Nundle and hanging rock trip

[Kickingrocks]

Gday everyone

During the week we ordered a set of sieves, which turned up in time for the weekend, so we loaded up the trusty lux. With the kids strapped to the tray and fossicking and cooking gear on the back seat we made it to our front gate and realised our mistake.

With the kids now in the cab we made our couple of hour drive to nundle armed with high hopes, shiny new sieves and hours of reading and research stored in our brains.

First we stopped along peel river in a fairly popular spot. After parking up and navigating to some rocks next to little rapids I began to play in the near freezing water. After a few scoops I noticed a little pocket between two rocks and started the process of cleaning it out. After a couple of hours and a quick bite to eating I had found a small(about the size of a tomato seed), deep red gem. I was rather excited so I kept going till my arm couldn’t reach any further.

After a little while I tried a spot slightly upstream and found nothing and almost went for an unwanted swim 

After a while it seemed the spot we were at wasn’t yielding much so we decided to try our luck elsewhere.

Oh I did find two more pieces of the beer bottle from last time.

Off to the spot just past Duncan’s creek turn off. We had looked for this spot previously with out luck but we found some info that helped us locate it. After pulling up and realising it was the place to be the mrs and I got to work. After avoiding the “bombs” left by some very thoughtful campers we started digging in some recent looking digs.

We had no idea what to look for so we were looking for a wash layer(we now know to look through the clay itself). After a few sieves and plenty of cuts from blackberry bushes we found a very opaque blue something. We aren’t sure exactly what it is but we kept it. As it was getting late and the kids were starting to freeze solid we made our way back home.

Not a very productive day by a lot of people’s standards but it sure was fun, the kids had a blast hoping to find treasure and we found something for a change that wasn’t just beer bottle.

Cheers 

[harryopal]

Good start Rock Kicker,

Find your nearest lapidary group. Most have field trips... at least after we get past the worst of Covid. Being with people who know their stones it makes a huge difference when someone shows you an indifferent looking bit of stone and says, "This is what we're looking for."

For anything to do with almost anything, if you google Youtube and ask you are bound to find helpful information. For example. Google  "Youtube how to sieve gemstones" and there are a host of sites. [size=78%]This for example[/size]
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvuOA9KyOVE

Happy hunting.

[Kickingrocks]

Cheers for the reply harryopal.

The video you linked is one I have watched. In fact it was one of her videos, the one on nundle “diamonds” that started us on fossicking.

A club sounds interesting and we may look at joining but we have always been the type to learn ourselves(even if it can be the hard way). And with two young kids we tend to run on our own schedule. But if it’s an easy going bunch of folk we will give it a try.

I do know a couple of old timers with a wealth of knowledge I can learn off so that may be an option. Also my fathers friend is a marine geologist and quite well regarded so I’ll be chewing his ear off next time they are down for a camp.

Already learned pretty much everything we know from this forum and YouTube. Just need more hands on experience.

 

[Bucket]

Sounds like a nice time was had, which is the important thing. I would also agree fully with harryopal regarding joining a local club. They usually don't charge an arm and a leg to join and the group, as a whole, like getting out and finding material. The information that can be provided, along with the ability to learn how to make something with what you find, can make your fossicking more successful and even more enjoyable. Most states have areas that can be accessed, some easier than others, some you really have to know where and what to look for.

[MrSydney]

Hi Kicking Rocks,

With the Duncan's creek location it is interesting as it was apparently initially turned over / mixed up a lot when they planted the trees.  So unlike a lot of other area's you won't see a distinct 'wash layer' generally.  The trick is that it can be mixed in from the surface down BUT you will notice that in the bottom of each hole it stops when people hit a distinct clay layer.  General advice is it doesn't hurt to take the very top of the clay layer as it is possible for heave stones like sapphire / zircon to sink in a bit but no point digging deeper than that in this location.

I thought I'd mention this as it confused me when i first went to this location and looked for the same thing.  Subsequently just taking dirt as described above and processing it I found some nice pieces of zircon big enough to be cut - though no luck with the sapphire (though I've only had 1 or 2 visits there with limit time since I worked it out).

So I hope that helps and good luck for future visits!  It's a beautiful area.

[Kickingrocks]

Thanks for the reply Mr Sydney

We have been back the last couple of weekends for a quick sieve and have pulled out a few zircons and a couple of sapphires now. Nothing big or special but they are our first gems.

Hopefully we can get back down on the weekend and see if we can find an area that doesn’t look as well used or even something in the drains/creeks.

Cheers

[MrSydney]

Good luck!

I'll be back up in Tamworth visiting family for a week from October long weekend and will almost certainly go up for a dig myself!! 

[colza]

Hi guys,


The Nundle area is beautiful. When out & about wearing gloves,  skin covering clothes is necessary as there are MANY funnel web spiders right trough the pines & up the mountain. I have friends at Hanging Rock who alerted me to this years ago & I remember vividly going out with torches one night to spot so many sets of little spider eyes in the banks etc down the back of their yard. Gear up, be aware as you dig.


Cheers,
colza 

[Kickingrocks]

Cheers for the heads up colza.

We will keep a closer eye on the kids, especially when they are looking at pine cones.

We live out of town and get snakes and spiders all the time, but not funnel webs. We used to get them at one work shop I worked in as they would hitch a ride in parts from Sydney. The oil on the ground would get most of them but a few would make it out.

Heading back up there on the weekend and we want to have a look along the creek as you enter the state forest. Anyone had any luck there?

Cheers