Another cool night, I had 2nd blankets on all night.
We set the alarm for 6:00am, and got up and on the internet, only for a few minutes, then we finished packing up and left by 6:45am. We stopped around the corner at maccas for brekky and after 15 minutes we were on the road. The weather was sunny and ideal for driving.
Our first stop was at Reid Creek rest area and then refuelled at Charters Towers. We then turned left into Gregory Development Rd and headed to Belyando Crossing, the road hasn't improved much since we travelled it last year, there are more resurfaced areas, there are still bumpy and wavy sections. Our next stop was at a rest area and then we refuelled at Belyando Crossing at $1.846 a litre, it is the dearest so far this trip. We managed another rest stop before arriving at Clermont CP at 1:48pm, a big day 509kms. After a quick setup, power and water, I had a nap, it wasn't a nanna nap, as I slept for over an hour and half. I was knackered. We had dinner, last night's leftover macaroni cheese.


Tomorrow we drive to Sapphire about 170kms.

It wasn't a cool night, it was bloody cold, I wore my ski PJs and also used my sleepingbag, it was forecast to be cold and they were correct. I was warm as toast and at some ungodly hour, there was a woman in my bed, cuddling me, purely for warmth. Unfortunately.

As we had only a 160kms to drive, we were in no rush to leave, so when we finally arose, after the heater had warmed up the fiver to 20+°s, we got our morning internet fix, before we packed up the few bits and pieces. We left just on 9am and headed off towards Sapphire, stopping at Capella for a rest stop, arriving at Sapphire at 11:18am. I checked in and were given Site 49, the same site as we were on last year, but this year it is dry, compared to last year it was damp under foot. We did a full setup (power, water, sullage hose, awning, sat dish and Marg's special room), I haven't setup the side or ends on the awning, I will wait and see if they are required. There are new owners of the park and one 'new' rule is that you cannot run your sink water directly onto the grass, you have to dispose of it in the special 'dump point', which is a bit of a pain, but so be it.

After we were setup and had lunch, we drove over to Rubyvale to check if Glen is still alive (he is) and then we visited Gunter's Muggachino for coffee and his 'world famous homemade strudel', Marg had Apple strudel and I had cherry strudel. It was very YUMMA. We then walked over the road to check out Max who owns Rubyvale Cut and Slice. We will return to see Max during our stay and will probably spend some money there as a few things have caught Marg's eye.
We left Rubyvale and headed the 10kms back to Sapphire, where we topped up with fuel at our Caravan Park/General Store. While filling up, I met Ewan (the new owner of our CP), he's a nice guy, as there was no one waiting to fill up, we chatted for a few minutes, Marg also chatted to him. I mentioned to Ewan about the 'new' rule about not draining 'sink' water onto the grass, I told him we use bio-degradable dishwashing liquid etc and he said that is no problem, just don't empty our toilet water, which we don't anyway. So all is good, I can run my sink water onto the grass. I am a happy camper.

Dinner was curry and rice and was YUMMA.

Tomorrow we will visit Glen's Willy Wash and Gunter's Muggachino in Rubyvale.

It was meant to be a cold night, so I was prepared with ski PJs and socks plus my sleeping bag, believe it or not, I was too warm and had to take off my socks. It was a cold night, but we were both warm as.
I got up about 7am and Marg got up about 8am, we watched 'taped' Sunrise as we had brekky. I showered (very good hot water with pressure) and changed into shorts and T shirt with trakky top. The sun is out and the bit of cloud is burning off, so hopefully, it will be a nice sunny day.
Anyway, we are off to Willy Wash and Muggachino, will talk later.

Well, we are back, had a great time.
We arrived at Willy Wash, Rubyvale spoke to Glen the owner, he remembered us from last year, I don't know if that is good or not. We arrived there about 10:15am and there were already 6 other people looking for sapphires, Glen gave us a bucket of wash and away we went, I washed the wash in the willoughby and Marg looked through it. Each bucket takes us approx 40 minutes to check, we checked 3 buckets cost us $50 for 3 buckets or $20 for 1 bucket or $40 for 2 buckets, so 3 buckets was a bargain.
During the 2 hours that we were there, Glen was quite busy, which is good. When we finished Glen picked out the cutters amongst our stones and bagged them in a separate bag, that appear in the photo below, Marg still has to check the smaller stones. We said goodbye to Glen and said that we will be back tomorrow and drove about 200 meters over to Gunter's Muggachino for coffee and strudel, same order as yesterday, Marg had apple strudel and coffee, I had cherry strudel and coffee $20 in total. So while we are staying at Sapphire, I budgeted for $70 per day for 3 buckets and Gunter's coffee and Strudel. Life is tough. I think when we leave Sapphire that my waistline will be larger, I wonder why.

