Emerald at Fairbairn Dam

We arrived here on Saturday morning and have stayed at the caravan park situated on the area immediately surrounding the dam. This place is the perfect staging point for fisherman – every second vehicle has not only a caravan but also a tinny on the roof. We have enjoyed watching the process of hitching the tinnies on the roof with a variety of pulleys both hand and electric, and disassembling the trailers used to take them down to the water, some hand made others very sophisticated ---- we won’t be getting one any time soon however.
We discovered the sapphire fields on Sunday at Sapphire and failed to make our fortune although it was an interesting process of sifting, sifting, washing and hoping a huge sapphire would jump out and say ‘take me home’. The areas around the fields look rather like craters where many have tried, some very successful others not to make their fortunes.
Monday was a lazy day (we need those sometimes!) and enjoyed the sunshine which has now been very kind to us overall.
After talking to fellow campers we decided to try our hand at Rubyvale in pursuit of ‘bling’. We took a mine tour there and learnt how hard it is to go underground searching for the elusive gems and decided against new careers. Areas of Rubyvale have tunnels everywhere which plays havoc with roads and even electricity poles which have a tendency to lean at a dangerous angle with monotonous regularity and interrupt the power supply frequently. However we tried again and ……….. failed but it was all good fun.
Wednesday was car service day in Emerald which seems to show that the pace is different here – it was finished at 4pm after being left at 9am, however I found a patchwork shop to amuse myself. They had some lovely fabrics which did say ’take me home’ so to avoid disappointment I obliged. We also both had hair cuts which really shows how long we’ve been away.
Today we went to the Agquip show and it was fascinating. We spent ages watching dogs rounding up cattle with only a short command or whistle to guide them. We also watched bull sales and horse events and before we knew it we had been there all day.
We’ve had a great stay here and now we’re ready to tackle Barcaldine and Longreach.