November 30, 2024 • 38 mins
This week we’re continuing our Road to Riches road trip, heading east to the Sapphire Gemfields of Central Queensland.
We camp overnight in a little forgotten Outback town, famous for its incredible petrified wood forests, before pushing on to Rubyvale in the heart of the Sapphire Gemfields.
We enjoy a great couple of days hunting for gemstones, meeting the locals and exploring the region, camping up at the Gem Seekers Caravan Park right in town. We stop in to the Rubyvale Gem Gallery to catch up with our good friends, the Brown family, and enjoy a meal or two at the Rubyvale Pub.
If you love a good treasure hunt, you’ll love a visit to this quirky region of Central Australia!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 1 (00:33):
Welcome to Season 9, episode 8 of the Family Travel
Australia podcast.
We are Paul, katie and Jasperfrom the Feel Good Family.
Join us as we explore thisgreat country, australia, its
people, places and cultures.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, welcome to the Family Travel Podcast, where we
share the latest in RV industrynews road trip travel,
caravanning and camping, productreviews, way to go, what to do
and so much more.
Thanks for joining us this week.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Katie, we have to leave the hot springs.
We're heading to the SapphireGemfield with an overnight in a
forgotten outback town.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yes.
And aren't there so many ofthese little forgotten outback
towns, paul?
Oh yes, and aren't there somany of these little forgotten
outback towns, paul and gosh?
We love discovering theselittle places because, you know,
while they may be forgotten tothe majority of the world, there
are still people here.
There's people that live here,people that work here and often
rich in stories.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yes, people make the place and they certainly do have
some good stories out.
Here we are at Alpha Now,leaving Lara Wetlands.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
we obviously headed through Barkie stopped at the
bakery yummo, oh yeah, and theIGA.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yes, a very good shopping stop.
It is the IGA.
And, of course, the Tree ofKnowledge, as we mentioned last
episode.
It 183 kilometers journey, so amedium drive day for the feel
goods.
And look, we're on what wouldbe the end of the tourist season
and pulling into alpha caravanpark.
(02:17):
we're the only ones there nowthis is a very unusual
occurrence for us and they saidthey have had a fairly busy
season.
It really is a tourist transitlocation and there just isn't a
lot going on.
I mean, the town wasestablished there back in 1863
(02:40):
as the, I guess, temporaryterminus during the construction
of the Central Western RailLine, so it was the end of the
line.
They had established it afterMajor Mitchell the explorer had
really just passed throughbriefly and said, oh, this would
be a good settlement.
So there you go.
So they did have a settlementhere and throughout time, from,
(03:03):
you know, 1863 onwards there,that population has really been
three, four hundreds, peaked atabout its current now, which is
just shy of 600 people from thelast census out there.
(03:26):
Right of having, you know, theopportunity to grow economic
benefits, but had a lot ofissues there with different
people, particularly theGreenies, saying no, no, no,
we've got some endangeredspecies of birds and things here
that you're going to ruin.
So there was impact studiesdone anyway.
So the town has had this sortof interrupted history and then
the real fame from a touristpoint of view came about because
(03:48):
they have petrified wood.
They had these ancient forestshere that all end up petrified,
and so tourists were comingthrough and fossicking for
petrified wood.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, look, we could definitely notice a difference,
couldn't we, paul?
We pulled through Alpha quite anumber of years ago and whilst
it was still a small outbacktown with not a lot of people,
there was still Activity.
Activity, that's right, andparticularly on the main street.
It's a sweet little main streetof Alpha and there is this
(04:24):
great little visitor informationcentre.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
It's a one street, one horse kind of thing.
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, yes, that's right, and the Vic was fantastic
.
When we pulled through a coupleof years ago.
It was open.
It's got this real old trainstation ticket office vibe about
it, that's what it?
is yeah, well, that's probablywhy it's got that kind of vibe.
There you go, and then thissweet little garden out the back
(04:52):
with all of this petrified wood, and the lovely lady that we
spoke to a few years ago, whowas manning the Vic, took all
the time in the world with us toexplain to Jasper, who was much
littler than all, about thepetrified wood, and we even got
to have a little bit of afossick in the garden out the
back of the Vic.
Sadly, this time when we camethrough town, the Vic was all
(05:14):
closed up.
Now we don't know whether thatwas just, you know, on the days
that we were in town this timeor whether it is actually closed
at the time, but if you arecoming through Alpha, we would
definitely recommend trying tostop in there at the Vic, as
Paul mentioned, it was very,very quiet this time and pulling
(05:36):
into the caravan park we sortof looked at each other like is
it open.
Yeah, should we stop here?
Keep going?
What do we do?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I think, because the sprinklers were all out on the
lawns and it looked very wellmaintained.
It's a very old caravan park.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's actually a really pretty place to camp.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Really pretty place to camp.
Yes, because the grass is green, the trees are everything's
well manicured a camp.
Yes, because the grass is green, the trees are everything's
well manicured.
And even though the facilitieslike the camp kitchen and the
amenities are old, they'reimmaculate.
Yes yes, well painted, you know, it's really well managed.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, yes it is.
Last time we came through,there was great managers who
were looking after the property.
This time, a new set of greatmanagers who were looking after
the property.
This time, a new set of greatmanagers who were looking after
the property.
He was very, very happy to seeus roll in, obviously, and park
up for the night.
And, look to be fair, a numberof other travellers came in
later in that afternoon and sothere would have been oh gosh, I
(06:40):
don't know maybe three or fourof us camping overnight.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yes, there was, and while-.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
We started a trend, Al.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
My trend center is looking out the feel goods.
While Liam the manager, I didmeet his wife I didn't catch her
name, though they were verywelcoming, as you said, katie
and said look, if you haven'tgot plans, you should head up to
the golf club for some dinner.
They do counter meals up there,and so sure enough we did.
(07:10):
We headed up there, and otherthan a handful of locals, we
were it.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yes.
There's a nice little walk fromthe caravan park too, which I
loved.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, look, it's uphill and probably one and a
half kilometres up the road, andso the good thing about going
uphill is that, coming back froma pub or a golf club, you know
it's all downhill from there,babe.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, exactly when you fall.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Exactly.
I'm always nervous when I rockinto a venue like this and
there's a specials board.
I generally don't go near thespecials, just in case they kind
of you know, push the.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Leftovers.
Is that what you're trying tosay, Doug?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Get rid of the cod, you know, get rid of the venison
.
It's running out of date.
So, yeah, so, but look, therewas homemade kind of vibe, like
that sort of really heartyvegetables, you know, and with
the creamy sauce over it.
And that was really good.
We enjoyed that, had a sneakybeverage and then we made our
(08:14):
way back down Silent night.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, so quiet yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Because when there's no one around, you know you're
it.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, yeah that's so right.
And where we are, we've sort of, once you get to Buckhold and
you sort of come off what theyrefer to as the Outback Way, and
now we're technically on theCapricorn Highway.
So we're at the start or theend, I suppose, depending on
which way you go of theCapricorn Highway, which
(08:44):
basically runs horizontal andfollows the line of the Tropic
of Capricorn all the way towardsthe east coast of Australia to
Yipoon.
So we're with-.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
The Great Barrier Reef, Katie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yes, the southern Great Barrier Reef, the gateway
to the reef, and it's not theokay Great Barrier Reef Del.
No, it's the Great Barrier Reef.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
The gateway to the reef and it's not the okay Great
Barrier Reef Del.
It is great.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And we look.
