Fossicking in the Never Never

What a great weekend!!  Beautiful weather, a nice quiet part of the world and some fabulous fossicking.

A vigilant eye was kept on The Turtle's radiator as we made our way north east of Alice Springs to Gem Tree - lost a little bit of fluid which was quickly replenished - and we settled nicely into our new camp spot as we prepared for a big day on Saturday on our garnet fossicking tour.

An early start (0830 hrs) saw five different couples collect their gear before heading further east for about 30 klms in the safe hands of our guide.  Once at the gem fields we were given instructions on how, when and where to find those elusive garnets.  The Captain and The Deckie were, initially, a little bit our of their depth (and on dry land) as we tested one particular trench for garnets but after a short while we realised that we should perhaps try somewhere different.  This proved to be a smart decision as is wasn't long before we found some beautiful red gems.

The process was for The Captain to dig up the dirt/gravel - using a pick and shovel - and for The Deckie to sieve this dirt/gravel, wash it and then see if there was any gemstones amongst the gravel.  After a couple of bucket loads it worked and we began to find some gems.  It was a little bit slower after we had our lunch break - not sure if it was the aching muscles or just digging in the wrong spot.  All up, we collected 28 garnets and after they were appraised by the lovely person back at the caravan park, we ended up with 11 stones that were suitable for cutting and setting.  Not a bad effort for fossicking virgins!!

Wielding The Pick

Getting Down and Dirty

When we returned to the Caravan Park and had our find appraised, we obviously had a mental blank cause we decided that it would be really interesting if we fronted up for the Zircon Tour the next day.  Hmmm, maybe The Deckie should have had some alcohol to get the brain working and say NO!

The arrangements were made, and an even earlier start was made on Sunday morning for the Zircon fields even though they were a lot closer than the garnet fields.  Not a bad idea as it turned out to be quite warm!!

The process was slightly different than the previous day but, fortunately, The Captain still had to wield the pickaxe.  This time, however, it was a vertical rock face that he had to chip away at and not a reasonably flat surface.

The zircon finds were even more productive and at the end of the day, we both had some aches in some muscles that we had forgotten had existed.

Modern and Up to Date Equipment!

Our Zircon Find

About three quarters of the above Zircons are just pretty rocks as they are "crazed" or just too small to be cut.  However, of the two big ones near the centre of the container, the one on the left was broken down into good sized pieces and the other one is going to remain as is as it is a single crystal and will eventually be made into a lovely pendant.

Today, Monday we headed back into Alice Springs and finally had The Turtle's radiator repaired.  Only took just over four hours and it was only a 'minor' problem but at least now it is fixed and we no longer have that worry.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are heading east into the East MacDonnell Ranges for a couple of days to check out what is there so, once more, we will probably be out of communications range.

Hope all is well with everyone and will catch up on our return from the wilderness.