Emerald and Places South

Emerald, the real Jewel in the Crown

Charters Towers, Crossroad for the Pilgrims

We came across the idea of finding gems in the bush when Zan was researching in Charters Towers - where I was impressed both with the historical and majestic architecture of the main streets and with the size and frequency of the trains carting tonnes of Australia off for refining overseas.  Zan pointed out Lake Maraboon, 20 km south of Emerald, and only a quick hop from there to Sapphire and Rubyvale.  The van park is on the lake and looks brilliant.  After a long day on the undulations, ridges, wavy junk roads and the constant breaks for road works of increasing severity we pulled in about three. Yes, the roads need work, fixing 30 years of negligence, but I wish they'd pick one road and work on that instead of stuffing up every route you can take.

The landscape is spectacular in that as you tear across the plain, and then undulate through the rolling hills, the rearing mountains eventually come closer and you realise their size. Sheer cliffs. Rock stacks in every shape and formation, looking like piles and columns about to fall, in staggering lines across the middle distance. Driving is hard enough on roads so constantly inconsistant, with traffic enough to keep the caravanner on his guard, but looking at the hills was so tempting that I did have more than one 'paranoia' stop. (That's when there's  no indication of any problem but I still have to stop and walk around the rig, feeling tyres, brakes and hubs, checking chains and windows.  And staring off at those hills.)  I have to say that the Jethro / Elly May oufit fits us perfectly, and so far we have enjoyed marvellous luck with the wind direction and strength. It really hasn't tossed us around as badly as I had expected to the point that Zan doesn't notice any variation. 

These hills don't have names on the  road.

These were mere pimples compared with some but we couldn't

stop to take more photos!

                  We went through Emerald, a town of 12 500 and quite the regional base for everything 

 before heading the last 19 km towards the Fairbairn Dam. The body of water held by that dam is Lake Maraboon, a huge sheet of water feeding the local agricultural industry.

Mine.  I mean, it is now - I found it. In the the Gem Museum's shop.

Leather-tough fish and delightful red-claw crayfish are major drawcards but we didn't get to eat either.

Next day we headed out to Sapphire for a fossick.  We found dirt, sand, rocks and some probably interesting looking stuff.  Then we visited a couple of Gem Shops. Interesting. Impressive. The yarns about spectacular finds are everywhere, and any number of finds can be attested simply by asking if your new friend has ever known someone who actually struck it rich on the gem-fields. Oh, yes. You betcha. Everybody has a rich relative or friend who found plenty just there, up the creek.

The number of stones on offer and their cheap prices surprised me. The quality of the settings was not really impressive and the number of Dodgy Brothers - style establishments was more than we'd seen at, say, Andamooka or Coober Pedy. Maybe we've become accustomed to the pace...

Note the green stone colour. There is a grade of yellow to green in many of the samples. The blues and especially the darker orange-gold are highly prized and exceptional stones can bring nearly $100 000 on the world market.

Sapphires, zircons, topaz - all shades of quartz. All just lying there in the creek beds. Really!

Road Works, mate. It's a major tourist attraction. You get to see the country at close quarters and if you want you can  chat with the operators.

One bloke told me he envied me - not for the freedom to travel but for the quality of the navigator!

I've cheated.  This windmill, with butcherbird sitting on top (see?  Look really carefully, now)  is actually at St George, 600 Km south of Emerald. But I felt I had to link things up a bit.
St George was really an overnight stop on a long hop from Queensland into NSW on the way to see Dzintra, our friend, in Sydney. Yes, Sydney - out of the way in a big way really but this whole trip could have been sub-titled 'The Quest For the Family Grail'.
               For the record, then, non-family but Highly Significant Others (like God-Mothers and God-Fathers) can be included  in Family and so can culturally compelling sites be dubbed Shrines for Strines. Sydney qualifies. The Harbour, the Coat-Hanger, the Ferries, the Traffic!  I mean, Airlie Beach mystically drew both my parents and brother Denis, though today I think the Pharisees run the place a bit. The Great Barrier Reef is more a mecca for the Japanese and the A-Mericans, than for Australians  but I can tell you that Charters Towers is a real desert cross-roads in the Grey Nomad Tide.  They come from The North and West, covered in a baptismal coating of fine red ochre dust. They have crocodile bite-marks on the tinnie atop the Toyota and they have stopped trying to wash the dirt off their spare-wheel covers. They have lived Through It. Some of the the Blokes haven't washed for days and their Navigators have even tossed the map in the centre console for good. They meet those from  up The Cape, with red wheals from the mossies, holes in their tent-flies and they swap sermons, hints and tips over Sacramental Five O'clock Drinkies. when wine and crackers are the main fare.
But I digress. St George was a good place to sit and meditate, to let the traffic go by.. just a few metres away through the fence.   We enjoyed it, transferred our Pokie winnings from Emerald to the St George Pub and took off south to Gunnedah.  We did manage to get our washing done and dusted.. er dried, courtesy of the Rockhampton Acquisition, from the Good Guys. I'm sure readers could place this in context in today's epistle, with its Holy Land journey theme. It reassured me that even the road to Dingo Beach couldn't shake the drier enough to disable it. And it made the bloke alongside us, in the Winnebago worth more than ablutions block, green as grass because he didn't have one.  Bugger. Now I'm going to have to go find a hermit to confess my sins to.  I'll get back to you later, and tell you about the Big Smoke. No, not Soddam and Gomorrah - Sydney!