Let me tell you we are excitedand I think this is a real
turning point for us in thisjourney because we've had all of
that time Amazing you know sixmonths in the Northern Territory
heading up to Darwin, there,spending time up there in the
Top End just incredible countryand then coming back down to
(09:32):
Gemtree to start this epic roadto riches road trip from, you
know, gemtree in the NorthernTerritory across the Plenty
Highway into outback Queensland,some of the country's most
incredible outback region, andnow we've hit this turning point
of the Capricorn Highway.
(09:53):
I can almost smell the sea airDel.
We are closer to a beach thatwe can actually swim at than we
have been all year.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
True, and you're so spot on.
It's like all of a sudden youknow that 500 kilometres to the
coast ain't a big deal.
You know because we're doingthat sometimes in a day.
Yes, and really the location ofAlpha is roughly 400 kilometres
west of Rocky.
(10:26):
Okay, so it really is thatclose.
We're going to take a few daysto get there.
In fact, we were meant to go toCarnarvon Gorge, one of our
all-time favourite nationalparks as a family.
It was our first real epicadventure out there without the
safety net of our family andfriends, and so it will always
remain probably at the top ofour list as far as a hiking
(10:51):
experience in a remote part ofAustralia that is just
breathtakingly beautiful.
Well, there's a large firethere, so they evacuated all the
tourists Might have mentionedthis in the last podcast,
actually.
And then we thought, well,we'll go to Black Down
Tablelands, Rainbow Fallsanother stunningly beautiful
location and the falls there andthe natural water holes and
(11:14):
swimming pools Wow, it's alsoclosed and we saw that fire.
I mean it's massive.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So they've evacuated everyone from there.
Yeah, so we're like, eh Changeplans.
Yeah, so we're like, eh, changeof plans.
Yeah, not to worry, still plentyto do here.
So Alpha became, you know, oneof our overnight stops, which
otherwise it would not have been.
And really, if you're headingwest, out to Winton or beyond,
or coming back, and you'rewanting to get straight to the
(11:42):
coast, you're going to passthrough Alpha, yep, yep.
Now, before we leave Alpha,just a little bit on the
Petrified Wood, because therewere public fossicking areas
that you could go and fossickfor the Petrified Wood many
years ago, and unfortunately thelocal council, it's now part of
the wider Barkholden region.
(12:02):
Actually They've amalgamated alot of these little towns under
the umbrella of Barkie.
They had to close down becauseof really poor behavior from
tourists that were comingthrough, just dumping their
rubbish, dumping their toiletwaste, which is, you know, the
worst really of the behavior ofsome people out there.
(12:23):
You know, I think, bring backpublic floggings, katie, string
them up Publicly, shame them and, you know, give them a good
whipping, a littlecat-o'-nine-tails or something.
Wow, yeah, I'm all in on this.
It's terrible.
You know, I do understandsometimes you've got to go and
(12:44):
whatever, but there's ways ofdoing these things, I guess.
But you know, I do understandsometimes you've got to go and
whatever, but there's ways ofdoing these things, I guess.
But you know, thisunfortunately ruined it for
everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, look, and we hate to say it, but we have seen
this version of things in anumber of places as we've
travelled around the country,where, you know, these iconic
spots that are open totravellers do get closed down
because people don't look afterthem, and it always leaves us
scratching our heads, you know,because you're out here to
(13:13):
explore the country, to seethese places and really, you
know, immerse yourself in thenature and then to not look
after it, and we see this whenwe're on the beach, we see it
when we're, you know, in theoutback.
It really does make you wonderwhy, but anyway, that is the
(13:34):
case.
They have closed down thepublic fossicking areas, which
is a real shame becausepetrified wood is so cool it
really is.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And fortunately for little J-Man, little Jasperini,
when we were packing up and justtrying to get a little bit of
local knowledge inside into.
Well, can you just give us alittle bit of a point us in the
right direction so we could goon Fossick for some of this.
Is there somewhere that wecould access legally to look for
the petrified wood?
And Woll's wife I'm sorry, Idon't remember her name said to
(14:08):
Jasper, here, here's some.
And she gave him this littlepiece of petrified wood and she
did point us in the rightdirection.
But where it was with the vanin tow, we couldn't, kind of you
know, 100% guarantee that itwas accessible.
It's a little bit of afour-wheel drive dirt track or
out over beyond the sports oval.
(14:29):
There you go, there's a tip,but yeah, I'd go and see these
guys.
Wal didn't really know he goes.
I don't know, mate, people goout, find it.
Uh, whereas his wife actuallysaid no, no, you've got to go to
this road and take a left overthe hill and you'll find it, and
so that was really generous andso we did have a little piece
there, beautiful piece ofpetrified wood.
(14:50):
Interestingly, I didn't knowthis about petrified wood, but
it's formed underground.
Well, I knew that bit.
Right, okay, and it's really atype of fossil and what happens
is, as the old forestry you know, falls and is laying there and
then over time it's filled overwith sediments and the dead
plant matter and its cells areactually replaced by minerals,
(15:15):
silicate and a few other thingsprimarily, and it fossilizes
into a rock.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
With the same textures of its original form.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It is so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It's really beautiful , You're right.
So it's a bummer that they hadto close the public Fosken area.
I think if they could resurrectthat, they could have a really
huge economic spinoff.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, and from our point of view they definitely
need it.
They need the tourists comingthrough and staying and playing
a little bit longer to helpsupport the town and the people
that live here.
This whole region is incredible, paul, like the further that
we're going to start to travelalong this Capricorn Highway
(16:04):
towards the east coast ofQueensland.
Out here, you know this onceupon a time, a million squillion
years ago, used to be sea.
So as we get further andfurther towards Rockhampton, you
know the fossil life out hereand in particular the marine
fossil life is mind-blowing,particularly, you know, in this
(16:28):
day and age when you're drivingand you know there's no ocean to
be seen.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah, look, 130 million years ago, give or take
a couple there was the largeinland sea of Australia, the
Aramanga Sea, which basically isthe footprint of where the
Great Artesian Basin is now.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Very interesting Very interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So yeah, I mean epic sea creatures and, of course,
the most most famous, the kingof all dinosaurs and king of
underwater dinosaurs, is thecronosaurus queenslandicus oh
yes, and you can actually comeface to face with that guy out
there on that awesome dinosaurtriangle in outback Queensland.
(17:11):
Yeah now, amazing locations outhere to come and visit and play
and stay.
Now, Alpha to SapphireGemfields we're actually going
to.
Rubyvale is 142 kilometres.
Again, a pretty small to mediumsort of drive day.
We're going to be staying atthe Gemseekers Caravan Park
(17:31):
first for the field goods.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yes, actually it's quite surprising out here in the
Gem Fields how many placesthere are on offer for tourists
to stay at.
So as you are turning off theCapricorn Highway and heading
into the Gem Fields of Sapphireand Rubyvale, you have Anarchy
Gem Fields there.
There's a great little caravanpark there, I guess right on the
(17:54):
intersection of the highway.
That gets rave reviews.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Always reminds me of Luke Skywalker.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, exactly A real bummer for us, though, was the
Anarchy Hotel, the pub, whichhas a fantastic history and a
story that we were eager to goand check out, but it has been
closed down for some time now,which is a real shame.
But anyway, we didn't staythere.
(18:21):
We continued on to Rebouval, asPaul said, but you drive
through the little township ofSapphire, which also has a
number of different caravanparks to stay at, different
caravan parks to stay at, andlook, we've run into a heap of
travellers who have been stayingat all of these various places,
who all said to us oh, this wasfantastic, this was a great
place to stay.
We really loved it here.
