Billabong Blue Fossicking Park

[Conan]

Hi All

I am heading to Inverell for work soon and will have a couple of days in which to dig so thought Billabong Blue would be the best place to go. Have heard good things of the place and the facilities seem ok, but as I have never been there it would be good to get some info from members who have been there. My preference is to seek virgin ground so I'm happy to put in the hard yards, its more fun than just sieving someone elses dug material. Are you able to dig in Frazers creek or is this off limits. How much of the fossicking park is there to explore. Can you camp overnight? If any members have any pictures of the area to post that would be great. Sorry for all the questions but I thought this would give everyone a topic to discuss as we approach the digging season.

 

[Conan]

Also how deep is the wash layer and how hard is the ground.

 

[5ftfossicker]

Take a jackhammer

 

[AtomRat]

A few from the forum head out that way and you should have a reply soon mate

 

[5ftfossicker]

Was there last week, first time ever seeking sapphires and found absolutely nothing in the creek wash at all .. after 100 yrs of mining it must have been fairly worked over, but spent 3 days chipping away at concrete like ash for a total of 300 carats of small bits however the bloke beside us pulled 1400 carats mostly 5ct to 15ct stones out of the same hole and next couple in his spot would have gotten closer to 2000 carats with some up to 30ct each we just lucked out on the pockets, but it was ridiculously hard digging .. your allowed anywhere on the 1000+ acres a d can dig in frazers creek, has a camp kitchen and septic toilets and you can eigther camp in the camp area or piss off into the scrub ..would go back again, bill was a great host and can take your small dogs as long as they behave i too wanted virgin ground and i think i found it but next time im going for the banks of the old creek and some beers and shade ..if your up for some serious hard yards ask bill to show you where we were digging in the hard stuff near the wash plant .. but seriously take a jackhammer

 

[5ftfossicker]

Costs $15 a night to camp and $10 a day to fossick

 

[Heatho]

No jackhammers allowed at BB, unless Bill has softened and now allows them, doubt it though. It is hard digging but there are plenty of stones left there. I've seen stones of well over 100ct from the creek!

The Sapphire bearing wash layer on the property is from the surface in some places all the way to more than 6 metres deep. You can find stones just sitting on the surface after a bit of rain in some spots. The ground is hard, tough digging moving the cobbles and billy boulders but if you get lucky it's all worth it.

I'm heading up there tomorrow for a week, can't wait to get into it.

 

[Heatho]

5ftfossicker, how bad were the flies, are they bad yet or not too bad? They were shocking last year....... Some poor bloke inhaled one last time and left feeling crook after that.....

 

[5ftfossicker]

Flies were not too bad and bill said we could bring anything smaller than a d9 .. bloke next to us had a jackhammer to pull his 1400 cts but people after him were doing it all by hand, we did both .. couple of days swinging the pick then decided to drive 5 hrs home and grab the generator and hammer drill .. only used it for about 15 mins to bust up the real hard stuff though as its an old noisy generator and didnt want to piss everyone off came home with severe case of heatstroke and it got down to 1c at night but was a good trip and we definiteley got the sapphire bug

 

[5ftfossicker]

If we are feeling better might try and get back out there for a day heatho next week keen to see someone pull some stones from the creek wash ..

 

[Heatho]

Flies were not too bad and bill said we could bring anything smaller than a d9 .. bloke next to us had a jackhammer to pull his 1400 cts but people after him were doing it all by hand, we did both .. couple of days swinging the pick then decided to drive 5 hrs home and grab the generator and hammer drill .. only used it for about 15 mins to bust up the real hard stuff though as its an old noisy generator and didnt want to piss everyone off came home with severe case of heatstroke and it got down to 1c at night but was a good trip and we definiteley got the sapphire bug

Hey that's awesome, a kango would help a bit but I reckon, a big cro bar works pretty well too. It's bloody hard work, not saying we'll do any better in the creek, it's really a game of luck and brute force. We'll give it a good go though. It's not the quantity for me this trip though as most are junk, would just be nice to come home with a few decent sized cutters.

If you come back out there would be great to catch up, we'll be in a silver Prado.

We're staying in town, after digging in that stuff a cold beer and a hot shower is needed.

Glad the flies aren't too bad at the moment.

 

[AtomRat]

Great convo guys, would love to see any pics if you meet!

What do you do with your 'junk'?

 

[richo966]

he gives them to me

 

[Heatho]

Great convo guys, would love to see any pics if you meet!

What do you do with your 'junk'?

Anything that looks blue with a decent colour gets cabbed instead of faceted. I love the cabbed bombs, they still look interesting to me.

Any star sapphs get cabbed too. Anything with no colour (common corrundum) gets put in a jar of crap stones that are too ugly to do anything with. Makes great slingshot ammo.

I'll post some pics as we go over the next week, hopefully there are some nice ones.

Need an early night, leaving at 4:30am, it's a 7 hour drive from my place.

 

[AtomRat]

I'd happily take 'common' corundum for testing purposes and abraisives rather than slung into airbound feathered flock 7 hour? Keen mate!

 

[mbasko]

Good luck up there Heatho. Hope ya come back with some nice ones.

 

[Heatho]

I'd happily take 'common' corundum for testing purposes and abraisives rather than slung into airbound feathered flock 7 hour? Keen mate!

I'm sure I can send you some.

 

[Heatho]

Good luck up there Heatho. Hope ya come back with some nice ones.

Thanks Matt, I'll post pics of anything good.

 

[5ftfossicker]

How common are the honey coloured sapphs out at inverell anybody ? Pulled a 7.8ct dark golden colour but its all cracks unfortunately. . Cant find much on them.

 

[Conan]

Good luck Heatho and let us know how you go. Some pics of the general area and creek would be good. I just like to visualise what I am up for before heading out.