Area, about 10km from Sapphire. Here we were handed our fossicking essentials of pick, shovel, sieves, buckets and sieve stands.  Dave then led us into the field and guided us through the process of identifying where and what to dig, then dry sieving and which rocks to remove from our wash to take back to town to wet wash and pick out our sapphires. At $75 / person including morning tea, it was a great experience and very informative. Dave is a British expat, and a very intelligent and witty guy, who can also tell a great story. He told us two great stories about local identities like the guy who found a 6-7 dollar figure Star Sapphire and kept it in his pocket, but lost it somewhere when it wore a hole through his pocket. He searched for the next 50 years while living locally, and believe it or not, eventually found it. However, he eventually became seriously ill, and as he was about to die, he went out one day (or night) and disposed of the valuable stone somewhere in the gemfields, yet to be found, so that someone else could experience the thrill of finding it.  Dave has a theory that it’s sitting at the bottom of a local dam.  Another great story was that of a local lady who became know as the Goat Lady and lived a reclusive life passing herself off as a man for many years before her identity as a women was eventually revealed. Dave actually met her on a couple of occasions as a paramedic and told us a lot of great stories about her - too many and too long to recount now.  

After we finished collecting our bucket loads of wash, we left the fossicking grounds, and returned to Sapphire to a washing station behind the Sapphire Caravan Park. Here Dave took us through the wet sieving technique to bring the prized sapphires to the centre and bottom of sieves, so that when overturned on a sorting table, sapphires ideally would be sitting in the middle and on top of the pile. Most of the time we found stones all through the mix, so it didn’t quite go to plan for us. This was quite a long process but very enjoyable, and quite hot, as you have to be in the sunlight to pick up the reflections from the stones - a key aspect of finding sapphires. At the start of the day, Dave explained that the aim of the tour is not about finding stones, its about learning the process, and to know what to look for, they place a small handful of small or sometimes larger but poor quality sapphires in the mix, otherwise if there isn’t anything to find, we don’t know what to look for. Anyway Noel and I both found a good number of stones, and as Dave had a good idea of what he placed in our buckets, after seeing what we had collected, he indicated that Noel had found one large, pretty green sapphire that he hadn’t place in the bucket, and I had found several blue and green stones which he hadn’t placed in my bucket - so we did find our own sapphires, and that was exciting. He was also very excited for us that we both found small but very pretty zircons which they don’t place in the mix. All in all, it was a very rewarding and very enjoyable morning. We finally wrapped up at 2.20pm and returned to the van where I dropped Noel off (she was done for the day), and I continued a few kms further up the road to join an underground sapphire mine tour at Miners Heritage which started at 3.15pm. This tour was also very interesting and gave a good insight into the practice and history of underground sapphire mining, with more wonderful stories about local identities told. At $27.50/person, I found it also to be good value and very informative, and rounded out my week of learning about sapphires nicely.  

I eventually got back to the van at 4.30pm, showered and enjoyed a coupe of cold beers before sending a few photos for Pamela and Dave to use on their webpage, then the long and painful process of downloading photos and doing the blog (due to poor internet). We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, but tomorrow we start our slow journey towards home. 

Rubyvale - The changing colours of the morning sky from the Caravan Park

A morning walk in Rubyvale - A story about the Hagan Family

A morning walk in Rubyvale - A story about the famous Black Star Sapphire,  the World's largest gem-qualtiy Star Sapphire which served as a doorstop  for 9 years. 

A morning walk in Rubyvale - The famous Black Star Sapphire House apparently where it was used as a doorstop 🤷

  

A morning walk in Rubyvale - another interesting story  about local toilets which were used as a polling booth in 1977 after the community hall was blown away following a storm. 296 locals and 117 visitors cast their votes in the toilet block in the summer heat. Not sure if its' the same Bob Katter, or his father, but he scored more votes than his four rivals combined.

A morning walk in Rubyvale 

A morning walk in Rubyvale 

A morning walk in Rubyvale 

Gems of Joy - Sapphire

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire. Morning Tea break 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire. Morning Tea break 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire. Morning Tea break

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire. Noel realising how much hard work is involved 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - in the field SW of Sapphire. Huge Brolgas

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - Back in Sapphire, getting a lesson on washing the wash 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - Back in Sapphire, getting a lesson on washing the wash. Dave was an awesome host, and about to publish his first book is a great story teller. 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - Back in Sapphire, getting a lesson on washing the wash. 

Lady Luck Fossicking Tour - Back in Sapphire. Noel picking out the spoils after washing 

Old Ford at the Miners Heritage Underground Mine 

15m underground in the Miners Heritage Underground Mine.  The important layer in this photo is second from the bottom called the 'Wash'. It can be at different levels. the one we were digging in today was only 1/2m. 

15m underground in the Miners Heritage Underground Mine. A few remaining (large) sapphires in the wall which have not been removed since the mine ceased operating and became a tourist attraction rather than an operational mine.

15m underground in the Miners Heritage Underground Mine. 

At the Miners Heritage Underground Mine, which also has a fossicking park, a self-contained RV shortstay, a cafe and a fantastic display of sapphire jewellery for sale (pleased Noel wasn't with me to see it)