So I don't think you can go toomuch wrong out here in these
(18:43):
parts.
I will asterisk that by saying,though, you are still in the
middle of an environment that isdirty and dusty and not a lot
of trees and not a lot of water,so don't come out to these
parts expecting that you aregoing to find this incredible
facility with amazing amenitiesand brand new and lush green
(19:08):
grass.
You're just not going to findthat out here, so don't be
disappointed when you, you knowyou do stay somewhere and the
amenities might be really old,but hey, at least they're clean.
Or the sites might be small,but hey, at least you've got
power and water.
Yes, correct.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
We're reminded of our first visit here where we went
whoa, what a junkyard, yes, andthen you know you cannot judge a
book by its cover.
It's the same out there inCooper Peaty.
If you drove into that town andyour first impression was your
lasting impression, you'd keepdriving, correct, it looks like
(19:47):
no one cares.
You know, and a lot of this isbecause, well, certainly here in
Rue Vale and Sapphire and thesesort of surrounding gem fields
is that a lot of it is 100 by100 metre claim sites that
aren't allowed to have anypermanent dwellings.
So you have all of thismakeshift.
(20:09):
You know, certainly not.
You know council approvedbuildings because they're just
banged together with a fewscrews the tin shed lean too.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
that sort of covers the old caravan that's seen
better days, that attaches toanother kind of sheddy
construction.
You know it's all a bit, youknow it makes you sort of think
oh God, what are we doing?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
out here.
She'll be right, mate, justbang that up there, let's get
underground, get digging.
Yeah, don't need to worry aboutwhat's up here, we need to get
down there.
And then, when stuff breaksdown, it's left, but not because
it's left to be forgotten, it'sbecause, well, now, that's my
local Bunnings.
Everything that is left is aspare part for a future
breakdown on something else thatI've got to go on now, jimmy up
(20:55):
.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, absolutely hey.
Remember when we were out incorner country of New South
Wales, we did the Sturt Stepsdrive journey from Broken Hill
all the way well, we actuallywent all the way up to Cameron
Corner there where the threestates of Queensland, South
Australia and New South Walesmeet, but we were in
Tibberborough and this is thebest version of the Outback
(21:18):
Bunnings that we have seen,because they literally had a
huge area with a big sign thatsaid the Outback Bunnings that
you could drive into and it's abit like driving to the tip.
But what they did out here,which was so fantastic, is okay.
Over here on the right they hada whole area that was
(21:39):
well-signed, white goods, right,and then you drive a little bit
more and then there's a wholearea that's like lawnmowers or
anything, Furniture.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Wood tin, yes, scrap metal.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So you could go and drop your stuff off, but you
could also do a little bit of,you know, free shopping while
you're there to pick up yourspare parts.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, the town had, I think, realised that, you know,
unfortunately.
But people do judge a book byits cover, and so let's at least
categorise everything into somesort of structured, you know,
organised, chaos.
Gee, it worked really well outthere.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, it did.
And you know the reason.
We were out there.
We don't just, you know, liketo go driving around the old tip
wherever we go, but they hadwhat they called a dump point at
the very back of that OutbackBunnings and at that stage we
were running our cassette toilet.
So we did have to go to theOutback Bunnings and at that
stage we were running ourcassette toilet, so we did have
to go to the Outback Bunnings todump our loo.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Which was into an old ceramic toilet with the lid.
Yeah, very cool, good fun stuffVery cool as far as dumping
your waste goes, yeah we digressAnyway.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
So we're back in Rubyvale.
We're staying at the GemSeekers Caravan Park.
That was great.
It's a tiny little caravan park.
It's right in town.
The reason we chose it wasbecause it is right there in
town, Easy walk to the pub,which we would highly recommend.
That you go down and have ameal or two At the meal prices I
(23:10):
think, some of the mostinexpensive pub meals anywhere
in Australia here at the RubyVale Hotel.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And they have karaoke , which can be good and bad,
can't it?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yes, and it was.
It was good and bad, I have tosay.
I had an amazing vegetariancurry here at the pub, but meal
prices just fantastic.
In fact, we frequented the puba couple of times during our
stay here at the pub, but mealprices just fantastic.
In fact, we frequented the puba couple of times during our
stay here in Rubyvale.
You can also easily walk intotown.
(23:43):
Well, the pub kind of is town,but there's a little post office
opposite the pub.
There's also the beautifulRubyvale Gem Gallery, owned by
our dear friends.
Beautiful Rubyvale Gem Gallery,owned by our dear friends, the
Brown family, eileen and Mitch,and it was so great to come back
after all of these years andsee them and have a minute with
(24:04):
them and catch up.
And, oh, my goodness, like, ifyou know, the hard work of
mining for sapphires is too much, then definitely just head
straight to the Rubyvale GemGallery and pick yourself up a
stunning piece of jewellery thatis cut and faceted and turned
into whatever it is that you areafter here on site.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, look, and to get a bit more history about the
Brown family.
I think a few years ago when wewere here, I had the real
privilege of being able to sitdown and chat with and film an
interview with Peter Brown, thefather figure of this family,
and very sadly he passed away ayear later.
(24:50):
So we did really miss hiswelcoming, open arms, open heart
approach to life.
Yes this time around.
But, gee, it was wonderful togo back and see that his family
is continuing on with his legacy.
You know this self-made man whoreally came out with just a
dream and a shovel and thehardships and his resilience to
(25:16):
have really built up his dreaminto what is now this family's
you know, incredibly successfulbusiness.
It was, you know, reallywonderful to reconnect with them
and see that they still had allof his charm and want to share
with visitors.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh, absolutely.
Look, I think that the Brownfamily really are as much a part
of Ruby Vale as the sapphiresthat you're finding in the
ground themselves.
And look, we did go a huntingfor sapphires and we did, we did
all right.
Yeah, look, we opted for theeasy version of this.
So, outside of the publicfossicking areas that you can go
(25:54):
out to, you do need a permit,so you do need to get online and
get yourself a fossickingpermit from the Queensland
government.
It's very inexpensive andthere's different timeframes
that you can get.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And it is really weird.
It's in a weird currency unit,it's like $11.26.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, it is.
I think it might be somestrange GST thing, I haven't
quite worked it out.
But anyways, it's veryinexpensive and you can do that.
But of course with that comesneeding all of the gear and then
the knowledge of what you'relooking for and how to do it.
What's great about Rubyvale andSapphire is that there are a
number of what's calledfossicking parks that are open
(26:33):
to travellers and tourists,where you can go purchase
yourself a big bag of washthat's all that rubbly stuff and
they show you what to do.
They've got all of theequipment there and then you
just do it with you know, theknowledge of having somebody on
hand to say is this a good one?
So we opted to go to the MinersCottage at Foster King Park and
(26:57):
the reason we chose this oneover all of the others, I have
to be honest, is because foryour bag of wash that, I think,
cost us $30.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That was a medium size.
There were I think $10 or $15kids sort of bags, and then
there's $100, the serious stuffkind of wash.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, which you know.
They do try and upsell you.
She said to us oh, you know,there's a lot more good stuff in
those big bags of wash.
But anyway, we opted for the$30 bag and it comes with scones
and a cup of tea.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
So that's why we chose this one, and it was a
very, very short drive fromwhere we were staying at Gem
Seekers.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Such a strange thing, katie, to me.
What my love for Devonshire tea.
Or that you can get Devonshiretea with a bag of wash.
No, you can get a bag of washto try and find a sapphire.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And we'll give you a little value out of a Devonshire
tea in the middle of Rubyvale.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Bloody brilliant.
I say so good.
