Willows

Dear Family and Friends

Our stay in the Gemfields region is nearly over. There is a rich spirit of friendship out here as most people are miles and miles from family and so friendships are very important for everyone. Some of the locals have begun a Recreation Club. With funding from State Government they have been able to oufit a large shed where people can come just for a cuppa and a chat, Some come for a beer and a smoke, others come to play pool, and others to play the Wii. And on weekends like the one just passed with the footy finals people come just to watch it with others who enjoy the game. Each weekend the club is opened from 3.00 till about 7.00. they are licensed to sell alcohol between certain hours and every Sunday night they have a meal of some kind available. Last Sunday night it was fish and chips night, and for $5 you got two pieces of fish plus a heap of chips. They have an outdoors area with shade sails up so depending on the day it can be either indoor or outdoor or both.

The tourist season is now ending and so by late November they will close it down till march next year. They say even then it is too hot even for the locals and some townsfolk migrate south for to cooler climates. Last year they had 10 consecutive days with temps over 45 degrees. the weather since we have arrived has been 30 and above almost every day, quite a few of then around the 35 degree mark.

On Sunday Sharon took us for a drive around Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie, all of which are part of the Gemfields. During tourist season there is always markets at Sapphire on a Saturday where you can buy raw stones or peices of ready made jewelry. In the next few weeks even this market slows down as the tourists are all gone and the locals know who to take their stones to to get a fair and honest price for them if they want to sell them, or make them into jewelry.

After looking around this area Sharon took us to "Pat's Place" to have morning tea. Pat's Place is a coffee shop plus a jewelers where you can purchase local stones already made into jewelry. Sapphires aren't just blue but can be found in all colours and hues. Green, yellow, purple and some which are multi coloured are called party coloured and a highly sought after.

While we had our drinks at Pat's we found the rosellas and lorikeets were very friendly and they would come very close to you knowing that food was available. So tame that they came to our plates and licked the caramel that was left on the plates. They even stuck their heads into our coffee mugs to see if there was anything left in them.

We have had no luck with the famous red claw that Ken was hoping for. The local water holes have been unsuccessful and that might have to do with the unusual weather they have had here. Only yesterday someone said that the water is still a bit too cold which means they have burrowed down into the mud. When Fairbairn Dam was nearly empty everyone was taking them in big numbers and so the council decided they had better see how many were left incase they were depleting the numbers of them and when they checked they found out that there was so many of them that they burrowed down to about 20meters under the mud. When you catch them you have to soak them for a couple of days in clean water so they flush out their whole systems otherwise they are not nice to eat.

Sharon and Ricki took us down to their dig site and showed us where they are working. They have their own hand machine which helps them separate the dust particles from the actual rock. After they have done that then they have to wash the stones in what is called a Willoby (no idea how it is spelt but it is pronounced as Will O Bee) If they are washed properly in the sieve then the heavyier stones (Ie the sapphires) settle in ther middle of the sieve. The sieve is then tuned out onto a cloth and you begin to look from the middle to the out side. A pair of tweezers is used to pick up the gems. At first is hard to see them but you soon learn to recognise them.

Yesterday (Wed) we went to Rubyvale to Willies Wash and here you buy two buckets of stones for $25 and he has all the equipment you need to find stones. A few of us went and we spent a couple of hours there. We found quite a few small stones with a possible 2 that we might be big enough to be faceted. This is a tourist spot, though, on this occasion it was only us there. As Sharon and Ricki said you will always find small stuff but never likely to get anthing big as it is "Salted" which means that when they get the buckets ready prior to your arrival they throw in the odd stone here and there, just enough to keep people's enthusiasm up. They know this because in one of the buckets a Garnet was found and Garnets are not found locally. All in all we had a good time. From there we headed back to Anakie and had lunch at the local pub.

Yesterday Sharon took me to the home of Robyn a local lady who paints. Sharon and Ricki have one of her paintings in their home and so she took me to see some of the others that she has painted. She mostly does landscapes and portraits and she is good at both.

The other place we went to visit was Geoff and Madds. Geoff is an encyclopedia on Arachnids. He said he has been facinated by spiders and insects since he was a small kid. He studies them and breeds them, he sells some (there is a growing market for people who buy them as pets, though he limits who he sells them too) and he keeps some, some for many years.

He also has scorpions, one of which he showed us under a special light and it comes up all green in colour. And they are not little. Some of them were almost the size of his hand. He fed some while we were there. We asked him what happens if he is bitten as many are the deadly funnel webb spiders and he said he has had so many bites over the years that he has built up an immunity to many of them. Some, he said might give him a bad headache for a few days. Some make him weak and sick for a few days and then he gets better. He has some though that would make even him sick and there is one he has that if he gets bitten it is so venomous that it will kill him within 7 minutes of being bitten. His collection of spiders include species of spiders that have never been seen or named before.

Today we went specking which is when you just walk around looking for stones on top of the ground.We had no luck except for one which Sharon found. Specking is usually done after it has rained as the dirt is washed away and the stones lay on top of the ground. "If it shines pick it up" was the advice given. Specking is best done on a sunny day as you use the sun to spot the stones. Many of the stones I have seen are just like a dark rock with silver striations on it. To tell the difference between a rock and a sapphire a) you feel its weight, sappires are noticeably heavier than a rock of equal size, b) rocks are solid and cannot be seen through where as colour can be seen when you hold a sapphire up to the sun and c) Sapphires are hard They have a hardness of 9 on the Moh's scale beaten only by diamond which is a 10.

To finish off our stay here at Willows Sharon and Ricki are having a BBQ here tonight to farwell Barry, Ken and myself as we are both leaving here tomorrow

Barry is heading south and we are going to continue north with the intention of reaching the Atherton Tablelands.

So for now God Bless and all our love

Ken and Lyn