Fitzroy river fossicking

Went for a drive today up to a spot on the Fitzroy river west of Rockhampton, where the large gravel bars are littered with interesting material. The area is dotted with volcanic plugs, one of which is the Mount Hay tourist park, well known for thundereggs. The river cuts through the old vulcanised area, washing up a variety of minerals on it's banks. I picked up shopping bag full of nice cabbing material and interesting specimens.

While we've never found thundereggs at the river, orange-red chalcedony - probably best called carnelian - can be found on the gravel bars. The material here is actually quite a lot more transparent than these photos show, the camera seems to want to see it as a solid orange stone.

A piece of carnelian about twice the size of a golf ball. They have an unfortunate habit of looking like a beautiful firey-orange agate but when you cut them, a lot of them are actually a pale, washed-out yellow on the inside. I suspect this piece will be like that, sadly.



This smaller piece will be orange right through I think.



A paler coloured piece with distinct banding, showing that it is a variety of agate.





The overall haul of chalcedony/carnelian, the piece in the first photo standing up in the centre...



Petrified wood is abundant. Pieces seem to go up to about half the size of a tissue box. I usually leave most of what I see there, just take the few odd bits.



An interesting specimen - a piece of carnelian-ized petrified wood. Again, the carnelian is a much brighter and clearer orange than this photo shows...



Carnelian geode filled with small crystals - a bit knocked around from being tumbled in the river but still sparkly....



Hmmm - dunno. A bunch of small orange crystals.



Chalcedony "stalagtite"...



Quite a lot of this stuff there as well - I think it's a kind of volcanic glass. It's surface is very shiny and glassy-looking. It's not transparent but held against a strong light, it is a little translucent. Seems to be mainly red, orange, brown or black. Gonna have a go at cabbing it. I reckon some of it will look good - when it's naturally so glossy and shiny lying on the bank of a river I reckon it would likely take on a good polish.



It was a good day, yielding material for cabbing and some specimens as well

Great stuff. Some beautiful stones there.

That's a good pick up for the day. There are some nice looking stones there.

Sure looks good. Hope you get some nice cutters in that lot

Cheers Tone

Cheers all. It's a great spot for a day trip, you can throw a line in if you get bored with rocks - though 9 out of every 10 fish landed will be a catfish.

I've often wondered if there is a particular source of all this material - obviously it can't be downstream from this site. Perhaps it's just weathering from the banks along a long stretch?

Here's some more bits from our last trip there in March.

The carnelian in natural light....





A small piece of carnelian cemented into the side of the low bridge that crosses the river (naturally they would have just used the sand and gravel from the site to build the bridge)..



The odd small piece of agate does turn up there.....





A petrified branch stub with red carnelian growing on it......





The bizzare growth habit the chalcedony sometimes displays...

crystal geode by the look of the one your not sure on nice collection thanks for posting

Very nice, sounds like a top spot.

Lovely looking stuff there Lefty

Cheers

Col

crystal geode by the look of the one your not sure on nice collection thanks for posting smile

Click to expand...

The other side actually looks like a piece of water-worn quartz Rich. Quartz crystals are apparently found at another location in the area, never been there myself - it's on private property and most likely has been closed down these days like almost all of them have been due to people doing the wrong thing and due to the risk posed to the landholder by public liability. I have found a few partially-formed ones at this site. Of some interest is the many quartz pebbles lying in the gravel - I've got a feeling some of them might be quite clear. The surface is frosted from being tumbled in the river bed but it might be worth putting a couple of windows on some of the better looking ones to see if any are facetable.

Went back up there again yesterday with a mate form Adelaide. Picked up some more interesting stuff, including a piece of carnelian with a "reverse" 6-sided crystal imprint in it with mirror-shiny surfaces and what I think is a piece of topaz. Piccies to follow later.

Hi Lefty,
I was going to ask about some of the rocks I have, but I think you have answered them for me as mine are replicas to yours and I got them from Middlemount.
That possibly answers your question as to where they are coming from, maybe.

Cheers
Goldslave

Can't post a link from this crappy device, put this thread back up,from the person asking about fossicking in the Yepoon/ Rockhampton area.

Cheers

Great pics lefty, not that far from here and will have to take a look around up there. Talkin bout pics - love your avatar