Who knew gem fossicking in Queensland would be a whole heap of fun? I mean, what kid doesn’t like a treasure hunt? What adult doesn’t secretly like the idea of stumbling over their very own gemstone?
Fossicking for gems in the outback towns of Sapphire and Rubyvale in Queensland is a great way to spent a few days of the school holidays. Better yet, combine your visit with a road trip to the beautiful Carnarvon Gorge like we did!
At the ages of five and three years, my kids often collect ‘special rocks’. I haven’t yet worked out their criteria for ‘special’. They often pick up what looks to be common pieces of road gravel and ask to take it home. It really wasn’t hard to convince them that a holiday fossicking for ‘special sparkly rocks’ would be fun.
We had passed by the Central Queensland Gemfields on the way through to Central Australia 18 months earlier. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stop and I was really disappointed. Well, I wasn’t disappointed this time! Gem fossicking in Queensland turned out to be a great family activity and as an added bonus, we were able to do it on a budget (road trip and camper). We even scored 11 tiny gems out of it!