For the rest of the afternoon, I sat outside in the shade under the awning, updating our website and just buggering about on the internet, while Marg played her crossword puzzles and slipped in a nanna nap.

It wasn't as cold as the night before, but I was prepared with ski PJs without socks plus my sleeping bag, I was warm as toast, Marg had just a blanket and she was as warm as toast.
Today was a mirror image of yesterday, watched a 'taped' Sunrise and brekky, got our daily internet fix and then off to Glen's Willy Wash for 3 buckets of wash and then over to Gunter's Muggachinnos for coffee and strudel.
BUT first, Jay who is a forum member on our Aussie Sapphire forum, had posted that she wanted to meet us, as we are in her vicinity. I sent her a'PM' and she rang me and we arranged to meet at Gunters for coffee and strudel.

We arrived at Glen's about 10:10am and there were 10 people already there sorting their buckets, we set ourselves up at one of his benches and started on our first bucket, then our 2nd bucket and finally on our 3rd bucket, by now, it was after 12:15pm and time to ring Jay to say that we would met her shortly at Gunters. The three of us met soon after and had a very enjoyable time just chatting, drinking coffee and eating strudel. After an 1.5 hours we went our separate ways. The rest of the arvo was spent just relaxing in the shade watching the world go bye. Life can be so tough at times.

Dinner was my 'world famous' sausage sizzle with onions. It was SUPER YUMMA 'cause I cooked it.

Tomorrow we will visit the Gemfileds Lapidary club, Marg hopefully will learn skin polishing. I will count blades of grass or something similar.

It was a cold night, but by now, both Marg and I are used to it and consequently, we slept very well.
Our normal day weatherwise is a cold, clear night turning into a beautiful sunny day with the temperature rising into the mid 20s°.
Today, Marg had arranged a skin polishing lesson at the Gemfields Lapidary Club starting 9am, so we had set the alarm for 6:30am, got up and watched Weekend Sunrise and got our internet fix, before heading to the Lapidary Club.

We left camp at 8:45am and followed Donna's (she was our contact from the Lapidary Club) instructions to her house, we arrived there without any dramas, where we met Donna and Steve. Steve was the man who showed Marg the basics of skin polishing. I stayed for about 15 minutes, tried to get reception on my modem, but couldn't, so I drove back to camp. As I was sitting in the sun, I heard the sound of a dentist's drill, it was Les in the caravan opposite us, so I walked over and sure enough he was skin polishing, spooky hey. I told him that Marg was being shown skin polishing, as we speak. Les had done the same course last year while he was here. About 11:40am, I drove back to pick up Marg, she was rapt with the basics that Steve had shown her.
Back at camp, Les showed Marg his skin polishing equipment and parted with some of his knowledge. Marg and I then drove to Max at Rubyvale's Cut and Slice and after 30 minutes of talking and Max's information we departed with heaps of equipment and $550 lighter in the pocket. But Marg was happy and that is all that matters. Isn't it?
As I may have said in the previous days that Max's premises just happens to be over the road from Gunter's Muggachinnos, so Jamo, the 'Strudel Boy' ordered coffee and cherry strudel, while 'Strudel Girl' had coffee and apple strudel, before driving back to camp. For the remainder of the day, Marg had a nanna nap, while I watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Intent.

Dinner was leftover casserole. Very YUMMA. Shock, horror, a quiet night watching TV.

Tomorrow we will visit the Gemfileds Market held over the road at the Sapphire Footy ground and then decisions, decisions. Do we visit Glen and Gunter or do we drive into Emerald for shopping.

It was a cold night, I had my sleepingbag while Marg had 2 blankets and we slept very well.
Our normal day weatherwise is a cold, clear night turning into a beautiful sunny day with the temperature rising into the mid 20s°.
Today, the Sunday Sapphire Market is on across the road at the Footy Ground from 7am - Noon, we won't be there at 7am. We watched Weekend Sunrise and got our internet fix, before heading to the Market.

We left camp about 9:00am and walked over the road (about 200 meters) to the footy ground. Our first stop was to find Errol (husband of Janine who we met last week at Gunters) and introduced ourselves to him, which we did. We walked around every stall and found the man who makes the wooden Gem boxes, we bought one for $35, visited the footy club rooms and ordered 2 bacon and egg and onions sangas, they were YUMMA.
After the market, we drove into Emerald and did some food shopping at Woollies. The rest of the day, Marg practised her skin polishing on a sapphire, it is looking good, while I watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Intent.

