Central coast rockhounding/fossicking

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Hi this is my first post and I'm looking for places to search for fossils and/or gems i live at wyong so I want it close thank you for helping

[Blocker]

Welcome to ALF,

The closest would be Norah Head, for chalcedony, jasper and maybe bloodstones, but last time I went both beaches either side of the headland were covered in sand and not a beach pebble in sight.

Barrington Tops area for sapphires, zircons and garnets, haven't tried this area but others have - search through fossicking locations.

[REXL]

Fair bit of stuff around Barrington Tops and surrounding areas, lot of it is small though. A bit further North quite a bit of agate at the inlet to Lake Cathie (pronouced cat-hi) at low tide.

REXL

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Thanks for the info on Norah head I've given up on barrington tops its mining lease after mining lease if you can tell me a good place not being mined I'll try but if you can't i think I look at that later anyway thank you for the info and happy posting =]

[Blocker]

I found reference to Bateau Bay - "a source of agate and jasper beach pebbles".

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Ok thank you

[Jimnyjerry]

Hi Tom-the-Rockie and welcome to ALF
You might try the Central Coast
Lapidary Club at http://www.gemlapidarycouncilnsw.org.au/clubs.html#CentralCoast for information if it is still going ( a few clubs closed recently but I cannot remember which )

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Thanks I'll have a look

[bjhodgkin]

Hey Tom,

Central Coast lapidary club is still running. They open Tues and thurs daytime and thursday nights (7-10pm) and are located on OUrimbah Ck. Rd, Ourimbah.  They also run club trips to some good locations within a day-round-trip striking distance i.e. up to barrington tops but not sure what is coming up (unfortunately haven't been able to get there for some time myself).

There are not that many fossicking locations around the central coast/Hunter, mainly the odd fossil locations.  There is some good fossils around the Hunter in road cuttings etc. I found a really nice/big specimin of petrified wood in the Newcastle Link Rd/F3 cutting about 12 months ago & assume the recent work that they have done may have stired something up (be careful as surface is quite loose & trucks move fast on the F3!). There are also some leaf fossils in the shallow grey/shale layers at the top of the cutting.  If you look around at some of the road cuttings in the Hunter you will get to know what the fossil layers look like - there is also a quarry near Mulbring that has some fossils (shells, coral etc.). 

Apparently there are also fossils/petrified wood near Swansea (Caves Beach?), Cattherine Hill Bay and at Mereweather, in the rock platforms - you can, or at least apparently used to be able to, see old tree stumps at low tide. You would also expect to get some nice pebbles of petrified wood, chert & possibly other nice rocks in the exposed conglomerate layers in/adjoining the headlands along the coast.

My best advice though is to get some time off, use Paul's fossicking location reports as a starting point, and get yourself to the New England area - it rocks! Good luck! Rob

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Nice! Thank you for the info i might try the road cuttings sorry I'm actually moving to wyong on the 31st and could you tell me aprox (maybe on a map) where the cuttins are I'll look up the rest later because those rock cuttings sound perfect anyway thanks

[Jamo]

Tom, Years ago I managed to get fern fossils out of shale at the base of the skillion at Terrigal. You could try here. Havn't looked here recently. Found these fossils after heavy seas & they had been recently uncovered.

[bjhodgkin]

Tom,

Have a look at the top, grey layer at the F3 Freeway/Newcastle Link Rd cutting. There are heaps of leaf fossils there and it might give you an indication of what sort of layers to start looking for elsewhere. I found my big chunk of petrified wood on the step that has been put in the cutting to catch the rocks which fall down so it came from somewhere between there and the top.

The other areas you can look are in cuttings which have conglomerate as I have found a bit of petrified wood there. There are also some cuttings around allandale that have lots of shell fossils in them (I have not been there but have been told that it is easy to dig them out and to see where others have dug before).

The Hunter is full of old gravel pits and rehabilitated mine sites for you to start google earthing and visiting (where you can get access).

I have also found reference in some old lapidary mags about 'the famous singleton petrified wood' - now to just find out where it comes from.

Hope that helps - Good luck!

Rob

[col]

hi tom,
          i live at killarney vale and i have sussed out a few spots on the coast but nothing is that great compared to elsewhere. try down the south end of killcare beach for fossils i have picked up a couple, try around the back of fraser park beach(deadmans beach i think its called) its full of gravel and you can get petrified wood but there is not alot there. Also in the munmorah national park there is a area where there there is some very big pieces of petrifed wood but you have to have the right tides and and not much sand to see the some of it cause alot of it gets buried by sand and water, its worth going up to quarry beach south of caves beach. i have picked up a fair bit of material there along the beach and in the surrounding areas along the old coal tracks and coastal tracks but i found the stuff up on the tracks isnt the best for polishing as its too absorbent but some of the stuff on the beach is as good as the petrified wood as you get at mereweather.Its worth even having a look around on other beaches in the newcastle area as i have picked up some nice plates of leaf fossils from headlands.I have tried around norah head and havent found anything and same with bateau bay there is nothing there but if you walk around the south end around to crackneck there is a bay in there full of rocks and its similar to around the back of fraser but again its not got anything worth finding. I have heard of spots on the woy woy penisulla but i am not sure on the exact locations. If you go up to mulbring there is some good fossils and there is some nice bits of petrified wood to be found at freemans water hole quarry.At the back of kitchener there is some fossils also around. I have also picked up chalcedoney and agate from the maitland area. If i think of any other spots close by worth checking i will let you know. or if you have any other questions i am happy to help. Regards col

[Tom-the-Rockie]

Nice info thanks