Yeah, it was really goodactually.
And look, it's hot work, andeven at this time of year it is
heating up out here.
So bear that in mind.
Our suggestion would be don't belike us and leave it till later
in the morning to go.
Get there as soon as they open,at 8am in the morning, because
then you're not going to besweltering under that sun 8am in
(28:10):
the morning, because thenyou're not going to be
sweltering under that sun.
The problem well, maybe not theproblem, but that the whole
thing around fossicking forsapphires and it was the same
when we were out at GemtreePaulie, wasn't it?
Looking for zircon and garnetyou need the sun to be able to
see your hall, otherwise theyall just look like rocks.
(28:30):
So you are standing out in thathot sun.
So that cup of tea and sconeswas very welcome.
Anyway, we got our bag of wash.
Tricia, who was so lovely andtook all the time in the world
with us, particularly Jaspershowed us what to do how to wash
and wash again, hence why it'scalled a bag of wash.
How to wash and wash againhence why it's called a bag of
wash and then lay it all out andwhat we were looking for and
(28:53):
all the equipment.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And we got quite a nifty little haul.
Look, and Jasper claimed themall.
He did actually there's nosharing, Mum, but then to have
them sorted for you into keepers.
You know, polishers.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, cutters and polishers.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
That's it.
Show and tell.
Yeah, these are the ones youcan take to school, jasper and
you know.
Show your mates and then justrocks, they divide, like it must
take, you know, 15 to 20minutes for every single person
that's there for them toactually put the magnifying
glass and the lights on and pickthrough with little tweezers
(29:36):
and sort them out.
And then they give you even alocation over there in Thailand
that you can send the cuttersand polishers away to be
professionally polished and cutfor you, because the value of
doing it overseas is far greaterthan trying to get anything
done here just due to the costof wages and by the time you
(29:56):
send it there and they send itback and it's all done for you.
it's just such better value.
So there's probably about fourstones or gemstones I should say
that we will send off.
Yeah, because what a greatexperience for one.
But then to be able to actuallyfind something that is worth
(30:19):
its you know expense, to thensay I found this and now I've
turned it into a beautifullittle stone that you could put
in a ring or a pendant orsomething, we just love this
experience and the thing thatreally struck home with us is
that we did it.
For what is it all up?
A two-hour experience.
(30:40):
These guys have been doing itfor decades.
It's like I'll tell you what.
Once that bug gets you, you cansee the appeal.
But do not be fooled intothinking this is easy way to
earn your keep.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No, that's so true.
Okay, a couple of things.
What I love about coming anddoing it the way that we did at,
say, miner's Cottage, is thatyou're pretty well guaranteed
you're going to find something.
Everybody walks away with alittle haul of sapphires.
Look, they might be alldifferent grades, but you walk
(31:16):
away with something to show foryour time and your effort.
Last time we came out here andwe just had the absolute honor
of spending all of that timewith Peter Brown and we actually
got to go mining with him intoone of his underground mines,
with him into one of hisunderground mines and we saw him
picking out sapphires.
Look, the size of gosh, a 10cent piece a 10 cent Australian
(31:38):
piece Amazing.
Out of the walls of his mine.
I mean, that's now, that's awhole different kind of mining,
babe.
It's a whole different pricepoint.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Incredible.
What is out here.
A couple of cool things that welearnt that we had no idea of
Because we were like well, whyis it called Rubyvale?
You know, like the little towndown the road's called Sapphire
and it is the Sapphire gemfields.
Why is it called Rubyvale?
So we learnt that rubies andsapphires are the same thing.
(32:09):
They're made of the exact samechemical mineral compounds.
The red ones, rubies.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
And so when they first came out here, they
actually thought that they werefinding rubies.
In effect, they're actuallysapphires and that's hence why
it's called ruby val.
But there you go, because therewas red stones out here.
But it actually turned out tobe I think Tricia told us more
zircon.
I think that they were findingout here at the time.
(32:37):
Anyway, rubies are redsapphires and emeralds.
What are emeralds, paulie?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Are green sapphires, and there's possibly a handful
of you out there that are sayingno, duh, I mean.
Thanks, Sherlock.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, well, look, we didn't know that and we're very
happy to have found that out.
But sapphires, of course, docome in lots of different
colours other than just blue,red and green.
You can get yellow, orange.
My favourite are what they callthe party, Not like hey, let's
go and party.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
If you found one big enough, you would, you would be?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
yes, but they've got this colour range inside of them
, so a bit more like how an opalis colourised with all of the
different flecks of the parties.
Have a party going on.
Look, we just love the thrillof finding something and
(33:40):
watching Jasper get completelyengaged.
He's so serious when he isfossicking he is like hey, don't
mess with me, man, this is mysystem, I'm in charge of washing
Like he doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
He just goes into true fossica mode like old time
old time minor mode and look,it's hard to get an eight year
old to stay focused for morethan 10 minutes.
You know when I used to writekids shows.
You know I was working with theteam over there with Disney
Channel and Warner Brothers andyou know different theme parks
(34:10):
and places that I've worked overmy earlier career and I used to
write the scripts and I learnedthrough a connection actually
from Disney in the US that saidif you take a kid from any age,
like six years old through toeven 16 years old, and you
(34:32):
double their age, that is theirattention span in minutes.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
So six, you know you'd be lucky to get 12 minutes
out of them.
Eight, 16, you can do the mathand in fact that's how they
originally came to the length ofa school, what we call in
Australia a period or a sessionor a lesson.
Yeah, it's.
40 to 45 minutes is absolutelythe peak amount of time that you
(34:59):
can keep a teenager focused onone subject.
So interesting Anyways, and sothat's why we used to have to
write shows to the demographicage.
We were trying to you knowshare the storytelling.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Short and punchy darling.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yes, Short and punchy , get in and get it out, which
this story is taking far toolong.
So, anyways, but interesting.
So to see Jasper there for thatentire two hours absolutely
dedicated to the task of findinghis riches.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
It's a great place for families.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, Really well worth it.
And you know a great littleinsight into the life that these
miners, these people out herewho actually live out here, have
.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
All right, we're going to say goodbye to the gem
fields Now.
This location really all theway through here and to the
coast was formerly known as theDig the Tropics road trip route,
and they're resurrecting that.
And now we've taken on evenfurther afield and come from
(36:02):
Gemtree and we've given it ourown name, which is Road to
Riches.
Well, our Road to Riches takesin the Dictotropics as well.
So if you've got a shorterversion in mind, we would
recommend you come and start outhere, because you will enjoy
you know, the road trip with theFosser King and they've got all
the gear, so you don't evenhave to bring any.
(36:23):
So good, all right.
Now we're heading 65 kilometresto Lake Mariborne Again a
change of plans due to theclosures of the other national
parks.
Now Lake Mariborne, also knownas Funburn Dam, mm-hmm.
Awesome experience.
We'll be bringing that to younext week.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Excellent.
This is a favourite spot ofours.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And I love that it's the shortest drive day ever.
Yes, that we've done in monthsand months and months 65Ks All
Shortest drive day ever thatwe've done in months and months
and months 65Ks, all right.
The takeaway for this week somuch of who we are is where we
have been.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Oh, I like that, Paulie.
That's nice and deep Got to getoff the couch.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Got to get out there, got to.
You know, australia, if you'rehere, you're lucky enough to be
listening.
In this lucky country of ours,you are more than likely within
a two-hour drive radius of anational park which is, most of
the time, free to access, youknow, low cost.
And to be able to get out intothese natural wonderlands is a
(37:23):
gift for us Aussies.
