Fossicking for Peridot (Olivine) at the Mount Shadwell Quarry

For the second weekend in a row we found ourselves out in the elements fossicking. This time we were at the Mount Shadwell scoria quarry where gem quality Olivine, or Peridot, can be found.

We attended this trip with other members of the Essendon Gem and Lapidary club.

Olivine, or Peridot, occurs within scoria bombs that must be opened first. The quality of the find varies from none to gem quality with the latter being rare. The act of opening the rock, with a small hammer, renders much of what you find shattered. We had a great day and our one and only cutter was a small piece that Bianca found whilst specking the ground. I will try to get it cut for her but the size of it is currently beyond my skill.

Overall we had a great day and i think everyone came away with something.

 

Powelltown Fossicking with ALF

I though i would post a few photos up of a recent fossicking trip i attended. With the support of many members from the Warragul Lapidary club, and the Australian Lapidary forum, a trip was organised to Powelltown in Victoria’s south east.

Powelltown is a great location that we have been to before and is a location that Topaz, Tourmaline and Quartz (Smokey) can be easily found. The actual fossicking is easy, once you access the creek, and consists of digging and sieving the sandy bottom of the creek. This time around we managed to find a couple of Smokey quartz points, a nice 300 carat clear quartz cutter, many black tourmaline specimens and one sliver of topaz that would be to small to cut.

Wollongong–Corrimal Beach

Well, its been a while but as i am in between jobs at the moment we have been careful with our funds. As soon as i knew i had been offered a new role with a new employer we started planning our next getaway.

We decided we wanted to go “Glamping” this trip and leave the van at home so that's what we did. Booking a cabin at the Corrimal Beach tourist park we left Melbourne for our next mini adventure with the car zipping along minus the tag-a-long.

Why Wollongong? No reason, we had not stayed there before and most of Sydney’s north side beaches were booked out with school holidays.

As we wanted to take our time somewhat we decided to stay overnight in Albury, first stopping in Euroa for morning tea before finding a great little hotel, the Best Western Meramie motor inn, near the main street, which allowed us to walk the township, as well as to and from dinner at the Albury Commercial Club.

After a good nights sleep we were back in the car and on our way, discovering to our disappointment that the bypass of Holbrook is now complete and we did not pass the submarine as we normally do. The trip into Wollongong was mostly uneventful except for when we walked into a random bakery in Yass to find Maree and Peter there having morning tea. Seems Yass is not that far a drive from Canberra.

As mentioned, our home for the next 5 days was to be the Corrimal Beach tourist park, where we had a massive 3 bedroom cabin with a BBQ on the balcony, right next to the dunes and the beach. Very easy for me to get to for my morning walks and coffee whilst the girls slept in.One of the reasons for our choice of Sydney and Wollongong was that Sara wanted to visit Manly and the Northern Beaches (Palm Beach) however most of the accommodation around them was booked. Due to fires in the area the northern beaches ended up being scratched but Manly was still a destination we could reach. As we always do in Sydney, the public transport system was utilised to make the trip. It was actually a great train ride from Corrimal to Circular Quay, before boarding the ferry for Manly. It beats driving any day.

We also managed to find time to explore other beaches in the area including the Wollongong north beach. There is a great lookout on the heads and petrified wood can be found on the beach itself. The kids had a great time fossicking at the waters edge.

We had a free day so we also decided to visit Symbio Zoo, a wildlife park on the south side of Sydney. It was not as good as the Mogo Zoo however they are doing renovations so i am sure it would be worth visiting again in the future. The kids enjoyed it and they had some great Tigers

The trip home, after a great week away, was via Eden. We had planned to stop for a few days but the weather had turned very windy so we stayed here overnight and headed home via the coast.