SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER     MOUNT SURPRISE

Got up reasonably early and after breakfast headed back out to the topaz fields.

It is a very attractive drive out into the granite hill country. It gets rather rugged and dramatic, in parts. The dirt road goes through cattle properties. At one point, there is a watering point near the road, where we encountered a group of cows, yesterday and today, and much moo-poo on the road. We smelled it long after we’d passed!

We called in at Diggers Rest and bought a small pick.

We went and dug in the creek where Sam had showed us yesterday. Found a few pieces. Sam arrived and dug near us. I hope he didn’t mind us being there.

It is not easy terrain to excavate. The creek bed is a mix of finer gravel interspersed with stones, rocks and larger boulders. It is frustrating, not knowing how many times this same creek bed may have been turned over before! Once some wet season storms have filled the creek, the ground gets settled back down and looks like it hasn’t been dug.

It got very hot, so we gave up at midday, feeling like we would get heat stroke if we went on any longer. Sam took our pick home with him to sharpen – very nice of him.

We went back to camp and slept for most of the afternoon, with the air-con going, then went for a swim.

There was a group of nearly 20 Harley Riders, from Townsville, in for the night, staying in the cabins. Three of them were swimming at the same time as us and were very pleasant to talk to. The riders seemed to drink a lot through the afternoon, so were very quiet at night!

Tea was T-bone steak, potato baked in foil – in the frypan outside – and onions.

The sunset was vivid again.