Had a win this morning, packed the caravan and convinced the family to make one more trip out to the Vulcan SF to get them onto some smokeys before hitting the road.
After 30 mins of digging like a dog the family was starting to show the signs of drifting away and my ego was also starting to take a tumble as I had failed to deliver a single crystal.
Then along came a spider ....... a palm sized funnel web to be a bit more specific. As we didn't appear to be getting along well in the same hole, I decided there were a number of indicators telling me this particular hole was not going to deliver the outcome I was after.
After the adrenaline hit everyone seemed to be re-energised, so I opened up some fresh ground in a last ditch effort to re-establish my legendary gemstone hunting skills. And then it happened.... a flicker of grey mirrored brilliance shot the whole family in the eye as they were circling my hole. A finger sized smokey emerged and was met with ooohhhs and aaarrrrs, followed by thumb sized point and then a double terminated twin crystal.
We proceeded to clean out the pocket together and bagged a few nested specimens prior to hitting the road. Even overheard a few "awesome" comments. Was a great end to a impromptu family getaway. Feeling happy that I decided to take some extra time off work to address the itch and have another crack at inspiring a shared interest.
Also stumbled across some peridot nested in basalt host rock
After 30 mins of digging like a dog the family was starting to show the signs of drifting away and my ego was also starting to take a tumble as I had failed to deliver a single crystal.
Then along came a spider ....... a palm sized funnel web to be a bit more specific. As we didn't appear to be getting along well in the same hole, I decided there were a number of indicators telling me this particular hole was not going to deliver the outcome I was after.
After the adrenaline hit everyone seemed to be re-energised, so I opened up some fresh ground in a last ditch effort to re-establish my legendary gemstone hunting skills. And then it happened.... a flicker of grey mirrored brilliance shot the whole family in the eye as they were circling my hole. A finger sized smokey emerged and was met with ooohhhs and aaarrrrs, followed by thumb sized point and then a double terminated twin crystal.
We proceeded to clean out the pocket together and bagged a few nested specimens prior to hitting the road. Even overheard a few "awesome" comments. Was a great end to a impromptu family getaway. Feeling happy that I decided to take some extra time off work to address the itch and have another crack at inspiring a shared interest.
Also stumbled across some peridot nested in basalt host rock