It was really cold overnight which made it difficult getting out from under the doona in the morning. We were packed up by about 9.00am and drove to the nearby town of Sapphire where we visited the local market. The area reminded us of 'Radiator Springs' with the remnants of old mining equipment, bush humpies and the lunar landscape as a result of the large open-cut machinery days. At the market the stall holders were either selling their unwanted treasures from home or all sorts of rocks, gems, crystals and petrified wood - not necessarily local finds. Caitlin loves a pretty rock. We then went to the Miners Heritage where we bought a bucket of 'wash' and were shown how to fossick and recognise the precious specks by sieving and sorting the sapphire bearing gravel. They really enjoyed it - I was bored after a few minutes! June and Fred (Rick's grandparents) spent a lot of their travels fossicking in the Willows just west of here. We also did the underground mine tour which was really interesting. There are still commercial operators in the area but in 1986 the government set aside designated areas for recreational and tourist fossicking. After a little picnic for lunch we drove towards Mackay. This was a huge coal mining area and the kids were impressed at the length of the coal trains. After about 4 hours of driving we decided to stop at a free camp just north of Nebo, in a paddock at the back of the Retreat Hotel.
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