Fossicking around the Inverell and Glen Innes areas

[Syndyne]

Hi all,

Cheers for the shots Heatho! Looks like you're having another great time over there

Always great to see a nice result!

All the best and good luck on the final day.
Shauno.

 

[Tripz]

Good to see your still havin a good time of it
Good lookin pics, are you working their wash or have your own hole going
Cheers

 

[Heatho]

Hi all,

Cheers for the shots Heatho! Looks like you're having another great time over there

Always great to see a nice result!

All the best and good luck on the final day.
Shauno.

Hey Shauno, has been an excellent time, totally worn out though, seived a lot of wash for these. Well probably not as much as you would in a day digging for Opal but still a fair bit. Was hot and sweaty work.

 

[Heatho]

Good to see your still havin a good time of it
Good lookin pics, are you working their wash or have your own hole going
Cheers

Cheers Tripz, bloody great place. We dug down the creek for a few, specked quite a few from overburden piles and tailings piles from the washplant. Hippie even found a few in a Meatants nest. Also spent plenty of time at thier washpile too, the ground is so hard here that it's great to have the pile to dig from. Keith takes it from various places on the property, just scrapes a few layers off the top and dumps it near the seiving tubs. He said we are his Guinea Pigs seiving from test scrapes and pits.

Got plenty today but mostly bombs, stil a few nice cornflower blues though.

Will post some better pics when back in Sydney.

 

[Heatho]

Finally home and totally knackered, a few of the nicer stones from the trip. The pic is a rough average of colours found, did'nt get a large amount of clear ones but got a few very nice ones which will cut nicely. Also a few copper coloured ones.

Got quite a few small ones which I should be able to send off to Thailand also.

I specked the nice Cornflower Blue one at the back of the pic on an old tailings pile after some rain the night before. Was not enough sunlight to do much specking, though found a few good one's just wandering around there. It's a huge property you could almost get lost on there.

 

[Tripz]

Nice, well done

Yep all that diggin takes it out of ya, on my last trip in 2012 I dug for 5 weeks out of 7,
3 at Mudtank and 2 at Chudleigh Park with the rest spent driving took me ages to get over it. Gotta watch sendin to much to Lamberts now, with the conversion rate and their prices goin up if you know what I mean My last package was a bit of a surprise...

Cheers

 

[Colin&Lee]

On ya Heatho might have to head up that way if this continues mate :lol:

Cheers

Col

 

[Heatho]

Nice, well done

Yep all that diggin takes it out of ya, on my last trip in 2012 I dug for 5 weeks out of 7,
3 at Mudtank and 2 at Chudleigh Park with the rest spent driving took me ages to get over it. Gotta watch sendin to much to Lamberts now, with the conversion rate and their prices goin up if you know what I mean My last package was a bit of a surprise...

Cheers

Thanks Tripz, yeah I noticed the prices and was trying to avoid bill shock, will send smallish parcels I think. We only got into it for 3 days, was 15 hours driving there and back and went hard at it in the heat and humidity, was hovering around 40 one day. 5 weeks though would nail me, I know it.

 

[Heatho]

On ya Heatho might have to head up that way if this continues mate :lol:

Cheers

Col

I would Col if you get a chance, you and Lee would probably do quite well up there. If you stayed 4 or 5 days the trip from the ACT would be worth it for sure.

Still reckon it would make a great PA Members Event camping out there at Billabong Blue.

 

[Varts]

Nice mate ,got to love these,never the same gem twice,each find a new surprise,

No wonder we can't stop :lol: :lol:

Varts.....

 

[Gold689]

Nice mate ,got to love these,never the same gem twice,each find a new surprise,

No wonder we can't stop :lol: :lol:

Varts.....

Yep, Yep it's definitely addictive when you see the all blue color

I'm suprise no one posted a FOSSICKING ANONYMOUS yet, you know the sign that you have the fossicking blues :lol: :lol: And how to keen sane

 

[Heatho]

Nice mate ,got to love these,never the same gem twice,each find a new surprise,

No wonder we can't stop :lol: :lol:

Varts.....

So true mate, they are mesmerising.

 

[Heatho]

Nice mate ,got to love these,never the same gem twice,each find a new surprise,

No wonder we can't stop :lol: :lol:

Varts.....

Yep, Yep it's definitely addictive when you see the all blue color

I'm suprise no one posted a FOSSICKING ANONYMOUS yet, you know the sign that you have the fossicking blues :lol: :lol: And how to keen sane

Buy and bring back some buckets of wash, always a few stones in there, I usually buy a few buckets as presents for mates who can't make a trip. Keeps them happy. If you go through the buckets with a tea strainer there will be hours and hours of joy to be had. It's like having nicotine patches.
Got 5 buckets for a mate, should keep him happy until the next trip.

 

[snail]

Good stuff guys. I've been looking for a place (not too far from Brisbane) to give Sapphires a go. This looks like a great option. Reckon the place is alright for kids?

 

[Heatho]

G'day Snail, no probs for kids at all.

 

[Highway1]

We are heading for the warm weather on the Sunshine Coast in the next few days and hope to call in a Inverell to fossick for sapphires. I phoned today for a weather report, last night at Inverell came in at -4 deg C that is cold. I hope to go to Billabong Blue are there any other good gem spots in the north central NSW area? Cheers Max

 

[Heatho]

Bingara, Glen Innes, Copeton, Torrington, Tingha, Emmaville. Tourist info centres at Inverell and Glen Innes are good resources for the whole area.

 

[Highway1]

Thank's Heatho, I will keep you posted as to how we went. Cheers

 

[Twapster]

Heatho you have me now prepping for a trip up there. Thanks for the posts. Finally a place where mum and wife can have a go.

 

[Heatho]

Cool Highway, hope you get some nice stones up there, please post pics when you can.

Twapster, go for it mate just give BB a call before heading there just to make sure they are open as it's been so cold out there that the wash tubs would have an inch of ice on top in the mornings. They should be open for business.

The tourist area is great for people who don't want to get into it too hard, though if you're keen to have a propper dig there are so many spots to choose on the property. Just don't dig anyone else's holes, usually marked with a bucket or a tool of some type. If unmarked go for it. Have a chat with the guys at the mine, they'll point you in the right direction. No highbankers either.

I'm itching to get back up there.