So do it Because you are somuch of where you have been.
Yes, when you look back on yourlife, they're the rich stories,
the memories that make up thefabric of you as a character.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, the moments that define you Love it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
All right, next week we will be gifted from a
complete stranger the prized redclaw Yummo.
But for now we'll say dream big, look after yourself and look
after your family.
And happy trails.
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Speaker 1 (00:33):
Welcome to Season 9, episode 8 of the Family Travel
Australia podcast.
We are Paul, katie and Jasperfrom the Feel Good Family.
Join us as we explore thisgreat country, australia, its
people, places and cultures.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, welcome to the Family Travel Podcast, where we
share the latest in RV industrynews road trip travel,
caravanning and camping, productreviews, way to go, what to do
and so much more.
Thanks for joining us this week.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Katie, we have to leave the hot springs.
We're heading to the SapphireGemfield with an overnight in a
forgotten outback town.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yes.
And aren't there so many ofthese little forgotten outback
towns, paul?
Oh yes, and aren't there somany of these little forgotten
outback towns, paul and gosh?
We love discovering theselittle places because, you know,
while they may be forgotten tothe majority of the world, there
are still people here.
There's people that live here,people that work here and often
rich in stories.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yes, people make the place and they certainly do have
some good stories out.
Here we are at Alpha Now,leaving Lara Wetlands.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
we obviously headed through Barkie stopped at the
bakery yummo, oh yeah, and theIGA.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yes, a very good shopping stop.
It is the IGA.
And, of course, the Tree ofKnowledge, as we mentioned last
episode.
It 183 kilometers journey, so amedium drive day for the feel
goods.
And look, we're on what wouldbe the end of the tourist season
and pulling into alpha caravanpark.
(02:17):
we're the only ones there nowthis is a very unusual
occurrence for us and they saidthey have had a fairly busy
season.
It really is a tourist transitlocation and there just isn't a
lot going on.
I mean, the town wasestablished there back in 1863
(02:40):
as the, I guess, temporaryterminus during the construction
of the Central Western RailLine, so it was the end of the
line.
They had established it afterMajor Mitchell the explorer had
really just passed throughbriefly and said, oh, this would
be a good settlement.
So there you go.
So they did have a settlementhere and throughout time, from,
(03:03):
you know, 1863 onwards there,that population has really been
three, four hundreds, peaked atabout its current now, which is
just shy of 600 people from thelast census out there.
(03:26):
Right of having, you know, theopportunity to grow economic
benefits, but had a lot ofissues there with different
people, particularly theGreenies, saying no, no, no,
we've got some endangeredspecies of birds and things here
that you're going to ruin.
So there was impact studiesdone anyway.
So the town has had this sortof interrupted history and then
the real fame from a touristpoint of view came about because
(03:48):
they have petrified wood.
They had these ancient forestshere that all end up petrified,
and so tourists were comingthrough and fossicking for
petrified wood.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, look, we could definitely notice a difference,
couldn't we, paul?
We pulled through Alpha quite anumber of years ago and whilst
it was still a small outbacktown with not a lot of people,
there was still Activity.
Activity, that's right, andparticularly on the main street.
It's a sweet little main streetof Alpha and there is this
(04:24):
great little visitor informationcentre.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
It's a one street, one horse kind of thing.
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, yes, that's right, and the Vic was fantastic
.
When we pulled through a coupleof years ago.
It was open.
It's got this real old trainstation ticket office vibe about
it, that's what it?
is yeah, well, that's probablywhy it's got that kind of vibe.
There you go, and then thissweet little garden out the back
(04:52):
with all of this petrified wood, and the lovely lady that we
spoke to a few years ago, whowas manning the Vic, took all
the time in the world with us toexplain to Jasper, who was much
littler than all, about thepetrified wood, and we even got
to have a little bit of afossick in the garden out the
back of the Vic.
Sadly, this time when we camethrough town, the Vic was all
(05:14):
closed up.
Now we don't know whether thatwas just, you know, on the days
that we were in town this timeor whether it is actually closed
at the time, but if you arecoming through Alpha, we would
definitely recommend trying tostop in there at the Vic, as
Paul mentioned, it was very,very quiet this time and pulling
(05:36):
into the caravan park we sortof looked at each other like is
it open.
Yeah, should we stop here?
Keep going?
What do we do?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I think, because the sprinklers were all out on the
lawns and it looked very wellmaintained.
It's a very old caravan park.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's actually a really pretty place to camp.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Really pretty place to camp.
Yes, because the grass is green, the trees are everything's
well manicured a camp.
Yes, because the grass is green, the trees are everything's
well manicured.
And even though the facilitieslike the camp kitchen and the
amenities are old, they'reimmaculate.
Yes yes, well painted, you know, it's really well managed.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, yes it is.
Last time we came through,there was great managers who
were looking after the property.
This time, a new set of greatmanagers who were looking after
the property.
This time, a new set of greatmanagers who were looking after
the property.
He was very, very happy to seeus roll in, obviously, and park
up for the night.
And, look to be fair, a numberof other travellers came in
later in that afternoon and sothere would have been oh gosh, I
(06:40):
don't know maybe three or fourof us camping overnight.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yes, there was, and while-.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
We started a trend, Al.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
My trend center is looking out the feel goods.
While Liam the manager, I didmeet his wife I didn't catch her
name, though they were verywelcoming, as you said, katie
and said look, if you haven'tgot plans, you should head up to
the golf club for some dinner.
They do counter meals up there,and so sure enough we did.
(07:10):
We headed up there, and otherthan a handful of locals, we
were it.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yes.
There's a nice little walk fromthe caravan park too, which I
loved.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, look, it's uphill and probably one and a
half kilometres up the road, andso the good thing about going
uphill is that, coming back froma pub or a golf club, you know
it's all downhill from there,babe.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, exactly when you fall.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Exactly.
I'm always nervous when I rockinto a venue like this and
there's a specials board.
I generally don't go near thespecials, just in case they kind
of you know, push the.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Leftovers.
Is that what you're trying tosay, Doug?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Get rid of the cod, you know, get rid of the venison
.
It's running out of date.
So, yeah, so, but look, therewas homemade kind of vibe, like
that sort of really heartyvegetables, you know, and with
the creamy sauce over it.
And that was really good.
We enjoyed that, had a sneakybeverage and then we made our
(08:14):
way back down Silent night.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, so quiet yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Because when there's no one around, you know you're
it.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, yeah that's so right.
And where we are, we've sort of, once you get to Buckhold and
you sort of come off what theyrefer to as the Outback Way, and
now we're technically on theCapricorn Highway.
So we're at the start or theend, I suppose, depending on
which way you go of theCapricorn Highway, which
(08:44):
basically runs horizontal andfollows the line of the Tropic
of Capricorn all the way towardsthe east coast of Australia to
Yipoon.
So we're with-.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
The Great Barrier Reef, Katie.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yes, the southern Great Barrier Reef, the gateway
to the reef, and it's not theokay Great Barrier Reef Del.
No, it's the Great Barrier Reef.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
The gateway to the reef and it's not the okay Great
Barrier Reef Del.
It is great.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And we look.
Let me tell you we are excitedand I think this is a real
turning point for us in thisjourney because we've had all of
that time Amazing you know sixmonths in the Northern Territory
heading up to Darwin, there,spending time up there in the
Top End just incredible countryand then coming back down to
(09:32):
Gemtree to start this epic roadto riches road trip from, you
know, gemtree in the NorthernTerritory across the Plenty
Highway into outback Queensland,some of the country's most
incredible outback region, andnow we've hit this turning point
of the Capricorn Highway.