Dinner was one pan dinner. Very YUMMA. A normal quiet night watching TV.

Tomorrow we will visit Glen and Gunter then in the arvo, we have an appointment with Janine for some skin polishing tips.

It was a cold night, I had my sleepingbag while Marg had 2 blankets and we slept very well.
Our normal day weatherwise is a cold, clear night turning into a beautiful sunny day with the temperature rising into the mid 20s°.
Today, it is back to normal, visit Glen's Willy Wash and Gunter's Muggachinos in Rubyvale.

We arrived at Willy Wash about 10:15am, there were already 4 other people looking for sapphires, Glen gave us a bucket of wash and away we went, I washed the wash in the willoughby and Marg looked through it. Each bucket takes us approx 40 minutes to check, we did our 3 buckets ($50), Marg was happy with our haul. During the 2 hours that we were there, Glen was quite busy, the 2 families that are camped beside us, rocked up with 6 kids and did a few buckets. We finished, Glen sorted our stones and then we headed over to Gunter's Muggachinos. I think we may have done this before. At Gunter's Muggachinos, we ordered coffee and strudel, same order as yesterday and maybe the same order for a couple of days before that, MAYBE. For something completely different, Marg had apple strudel and coffee, I had cherry strudel and coffee $20 in total.
We drove back to camp where Marg showered and changed her clothes, I didn't, then we drove back to Rubyvale to meet with Janine and Errol from our fossicking forum for a chat and more coffee. It was another very pleasant time spent with them. We said goodbye until this time next year, when we hope to visit them again, if they will have us. On the way, back to camp, I had to replenish my alcohol stocks, so another block of XXXX Gold cans, found its way back to our camp.

For the rest of the afternoon, I sat outside in the shade under the awning, updating our website and just buggering about on the internet, while Marg had a nanna nap.

Dinner was a BBQ cooked by me, so naturally, it was YUMMA. A normal quiet night watching TV.

Tomorrow we will visit Glen and Gunter then in the arvo, we will start to pack up. Bugger, we love it here.

It was a cold night, I had my sleepingbag while Marg had 2 blankets and we slept very well.
Our normal day weatherwise is a cold, clear night turning into a beautiful sunny day with the temperature rising into the mid 20s°.
Today, it is back to normal, visit Glen's Willy Wash and Gunter's Muggachinos in Rubyvale.

We arrived at Willy Wash about 10:15am, there were already 5 other people looking for sapphires, Glen gave us a bucket of wash and away we went, I washed the wash and Marg looked through it. We did our 3 buckets ($50), Marg was happy with our haul. During the 2 hours that we were there, Glen was quite busy, there were 3 couples arrive that were new to this, so Glen helped them. We finished, Glen sorted our stones and then we headed over to Gunter's Muggachinos.
I think we may have done this before. At Gunter's Muggachinos, we ordered coffee and strudel, same order as yesterday and maybe the same order for a couple of days before that, MAYBE. For something completely different, Marg had apple strudel and coffee, I had cherry strudel and coffee $20 in total.
Gunter is a gambler and has a 'lucky dip' box, give him $10 and you pick an envelope which contains some sort of cut gem. Today, Gunter said it will cost me $40, we will toss a coin and if I pick the correct side (heads or tails) then I get the entire 23 enevelopes, I don't gamble so I kindly declined, and we sat down and had our coffees and strudel, meanwhile, Marg said she would take on Gunter's challenge. Gunter agreed, Marg tossed the coin, while spinning in the air, Gunter asked her to pick, Marg choose 'Heads'. Heads it was, Marg had won, Gunter begrudgingly gave her the 23 lucky dip envelopes and we finished our food and headed back to camp, absolutely rapt that Marg won. Marg opened all the 23 envelopes and there were cut gems of amethyst, peridot, blue topaz, zircons, sapphires and garnets, they are very small but look bloody great. So it was a great last day.

We spent a part of the afternoon packing up bits and pieces, but the sat dish, Marg's room, water and power can't be done until the morning.
Dinner was hamburgers from the Blue Gem CP Office, they were YUMMA.
Marg is rapt again, she loves watching "the Mole" and it starts tonight on Ch7.

Tomorrow we drive to Rocky for 2 nights, about 321kms.