Fossicking with kids: Redcliffe, QLD

[Rej]

Hello fellow rockhounds. I've been lurking for a while as I re-kindle my childhood love of rock collecting and though I would contribute something by addressing the challenge of getting kids involved in this hobby.

I have a 6-year-old with a good scientific mind and a moderate attention span so I've been able to get out for a few rockhunting sessions on the weekends with him. Driving out 3 hours and digging a 1 meter hole to *maybe* find a shiny rock understandably stretches his patience beyond what's possible at that age. The reward needs to be more immediate but the finds don't need to be as rare or valuable to keep it fun.

With that in mind, I scoped out some of the beaches in Redcliffe mentioned in the old mud maps and took the family exploring on Sunday. We live in the NW suburbs of Brisbane so it's a 50min drive. We parked at the end of Klingner rd, there's a car park right by the beach with plenty of street options nearby if that's full. I believe it's called Queensbeach South.



Once down the stairs and on the beach, you can either go left or right and the geology is a bit different on each side. To the left (north) is less sand and more clay. The clay is hard and iron-rich (hence REDcliffe) and you can find different colours of hematite and magnetite all over the beach.

Hematite:

Difficulty in finding: Easy
Kid fun factor: Many different colours to collect: Red, yellow, orange, brown, black, even purple.

Magnetite:

Difficulty in finding: Easy
Kid fun factor: It sticks to a magnet! Have your child bring a magnet and drag it through the sand or concentrated areas to collect little polished magnetite bits. Try to find bigger polished pieces in the holes in the clay at low tide.


The right side (south) has more sand and it's pretty easy to find areas where larger pebbles collect. There's a good variety of rocks of all sizes, but larger ones make better specimens and make searching faster.

Chalcedony:


Difficulty finding: Hard. The chunks often look like coral-laden shells or sea glass and unfortunately there are lots of these to cause confusion.
Kid fun factor: Thrill of the hunt once they actually find a piece. Patience can pay off as some of the chunks contain druzy quartz crystals!




Non-rock things to collect (hope it's ok to post these anyway)

Sea glass:

Difficulty finding: Moderate. Finding a piece that's nicely weathered and not too sharp is the challenge, but there are some really soft pieces out there and lots of different colours.
Kid fun factor: Sea glass can be a great way to introduce kids to jewelery making. There are lots of ideas online and all you need is a bit of gold or silver wire to have the kids create their own pieces they can wear or give as gifts. No need to worry about cabbing and cutting just yet.

Shells:

Difficulty finding: Easy. There's a good variety of shells and bits of coral on the beaches and most are intact.
Kid fun factor: Well, it's shells. Every kid knows what they are and collecting nice ones is always fun. A good fall-back if you didn't luck out with the chalcedony.


Other notes:

• Check tide tables and try to go at low tide if possible, this gives you more search area.
• Redcliffe beaches usually have only small waves so there's always the option of a kid-friendly swim if the weather permits.
• Technically picking up and keeping rocks is fossicking so you should probably get a family fossicking permit from the QLD gov't. But it's also the beach so I'm not sure how enforced that is...

That's about it. I originally found this forum while searching for places to fossick around Brisbane so I'm hoping this helps someone searching for similar things and that posting this here is ok. If there's interest I'll post more like this.

[Aussie Sapphire]

Great Post - I would like to re-post on our Facebook page (with attribution to you of course) if that is ok.

cheers
leah

[Rej]

absolutely, go right ahead !

Thanks

[dughug]

Rej

great post and what a fantastic way to get your kids involved. Exercise for both body and mind. Hope your kids are able to continue get as much enjoyment collecting rocks as you obviously did as a kid.

[Findem]

Excellent post. Makes me want to go out too!

[Lapis Lupinus]

Interesting to hear that you can still find chalcedony there - not that I've ever been there.

[Gem Ranger]

Hi Rej,

Just around the corner from there is the best spot. Walk out along the long spit at Scarborough on the low tide after rough seas and you'll find good lumps of chalcedony. My largest is 20X25cm.
The sea glass is also a bit of fun . If you can find a piece of that vivid blue / purple vinegar bottle glass keep it, it cuts a nice stone.
As for other hidden treasures, when the beaches cut back there about 5 years ago, the amount of old coins and gold jewellery found was awesome. I even came across someones old coin collection which someone must have thrown into the surf. It had three of those 1oz pure silver mint coins that were a real surprise when they popped out  ... not to mention the kilos of fishing sinkers that ironically now help me fish that area from the kayak. Happy days!

GR

[Rej]

Gem Ranger ... Omg. 

After reading your post, I had to go back and check out the spit (I'm self-employed so the boss is pretty understanding when it comes to fossicking  )

I went out at low tide today and there were indeed good size (5-10cm) chalcedony chunks every couple of meters! The seas have been calm recently so I can imagine how good it must be after a good storm.

Didn't see much sea glass though but I managed to score a fossilised shark tooth for my son.

I'll post some picks of my best pieces soon but a few have coral attached so they need to take a little acid bath first.


Big thanks for the tip. I still think Queensbeach is better for kids because of the magnetite and variety of finds, but this grown up had a blast out there today and felt like a kid again with all this treasure.

[Gem Ranger]

"but this grown up had a blast out there today and felt like a kid again with all this treasure"

Couldn't agree more Rej 

Interesting that you found a fossilised sharks tooth. I haven't come across those before. Looking fwd to the pics.

[MALACHI]

Hi Rej, a great post to read and welcome to the forum. 

Malachi 

[Rej]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Here's some pics of my finds from the spit at Scarborough, coins for scale. Most of the large pieces are pretty boring looking. Actually they look like chunks of coral. But I assure you they soaked in some pretty strong hydrochloric acid and survived without a fizz, and when broken you can see nice clear bits of chalcedony. I have a little frankenstein rock saw I need to fix up and then make some cuts into those pieces. I can already see banding on the larger pieces, very curious to see what they look like once cut.






Here's the shark tooth I found among the shells. I found it curious that it was black and wondered what kind of shark has black teeth...
Some Googling turned up that it's actually a fossilised tooth

[Gem Ranger]

Awesome Rej. That's a great result on the chalcedony and that sharks tooth is fantastic 

GR

[Ineedofcomapssion]

I certainly remember the good old days with me and dad( sometimes family) specking the chalcedony, I thought they were agates....

Keep an eye out for some amazing specimens I remember a sparkling crystal packed which was a wonder, had a purplish tinge too.

Crystals were about her size of dried peas, and the chunk about a 20 cent piece.

Been a long time and may visit there again sometime.