(09:53):
I can almost smell the sea airDel.
We are closer to a beach thatwe can actually swim at than we
have been all year.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
True, and you're so spot on.
It's like all of a sudden youknow that 500 kilometres to the
coast ain't a big deal.
You know because we're doingthat sometimes in a day.
Yes, and really the location ofAlpha is roughly 400 kilometres
west of Rocky.
(10:26):
Okay, so it really is thatclose.
We're going to take a few daysto get there.
In fact, we were meant to go toCarnarvon Gorge, one of our
all-time favourite nationalparks as a family.
It was our first real epicadventure out there without the
safety net of our family andfriends, and so it will always
remain probably at the top ofour list as far as a hiking
(10:51):
experience in a remote part ofAustralia that is just
breathtakingly beautiful.
Well, there's a large firethere, so they evacuated all the
tourists Might have mentionedthis in the last podcast,
actually.
And then we thought, well,we'll go to Black Down
Tablelands, Rainbow Fallsanother stunningly beautiful
location and the falls there andthe natural water holes and
(11:14):
swimming pools Wow, it's alsoclosed and we saw that fire.
I mean it's massive.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So they've evacuated everyone from there.
Yeah, so we're like, eh Changeplans.
Yeah, so we're like, eh, changeof plans.
Yeah, not to worry, still plentyto do here.
So Alpha became, you know, oneof our overnight stops, which
otherwise it would not have been.
And really, if you're headingwest, out to Winton or beyond,
or coming back, and you'rewanting to get straight to the
(11:42):
coast, you're going to passthrough Alpha, yep, yep.
Now, before we leave Alpha,just a little bit on the
Petrified Wood, because therewere public fossicking areas
that you could go and fossickfor the Petrified Wood many
years ago, and unfortunately thelocal council, it's now part of
the wider Barkholden region.
(12:02):
Actually They've amalgamated alot of these little towns under
the umbrella of Barkie.
They had to close down becauseof really poor behavior from
tourists that were comingthrough, just dumping their
rubbish, dumping their toiletwaste, which is, you know, the
worst really of the behavior ofsome people out there.
(12:23):
You know, I think, bring backpublic floggings, katie, string
them up Publicly, shame them and, you know, give them a good
whipping, a littlecat-o'-nine-tails or something.
Wow, yeah, I'm all in on this.
It's terrible.
You know, I do understandsometimes you've got to go and
(12:44):
whatever, but there's ways ofdoing these things, I guess.
But you know, I do understandsometimes you've got to go and
whatever, but there's ways ofdoing these things, I guess.
But you know, thisunfortunately ruined it for
everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, look, and we hate to say it, but we have seen
this version of things in anumber of places as we've
travelled around the country,where, you know, these iconic
spots that are open totravellers do get closed down
because people don't look afterthem, and it always leaves us
scratching our heads, you know,because you're out here to
(13:13):
explore the country, to seethese places and really, you
know, immerse yourself in thenature and then to not look
after it, and we see this whenwe're on the beach, we see it
when we're, you know, in theoutback.
It really does make you wonderwhy, but anyway, that is the
(13:34):
case.
They have closed down thepublic fossicking areas, which
is a real shame becausepetrified wood is so cool it
really is.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And fortunately for little J-Man, little Jasperini,
when we were packing up and justtrying to get a little bit of
local knowledge inside into.
Well, can you just give us alittle bit of a point us in the
right direction so we could goon Fossick for some of this.
Is there somewhere that wecould access legally to look for
the petrified wood?
And Woll's wife I'm sorry, Idon't remember her name said to
(14:08):
Jasper, here, here's some.
And she gave him this littlepiece of petrified wood and she
did point us in the rightdirection.
But where it was with the vanin tow, we couldn't, kind of you
know, 100% guarantee that itwas accessible.
It's a little bit of afour-wheel drive dirt track or
out over beyond the sports oval.
(14:29):
There you go, there's a tip,but yeah, I'd go and see these
guys.
Wal didn't really know he goes.
I don't know, mate, people goout, find it.
Uh, whereas his wife actuallysaid no, no, you've got to go to
this road and take a left overthe hill and you'll find it, and
so that was really generous andso we did have a little piece
there, beautiful piece ofpetrified wood.
(14:50):
Interestingly, I didn't knowthis about petrified wood, but
it's formed underground.
Well, I knew that bit.
Right, okay, and it's really atype of fossil and what happens
is, as the old forestry you know, falls and is laying there and
then over time it's filled overwith sediments and the dead
plant matter and its cells areactually replaced by minerals,
(15:15):
silicate and a few other thingsprimarily, and it fossilizes
into a rock.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
With the same textures of its original form.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It is so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It's really beautiful , You're right.
So it's a bummer that they hadto close the public Fosken area.
I think if they could resurrectthat, they could have a really
huge economic spinoff.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, and from our point of view they definitely
need it.
They need the tourists comingthrough and staying and playing
a little bit longer to helpsupport the town and the people
that live here.
This whole region is incredible, paul, like the further that
we're going to start to travelalong this Capricorn Highway
(16:04):
towards the east coast ofQueensland.
Out here, you know this onceupon a time, a million squillion
years ago, used to be sea.
So as we get further andfurther towards Rockhampton, you
know the fossil life out hereand in particular the marine
fossil life is mind-blowing,particularly, you know, in this
(16:28):
day and age when you're drivingand you know there's no ocean to
be seen.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah, look, 130 million years ago, give or take
a couple there was the largeinland sea of Australia, the
Aramanga Sea, which basically isthe footprint of where the
Great Artesian Basin is now.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Very interesting Very interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So yeah, I mean epic sea creatures and, of course,
the most most famous, the kingof all dinosaurs and king of
underwater dinosaurs, is thecronosaurus queenslandicus oh
yes, and you can actually comeface to face with that guy out
there on that awesome dinosaurtriangle in outback Queensland.
(17:11):
Yeah now, amazing locations outhere to come and visit and play
and stay.
Now, Alpha to SapphireGemfields we're actually going
to.
Rubyvale is 142 kilometres.
Again, a pretty small to mediumsort of drive day.
We're going to be staying atthe Gemseekers Caravan Park
(17:31):
first for the field goods.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yes, actually it's quite surprising out here in the
Gem Fields how many placesthere are on offer for tourists
to stay at.
So as you are turning off theCapricorn Highway and heading
into the Gem Fields of Sapphireand Rubyvale, you have Anarchy
Gem Fields there.
There's a great little caravanpark there, I guess right on the
(17:54):
intersection of the highway.
That gets rave reviews.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Always reminds me of Luke Skywalker.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, exactly A real bummer for us, though, was the
Anarchy Hotel, the pub, whichhas a fantastic history and a
story that we were eager to goand check out, but it has been
closed down for some time now,which is a real shame.
But anyway, we didn't staythere.
(18:21):
We continued on to Rebouval, asPaul said, but you drive
through the little township ofSapphire, which also has a
number of different caravanparks to stay at, different
caravan parks to stay at, andlook, we've run into a heap of
travellers who have been stayingat all of these various places,
who all said to us oh, this wasfantastic, this was a great
place to stay.
We really loved it here.
So I don't think you can go toomuch wrong out here in these
(18:43):
parts.
I will asterisk that by saying,though, you are still in the
middle of an environment that isdirty and dusty and not a lot
of trees and not a lot of water,so don't come out to these
parts expecting that you aregoing to find this incredible
facility with amazing amenitiesand brand new and lush green
(19:08):
grass.
