Tuesday 30th June - Rubyvale

Tuesday 30^th June

On Tuesday we went to Policeman's nob. (Policeman's Nob is a little old under water volcano but it is not under water anymore). At Policeman's Nob we climbed up the volcano and we also saw lots of rock wallabies. 

These are the rock wallabies. Can you see all five? 

This is me and Caleb putting a rock on the cairn on top of Policeman's Nob.

This is Policeman's Nob. Can you see it through the trees? 

After we went to Policeman's Nob we went panning for sapphire in the creek bed. When we were panning for sapphire we met some German people. The German people had found lots of sapphires, even really big ones. (Sapphires can come in any shape and colour apart from red. The red ones are called rubies.) 

This is a hole that the German people dug. 

This is another hole that the German people dug.

After we went digging for sapphire in the creek bed we went back to the caravan park. At the caravan park we put some of the rocks that we dug up in the willoughby. (A Willoughby is a plastic tub with water in and has a metal ring attached to a pole and you push the pole up and down to make all the sapphires and zircons and maybe even rubies go to the bottom of the sieves). 

This is me using the willoughby.

This is also me using the willoughby.

Mum's note:Policeman's Nob is the basalt plug that remains after the rest of the volcano has eroded away. There is a colony of rock-wallabies (they look like brush-tail wallabies) living on this mound. They are fairly relaxed about human visitors - although they do not like being too close, they simply move around the basalt mound until they feel safe again. Consequently, you can get a great view of the wallabies as you climb to the summit and back.

Who you looking at?! Rock-wallaby on Policeman's Nob.

We didn't find any valuable gems today, but we did have the satisfaction of choosing our own fossicking spot and using our new knowledge to find some small sapphire and zircon pieces without assistance.

Caleb inspecting Mum's dig site, where she did find a couple of really small gems.