MONDAY 26 JULY     GEMTREE

We had another day out at Mud Tank.

Kept digging in the new, promising, direction that was started on Saturday, and seemed to do very well.

John had “borrowed” the mesh top off an empty campground rubbish bin (intended to keep the crows from spreading the rubbish) and that helped sieve out the biggest rocks and really speeded up the through put. But it was still hard work.

A lot of earth has been shifted, here

Mid-afternoon, we went back to camp and the welcome shower. My mining clothes – I use the same ones each time – were really muddy and stiff. When we have finished fossicking here, I will have to decide whether to try washing them, or just throw them out!

I had time to cook vegie and barley soup, using the stock kept from yesterday’s shanks. We had some of that for tea, with cold pasties.

The moon is getting on for full. The effects of this light outside, at night, are really pretty. The moon light seems to shine off the mulga leaves.

Dusk at Gemtree, with full moon. The shading from blue to mauve is typical of Central Australia at this time of night

SUNDAY 25 JULY     GEMTREE

Had a pretty slow start this morning, in the chill.

Eventually got organized and decided to try some easy specking for garnets. Drove east along the Plenty Highway, for about 30kms, to where Gemtree have a lease where they take tour groups after garnets.

We decided to try our luck in the area over the road from that. There were a couple of camps set up by the road and a lot of diggings near the road. We drove in off the road for a couple of kms, following a little track. This ended in a clearing on bare ground, with lots of mallee and mulga scrub about.

We left Truck in the clearing and walked about, looking at the ground, and actually specked some garnets. Rather to our surprise, I might add. This was really just an exercise in going out for a while, rather than anything serious!

Ate our lunch at Truck, then tried some systematic specking. Picked up a few bits. We used the compass and GPS to walk in a straight line over the flat flood plains, through the scrub. It was a good thing that we did because it was really easy country in which to get lost – flat, featureless, and with fairly thick scrub for those parts. I would not have been confident of finding my way back to Truck, after walking a little way. Our method got us back to the track we’d driven in on, not too far from the clearing where we’d parked.

This was different country to where we’d been digging before, and quite a different experience. I found it slightly spooky.

This is really easy country in which to lose all sense of direction

We got back to Gemtree mid-afternoon, after driving 70kms.

I cooked lamb shanks for tea.

SATURDAY 24 JULY     GEMTREE

Last night was very cold – close to zero, I think. The cold wind was still blowing today. I think it affects my sinuses, hence the headaches.

We went back to Mud Tank for another go at the zircons. John has the mining bug!

We did not do as well, today. John may have gone a bit deep and got out of the wash layer. Later on, he changed direction and depth and seemed to do a bit better.

John in the deepest part of his excavation

Someone else had been digging in the hole, yesterday, in our absence.

It was tiring work, seeming to be harder because of the cold wind.

At Mud Tank – not sure if it is in use and I wasn’t going to check!

We went back to camp mid-afternoon, cleaned up, then sat round the fire for a while, before tea, talking with our neighbours. Discovered that she knew John’s brother, from Teachers’ College, and that he used to make furniture, so there was plenty to talk about.

Tea was soup, cold pasties, coleslaw and Chelsea buns.

We decided not to go across to paddy melon bowls – it was just too cold and we were weary.

John spent the usual time on his computer. I read and went early to bed.

SUNDAY 18 JULY     GEMTREE

Another camp based day. This is such a pleasant place that just being here is enough, without going somewhere every day.

Our Gemtree camp

John worked on the tax and financial paperwork for much of the day. This is never a fun task and he was not a happy camper.

I read, knitted, sewed, and generally stayed outside as much as possible.

C and A did the zircon fossicking tour this morning, and came back with ten cutters.

Tea was packet chicken noodle soup, cold roast chicken, mashed potato, and salad.

Again, we spent some of the evening sitting round the campfire.

SATURDAY 17 JULY     GEMTREE

Today was a camp based day, after the activity of the previous two.

John was well into reading a suspense novel I had finished with, and read for most of the day. He also sorted through stuff that he had “filed”, looking for tax relevant materials. This made him grumpy!

I sorted the garnets from the other day. There may be a few cutters amongst them. I was disappointed with the lot from the top site though, as they were mostly fractured. Apart from that, I read and wrote up the diary.

Local wild correa, or native fuschia

The new people at the back, who were roared at last night, turned out to be C and A, the couple with the two young girls and the broken camper that we had helped out on the Mereenie Loop Road. They had recognised our van when they came in yesterday, but decided to wait until daytime to catch up with us. They gave us a 6-pack of beer as a belated thank-you for our previous help. We chatted for some time. C had gotten sick of Alice Springs, too, and they’d had a few days camped out at Ormiston Gorge, which she said was great.

We had an early roast chicken dinner, then went over to play paddy melon bowls at 8pm.

You get one melon, with your name written on it in texta. They play several rounds – men Vs women. You queue up and take it in turns to heave your “bowl” at a big one sitting in the middle of a circle, some distance away. Those that end up in the circle, score. It is a damn sight harder than it sounds! Paddy melons are uneven shaped and very hard to direct. The men won!

John playing paddy melon bowls

Damper was served afterwards. We had one little piece, which was all we felt like, and then went back to the van. The night was quite chilly.