Grabben Gullen information and questions

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Has anyone been out to Grabben Gullen recently? What is the flow in the river like at the moment? I imagine there are still a heap of snakes around this time of year and it is too hot for this kiwi to head out digging for too long I think! Might have to wait for it to cool off before heading out there but would be keen to meet up with a few of the forum members for a dig sometime in Feb or March!
 
Water level normal, no snake sightings, wear sunscreen and get up early to get a few hours of comfortable digging.
 
Hamish said:
Has anyone been out to Grabben Gullen recently? What is the flow in the river like at the moment? I imagine there are still a heap of snakes around this time of year and it is too hot for this kiwi to head out digging for too long I think! Might have to wait for it to cool off before heading out there but would be keen to meet up with a few of the forum members for a dig sometime in Feb or March!

If you can handle the heat at Curtain Springs you should be fine at Grabben Gullen I would think :D

After a lot of years away from it, I took up fossicking again the year before last and have been surprised at how the fossicking bug's bite is so potent that I have no problem braving the heat here in central QLD in summer in the quest for sparklies - I even went digging twice in far north QLD last week. The only thing that really stops me is a serious heat wave or heavy rain.

Or getting on the wrong side of "she who must be obeyed" :D
 
haha the only thing that stops me getting out more frequently is the need to get a paycheck and working far far too much!! Sitting here tonight with a koala as she wakes up from surgery and dreaming of getting out this weekend, only trouble is I've got to move house! You're a braver man than me taking on the North QLD summer, I'd be melting!
 
Hi all I went up on Monday

A long drive from Melbourne, overnight in goulbourn with a couple of teenagers then severe thunderstorms, humidity and another hour drive to grabben in the morning found a little black snake to avoid, a leech that was not a lot smaller. No luck on the saphires though. Lots of spinel just no sapphires. I do believe I spent a lot of time where others have been before and needed to wander further. One small scrap of a dogs tooth

Instead of be disappointed I feel a lot more comfortable making the trek back another day. Maybe with out the kids to worry about

It is a beautiful spot and I definitely will be back
 
UFO said:
Hi all I went up on Monday

A long drive from Melbourne, overnight in goulbourn with a couple of teenagers then severe thunderstorms, humidity and another hour drive to grabben in the morning found a little black snake to avoid, a leech that was not a lot smaller. No luck on the saphires though. Lots of spinel just no sapphires. I do believe I spent a lot of time where others have been before and needed to wander further. One small scrap of a dogs tooth

Instead of be disappointed I feel a lot more comfortable making the trek back another day. Maybe with out the kids to worry about

It is a beautiful spot and I definitely will be back

Great spot, pity you didn't find anything significant, my last trip was a shocker with only a handful of tiny stones for two days solid work so fully understand. Time before they seemed more plentiful, just the luck of the dig!
 
some days are hard but only takes one good stone to bring the fever back and you forget about all the aches and pains take some time out from digging and enjoy the fact we can still do this in the best country on earth ;) ;)
 
Has anyone been out recently ?

I was thinking about maybe going out on Saturday to have a look around
Is there any sort of signage around the public area or would I best off finding the landowner for permission to go on his land ?

Thanks
Jayden
 
I was there last weekend, I get permission to camp on the land but the public area is commonly accessed by people who don't need to check with the farmer. As long as you stay to the public area you should have no dramas. There is very little signage except for a sign over the bridge proclaiming that this is Grabben Gullen creek. On Sapphire road you cannot miss it.

Good luck out there! Watch out for the leeches, they are big and FAST!
 
Thinking about heading out there tomorrow too, so may see you Jayden. Hopefully with everyone's directions will be able to find it ok....just a little worried about those snakes and leeches, lol.
 
Lisa27 said:
Thinking about heading out there tomorrow too, so may see you Jayden. Hopefully with everyone's directions will be able to find it ok....just a little worried about those snakes and leeches, lol.

There is a lot of red bellies there this time of year Lisa,but they normally bugger off when they see you,normally,lol

One time i was there id just filled my sieves, turned around walked two meters to the water bent down and sat the sieves on a 2 plus meter badboy,after changing my daks i moved a little upstream,LOL
Good luck and stay safe
Cheers
Ryan
 
We are still alive!!! No snakes today, well, not visible anyway, no leeches and also no sapphires :eek: Don't think we were looking in the right places. Only new at this. Had fun trying and did get a lovely lot of blackberries :p Bumped in Jayden, who may have had more luck.
 
Yeah it was great to meet you Lisa, shame you didn't find any, more reason to get out again though :)

Grace and I had a great day out, lots of digging for 3 small blue sapphires, a few zircons and a couple of green sapphires.
Will be definitely going back out again.

Leaches were huge, luckily we only saw two for the day.

Not as easy to find them as Wal and Liz make it look though :)
 
No, not that easy at all. Good to meet you and Grace too. Loved Grace's ring :) Glad you got a few. So you have some idea where to look now or were they just random?
 
Under boulders and large rocks in the creek or in slow moving water areas seemed to give the best results.
Find the spinel - find the Sapphires :)
 
Jaydo said:
Yeah it was great to meet you Lisa, shame you didn't find any, more reason to get out again though :)

Grace and I had a great day out, lots of digging for 3 small blue sapphires, a few zircons and a couple of green sapphires.
Will be definitely going back out again.

Leaches were huge, luckily we only saw two for the day.

Not as easy to find them as Wal and Liz make it look though :)

It takes a while to find good spots to sieve,but once you do you will know where to look, it took me four or five outings before i realized what and where to find them.

Happy hunting and I hope you find the monster next time.
 

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