Been a while - Advice on Glen Innes fossicking with kids

[andrewb]

Heya, I probably haven't posted since having kids a decade ago and apparantly things have changed a bit with a ton of people taking up fossicking over COVID and a few places closing.


What I'm after is, what do you think the current best option for fossicking with kids around Glen Innes over the next couple of days is? I'm trying to avoid spending 3 hours and getting nothing and am totally happy just getting them looking for quartz crystals. It would probably be easier if it was Inverell as we could probably go to Tingha sands if it's still open (but also don't really want to go while it's actually running with little ones) but I'm not sure we can go that far away from Glen Innes.


Basically.. Relatively easy shiny things for kids that isn't just buying bags of manufactured wash.

[Bucket]

Welcome back andrewb. Unfortunately, Tingha Sands is now closed to fossickers from what I understand. Billabong Blue sounds like it's still operating and may be your best bet as they have facilities and easy access. Sounds like there's been plenty of rain up that way so may be worth a look.

[andrewb]

Ahh Damn! Tingha is the easiest place to pick up a crystal! And yes Billabong is the other guaranteed spot, it's just to my understanding they don't operate during the week, only on weekends, and it's in Inverell. I'm currently thinking maybe Jellybean Junction although I've never been there. Maybe Blatheram (on the way home as it's also a bit aways from Glen Innes) as it didn't take long to find a few bits of topaz last time.. But neither are as easy as Tingha or Billabong Blue. I notice 7 Oaks is closed too. Though it was never even half as good as Billabong.
Maybe I'll swing by close to Inverell on the way to Glen Innes.. I just don't want to add the Glen Innes > Inverell > Glen Innes return trip for the kids once we're there to the already long road trip.

[MrSydney]

Inverell area is still best - if you go out to Stannifer out Tingha way you can go just about anywhere and will find stack of good jellybean quartz and some crystals if you are lucky.  There is a guy who lives there with a shed with lots of crystals in it he'll show the kids and he'll point you in the right direction in Stannifer but I don't have details.  Here is a link to a thread I wrote about 5 years ago when I took the kids there:

https://aussielapidaryforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6156.0

In there his details were as follows - Sean is 0435 055 096 - not sure if they are still current.

Billabong blue is still brilliant for kids just sieving the pile they put out - they'll find some zircons and some sapphire (unlikely to get anything cuttable in sapphire but still some good bits they'll be super happy with and can put in a container).

From Glen Innes the only good place I can think of is Kookabookra.  It's a pretty place for a picnic, a lot of rough quartz around and you can find some super clear jellybeans.  If you're really lucky you can find topaz.  You can find sapphire but unless putting in some serious work unlikely.

Hope that helps.

[Gerda]

We were at Kookabookra back in May.It was VERY over grown. I was frightened by all the long grass and the possibility of snakes.I didnt even go down to the creek. Not what it used to be! I wouldnt recommend it for children at the moment.

[Clarky]

Hi,
     hope I'm not to late with this. Try upper Mann River bridge east of Glencoe. We did a run out through the fossicking sites east of Glen Innes earlier this year looking for a site for a family camp & managed to get a some quartz,a few zircons & sapphire chips from a few buckets of wash we processed from there. Ended up doing the later camping trip at Billabong Blue due to the lack of results overall from sites east of Glen Innes. We did find 4 sapphires at another site going through old wash piles on a sunny afternoon but scored nothing in our own wash samples so its all pretty hit & miss.