Day 6 to 13 - Sunday 18th to Sunday 25th July 2021.

Day 6 - Sunday - 18th July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7;30am. It was bloody cold but got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am.

We visited Gunter and Nola at Muggachinos in Rubyvale. I reacquainted myself with Gunter's (world famous) Apple Strudel. It was YUMMA.
Washed down with a muggachino. Marg had a long black decaf coffee.
It was great to catch up with Gunter and Nola again, it has been 7 years since we were last at Muggachinos.

I spent quite a few hours, setting up both the Foxtel and VAST settop boxes. Evidently, I got them both working.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

Day 7 - Monday - 19th July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7;30am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am.

This is becoming our daily routine, we visited Gunter and Nola for Apple Strudel and coffee.

After leaving Gunters, we drove into Emerald for our food shopping. What an excellent shopping mall, it is better than our local shopping centre in Labrador.
just as we were leaving the shopping mall, the Erebus transporter and the Truck Assist transporter from the Supercars, pulled into the service station over the road.
We drove back to camp without incident. It was a very pleasant drive. All up about 110kms round trip.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

Our route to and from Emerald.

Day 8 - Tuesday - 20th July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

Coming back from the showers, I saw about 50+ Rainbow Lorikeets playing on the grass. I went back to our Fiver and got my camera. I managed a couple of photos, before they 'attacked' me. They were sitting on my head, camera and arms, so I walked back to Marg and asked her to take my photo, because I couldn't. About 2 minutes later, they got sick of me and left. It was an unreal moment, they weren't scared of me.

We headed off to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee.

After leaving Gunters, we stopped at Gemfields Fossicking Park and bought a $20 bucket of wash. Mark the owner gave us a quick lesson of what to do. The photo below is our end result. When we get home, Marg will tumble them and this will remove the dirt and give them a slight sheen.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

Day 9 - Wednesday - 21st July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

We headed off to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee.

After leaving Gunters, we drove to the Graves Hill fossicking area. The gravel road was as rough as buggery (that's pretty rough). We walked around and checked out the area, but it didn't do much for us, so after an hour or so, we headed back to camp.
We love driving to where the fossicking areas are, as it is the journey which is magic, if we find something that is an added bonus.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

Our route to and from Graves Hill Fossicking area.

Day 10 - Thursday - 22nd July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

We headed off to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee.

After leaving Gunters, we drove back to camp to pick up our fossicking tools and then drove next door down to the dry riverbed (Retreat Creek).
Back in March '21, Sapphire received 216mm in 24 hours and shock, horror. Where we were fossicking today, back then was nearly 40 feet under water. Unreal.

Back to today, we parked the mighty Navara and while I dug buckets of wash, Marg looked through the seives for sapphires. After approx 2 hours, we had had enough and drove all of 200-300meters back to camp. We found a small green sapphire, confirmed by our fossicking neighbour, back at camp.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

Day 11 - Friday - 23rd July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was cool but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

We headed off to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee. While there, Billy told us about the Covid scare in Longreach. We were meant to staying at Longreach tomorrow, but this latest scare 'forced' us to give Longreach a miss and go to Blackall instead.

After leaving Gunters, we stopped at the Rubyvale Grocery shop, then we drove to Armfest, to check out their buckets of 'wash' (wash is gravel that hopefully contains sapphires dug from mines and sold to various locations that we can buy and sieve through, it saves you from digging yourself). I spoke to BJ, who we hadn't seen since 30th June 2012 - our last trip to Armfest. We told BJ that we would return tomorrow.

Back at camp, we extended our stay for another 2 days, then we will head to Quilpie, via Blackall and Charleville, instead of Longreach, Stonehenge and Windorah.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp.

No photos today.

Day 12 - Saturday 24th July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

We left camp around 9:15am and drove to Armfest to sieve through a bucket of wash.
As I walked to the shed to pay, I nearly fell over a kangaroo, who was happily laying in the sun/shade. BJ's mum Carol is an animal carer and this roo is quite happy just lazing around their property. We did a bucket ($25) and got a few sapphires. See the photo below. It took approx 1 to 1.5hours to do a bucket.

After we left Armfest, we headed off to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee. It was busier than Bourke St, our table was empty and the strudel was absolutely YUMMA.

After we left Gunters, we walked over to Cut and Slice Gem suppliers and bought 5kgs of grit. Marg has a tumbler at home and will put our sapphires in it with grit and this will clean up the stones.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp, I watched and listened to the Olympic Games as I updated this website.

Day 13 - Sunday 25th July 2021.

We slept well and woke around 7:00am. It was still bloody cold but again got to the low 20s by midday.
I went from Trakky dacks, top and uggies, to shorts and T shirts and thongs, by about 9:00am. This is the normal.

We left camp around 9:30am and walked over the road to the Roy Day park for the Sapphire Market Day. Naturally, there was heaps of gems and associated products to buy. We bought 2 pieces of Obsidian (Black Lava Rock).

We walked back to camp and then drove to Gunter and Nola's for my daily Apple Strudel and coffee. Being Sunday, it was busier than yesterday, our table wasn't empty, we managed to get a table and the strudel was absolutely YUMMA.

After we left Gunters, we stopped at the Rubyvale Grocery shop and then stopped and topped up with diesel, in preparation for our departure tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent, just relaxing around camp, I watched and listened to the Olympic Games and packed up a few things, but the rest will be done tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, we are booked in at Blackall Caravan park, approx 380kms.