You're just not going to findthat out here, so don't be
disappointed when you, you knowyou do stay somewhere and the
amenities might be really old,but hey, at least they're clean.
Or the sites might be small,but hey, at least you've got
power and water.
Yes, correct.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
We're reminded of our first visit here where we went
whoa, what a junkyard, yes, andthen you know you cannot judge a
book by its cover.
It's the same out there inCooper Peaty.
If you drove into that town andyour first impression was your
lasting impression, you'd keepdriving, correct, it looks like
(19:47):
no one cares.
You know, and a lot of this isbecause, well, certainly here in
Rue Vale and Sapphire and thesesort of surrounding gem fields
is that a lot of it is 100 by100 metre claim sites that
aren't allowed to have anypermanent dwellings.
So you have all of thismakeshift.
(20:09):
You know, certainly not.
You know council approvedbuildings because they're just
banged together with a fewscrews the tin shed lean too.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
that sort of covers the old caravan that's seen
better days, that attaches toanother kind of sheddy
construction.
You know it's all a bit, youknow it makes you sort of think
oh God, what are we doing?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
out here.
She'll be right, mate, justbang that up there, let's get
underground, get digging.
Yeah, don't need to worry aboutwhat's up here, we need to get
down there.
And then, when stuff breaksdown, it's left, but not because
it's left to be forgotten, it'sbecause, well, now, that's my
local Bunnings.
Everything that is left is aspare part for a future
breakdown on something else thatI've got to go on now, jimmy up
(20:55):
.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, absolutely hey.
Remember when we were out incorner country of New South
Wales, we did the Sturt Stepsdrive journey from Broken Hill
all the way well, we actuallywent all the way up to Cameron
Corner there where the threestates of Queensland, South
Australia and New South Walesmeet, but we were in
Tibberborough and this is thebest version of the Outback
(21:18):
Bunnings that we have seen,because they literally had a
huge area with a big sign thatsaid the Outback Bunnings that
you could drive into and it's abit like driving to the tip.
But what they did out here,which was so fantastic, is okay.
Over here on the right they hada whole area that was
(21:39):
well-signed, white goods, right,and then you drive a little bit
more and then there's a wholearea that's like lawnmowers or
anything, Furniture.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Wood tin, yes, scrap metal.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So you could go and drop your stuff off, but you
could also do a little bit of,you know, free shopping while
you're there to pick up yourspare parts.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, the town had, I think, realised that, you know,
unfortunately.
But people do judge a book byits cover, and so let's at least
categorise everything into somesort of structured, you know,
organised, chaos.
Gee, it worked really well outthere.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, it did.
And you know the reason.
We were out there.
We don't just, you know, liketo go driving around the old tip
wherever we go, but they hadwhat they called a dump point at
the very back of that OutbackBunnings and at that stage we
were running our cassette toilet.
So we did have to go to theOutback Bunnings and at that
stage we were running ourcassette toilet, so we did have
to go to the Outback Bunnings todump our loo.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Which was into an old ceramic toilet with the lid.
Yeah, very cool, good fun stuffVery cool as far as dumping
your waste goes, yeah we digressAnyway.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
So we're back in Rubyvale.
We're staying at the GemSeekers Caravan Park.
That was great.
It's a tiny little caravan park.
It's right in town.
The reason we chose it wasbecause it is right there in
town, Easy walk to the pub,which we would highly recommend.
That you go down and have ameal or two At the meal prices I
(23:10):
think, some of the mostinexpensive pub meals anywhere
in Australia here at the RubyVale Hotel.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And they have karaoke , which can be good and bad,
can't it?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yes, and it was.
It was good and bad, I have tosay.
I had an amazing vegetariancurry here at the pub, but meal
prices just fantastic.
In fact, we frequented the puba couple of times during our
stay here at the pub, but mealprices just fantastic.
In fact, we frequented the puba couple of times during our
stay here in Rubyvale.
You can also easily walk intotown.
(23:43):
Well, the pub kind of is town,but there's a little post office
opposite the pub.
There's also the beautifulRubyvale Gem Gallery, owned by
our dear friends.
Beautiful Rubyvale Gem Gallery,owned by our dear friends, the
Brown family, eileen and Mitch,and it was so great to come back
after all of these years andsee them and have a minute with
(24:04):
them and catch up.
And, oh, my goodness, like, ifyou know, the hard work of
mining for sapphires is too much, then definitely just head
straight to the Rubyvale GemGallery and pick yourself up a
stunning piece of jewellery thatis cut and faceted and turned
into whatever it is that you areafter here on site.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, look, and to get a bit more history about the
Brown family.
I think a few years ago when wewere here, I had the real
privilege of being able to sitdown and chat with and film an
interview with Peter Brown, thefather figure of this family,
and very sadly he passed away ayear later.
(24:50):
So we did really miss hiswelcoming, open arms, open heart
approach to life.
Yes this time around.
But, gee, it was wonderful togo back and see that his family
is continuing on with his legacy.
You know this self-made man whoreally came out with just a
dream and a shovel and thehardships and his resilience to
(25:16):
have really built up his dreaminto what is now this family's
you know, incredibly successfulbusiness.
It was, you know, reallywonderful to reconnect with them
and see that they still had allof his charm and want to share
with visitors.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh, absolutely.
Look, I think that the Brownfamily really are as much a part
of Ruby Vale as the sapphiresthat you're finding in the
ground themselves.
And look, we did go a huntingfor sapphires and we did, we did
all right.
Yeah, look, we opted for theeasy version of this.
So, outside of the publicfossicking areas that you can go
(25:54):
out to, you do need a permit,so you do need to get online and
get yourself a fossickingpermit from the Queensland
government.
It's very inexpensive andthere's different timeframes
that you can get.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And it is really weird.
It's in a weird currency unit,it's like $11.26.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, it is.
I think it might be somestrange GST thing, I haven't
quite worked it out.
But anyways, it's veryinexpensive and you can do that.
But of course with that comesneeding all of the gear and then
the knowledge of what you'relooking for and how to do it.
What's great about Rubyvale andSapphire is that there are a
number of what's calledfossicking parks that are open
(26:33):
to travellers and tourists,where you can go purchase
yourself a big bag of washthat's all that rubbly stuff and
they show you what to do.
They've got all of theequipment there and then you
just do it with you know, theknowledge of having somebody on
hand to say is this a good one?
So we opted to go to the MinersCottage at Foster King Park and
(26:57):
the reason we chose this oneover all of the others, I have
to be honest, is because foryour bag of wash that, I think,
cost us $30.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That was a medium size.
There were I think $10 or $15kids sort of bags, and then
there's $100, the serious stuffkind of wash.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, which you know.
They do try and upsell you.
She said to us oh, you know,there's a lot more good stuff in
those big bags of wash.
But anyway, we opted for the$30 bag and it comes with scones
and a cup of tea.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
So that's why we chose this one, and it was a
very, very short drive fromwhere we were staying at Gem
Seekers.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Such a strange thing, katie, to me.
What my love for Devonshire tea.
Or that you can get Devonshiretea with a bag of wash.
No, you can get a bag of washto try and find a sapphire.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And we'll give you a little value out of a Devonshire
tea in the middle of Rubyvale.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Bloody brilliant.
I say so good.
Yeah, it was really goodactually.
And look, it's hot work, andeven at this time of year it is
heating up out here.
So bear that in mind.
Our suggestion would be don't belike us and leave it till later
in the morning to go.
Get there as soon as they open,at 8am in the morning, because
then you're not going to besweltering under that sun 8am in
(28:10):
the morning, because thenyou're not going to be
sweltering under that sun.
The problem well, maybe not theproblem, but that the whole
thing around fossicking forsapphires and it was the same
when we were out at GemtreePaulie, wasn't it?
Looking for zircon and garnetyou need the sun to be able to
see your hall, otherwise theyall just look like rocks.
(28:30):
So you are standing out in thathot sun.
So that cup of tea and sconeswas very welcome.
Anyway, we got our bag of wash.
Tricia, who was so lovely andtook all the time in the world
with us, particularly Jaspershowed us what to do how to wash
and wash again, hence why it'scalled a bag of wash.
How to wash and wash againhence why it's called a bag of
wash and then lay it all out andwhat we were looking for and
(28:53):
all the equipment.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And we got quite a nifty little haul.
Look, and Jasper claimed themall.
He did actually there's nosharing, Mum, but then to have
them sorted for you into keepers.
You know, polishers.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, cutters and polishers.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
That's it.
Show and tell.
Yeah, these are the ones youcan take to school, jasper and
you know.
Show your mates and then justrocks, they divide, like it must
take, you know, 15 to 20minutes for every single person
that's there for them toactually put the magnifying
glass and the lights on and pickthrough with little tweezers
(29:36):
and sort them out.
And then they give you even alocation over there in Thailand
that you can send the cuttersand polishers away to be
professionally polished and cutfor you, because the value of
doing it overseas is far greaterthan trying to get anything
done here just due to the costof wages and by the time you
(29:56):
send it there and they send itback and it's all done for you.
it's just such better value.
So there's probably about fourstones or gemstones I should say
that we will send off.
Yeah, because what a greatexperience for one.
But then to be able to actuallyfind something that is worth
(30:19):
its you know expense, to thensay I found this and now I've
turned it into a beautifullittle stone that you could put
in a ring or a pendant orsomething, we just love this
experience and the thing thatreally struck home with us is
that we did it.
For what is it all up?
A two-hour experience.
(30:40):
These guys have been doing itfor decades.
It's like I'll tell you what.
Once that bug gets you, you cansee the appeal.
But do not be fooled intothinking this is easy way to
earn your keep.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No, that's so true.
Okay, a couple of things.
What I love about coming anddoing it the way that we did at,
say, miner's Cottage, is thatyou're pretty well guaranteed
you're going to find something.
Everybody walks away with alittle haul of sapphires.
Look, they might be alldifferent grades, but you walk
(31:16):
away with something to show foryour time and your effort.
Last time we came out here andwe just had the absolute honor
of spending all of that timewith Peter Brown and we actually
got to go mining with him intoone of his underground mines,
with him into one of hisunderground mines and we saw him
picking out sapphires.
Look, the size of gosh, a 10cent piece a 10 cent Australian
(31:38):
piece Amazing.
Out of the walls of his mine.
I mean, that's now, that's awhole different kind of mining,
babe.
It's a whole different pricepoint.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Incredible.
What is out here.
A couple of cool things that welearnt that we had no idea of
Because we were like well, whyis it called Rubyvale?
You know, like the little towndown the road's called Sapphire
and it is the Sapphire gemfields.
Why is it called Rubyvale?
So we learnt that rubies andsapphires are the same thing.
(32:09):
They're made of the exact samechemical mineral compounds.
The red ones, rubies.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
And so when they first came out here, they
actually thought that they werefinding rubies.
In effect, they're actuallysapphires and that's hence why
it's called ruby val.
But there you go, because therewas red stones out here.
But it actually turned out tobe I think Tricia told us more
zircon.
I think that they were findingout here at the time.
(32:37):
Anyway, rubies are redsapphires and emeralds.
What are emeralds, paulie?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Are green sapphires, and there's possibly a handful
of you out there that are sayingno, duh, I mean.
Thanks, Sherlock.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, well, look, we didn't know that and we're very
happy to have found that out.
But sapphires, of course, docome in lots of different
colours other than just blue,red and green.
You can get yellow, orange.
My favourite are what they callthe party, Not like hey, let's
go and party.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
If you found one big enough, you would, you would be?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
yes, but they've got this colour range inside of them
, so a bit more like how an opalis colourised with all of the
different flecks of the parties.
Have a party going on.
Look, we just love the thrillof finding something and
(33:40):
watching Jasper get completelyengaged.
He's so serious when he isfossicking he is like hey, don't
mess with me, man, this is mysystem, I'm in charge of washing
Like he doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
He just goes into true fossica mode like old time
old time minor mode and look,it's hard to get an eight year
old to stay focused for morethan 10 minutes.
You know when I used to writekids shows.
You know I was working with theteam over there with Disney
Channel and Warner Brothers andyou know different theme parks
(34:10):
and places that I've worked overmy earlier career and I used to
write the scripts and I learnedthrough a connection actually
from Disney in the US that saidif you take a kid from any age,
like six years old through toeven 16 years old, and you
(34:32):
double their age, that is theirattention span in minutes.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
So six, you know you'd be lucky to get 12 minutes
out of them.
Eight, 16, you can do the mathand in fact that's how they
originally came to the length ofa school, what we call in
Australia a period or a sessionor a lesson.
Yeah, it's.
40 to 45 minutes is absolutelythe peak amount of time that you
(34:59):
can keep a teenager focused onone subject.
So interesting Anyways, and sothat's why we used to have to
write shows to the demographicage.
We were trying to you knowshare the storytelling.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Short and punchy darling.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yes, Short and punchy , get in and get it out, which
this story is taking far toolong.
So, anyways, but interesting.
So to see Jasper there for thatentire two hours absolutely
dedicated to the task of findinghis riches.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
It's a great place for families.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, Really well worth it.
And you know a great littleinsight into the life that these
miners, these people out herewho actually live out here, have
.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
All right, we're going to say goodbye to the gem
fields Now.
This location really all theway through here and to the
coast was formerly known as theDig the Tropics road trip route,
and they're resurrecting that.
And now we've taken on evenfurther afield and come from
(36:02):
Gemtree and we've given it ourown name, which is Road to
Riches.
Well, our Road to Riches takesin the Dictotropics as well.
So if you've got a shorterversion in mind, we would
recommend you come and start outhere, because you will enjoy
you know, the road trip with theFosser King and they've got all
the gear, so you don't evenhave to bring any.
(36:23):
So good, all right.
Now we're heading 65 kilometresto Lake Mariborne Again a
change of plans due to theclosures of the other national
parks.
Now Lake Mariborne, also knownas Funburn Dam, mm-hmm.
Awesome experience.
We'll be bringing that to younext week.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Excellent.
This is a favourite spot ofours.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And I love that it's the shortest drive day ever.
Yes, that we've done in monthsand months and months 65Ks All
Shortest drive day ever thatwe've done in months and months
and months 65Ks, all right.
The takeaway for this week somuch of who we are is where we
have been.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Oh, I like that, Paulie.
That's nice and deep Got to getoff the couch.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Got to get out there, got to.
You know, australia, if you'rehere, you're lucky enough to be
listening.
In this lucky country of ours,you are more than likely within
a two-hour drive radius of anational park which is, most of
the time, free to access, youknow, low cost.
And to be able to get out intothese natural wonderlands is a
(37:23):
gift for us Aussies.
So do it Because you are somuch of where you have been.
Yes, when you look back on yourlife, they're the rich stories,
the memories that make up thefabric of you as a character.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, the moments that define you Love it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
All right, next week we will be gifted from a
complete stranger the prized redclaw Yummo.
But for now we'll say dream big, look after yourself and look
after your family.
And happy trails.
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