We left Devils Marbles and now heading to Alice Springs. Had morning tea at Aileron about 60km south of Ti Tree. Aileron is known as the big aboriginal man on the big hill with a spear is looking out over his country as boss of his tribe. We turned left off the Stuart Hwy onto the Plenty Hwy and headed east for 70k into Gemtree caravan and tourist park which is 140kms NE of Alice Springs.(www.gemtree.com.au) they have their own take away store with basic groceries, limited fuel,pay phone, as no coverage for mobile phones. Plus a Gemstone gallery selling 9 carat gold and silver rings, necklaces and ear rings. After setting up camp we decided to buy a bucket of dirt that had beed dug out from the mine for and $30 to practice looking for garnets after getting shown what to do and some help didn't take long to get the hang of it. Two hours later and only half finished the bucket we packed up and took the bucket back with us to finish off tomorrow. We decided to book and pay for a guided tagalong fossicking tour to the nearby ziron and garnet fields. We left the next morning at 8.30 about drove a further 34k east into a mining claim and each couple where given their spade, pick, buckets of water and 4 Sieves and shown what to do then left to get digging. It was Blowing a gale and the dust when sieving went All over us so we Got down and Dirty. We had to be back at the gem cutting room By 2:30 so that our gems could be sorted out into gem quality and then sized, bagged and labelled. We had fun and found our share of garnets and once they were Sorted we had several that were suitable for ear rings and rings and a big bag of "show and tell" flawed gems. We need to finish sieving the half bucket we had left over from Tuesday and get them sorted as well.
Had dinner with our new friends Ken and Marguerite whom we met earlier in our travels at Tennant creek. Ken has limited mobility due to health issues and Marguerit his wife and full time caree. They are traveling full time While
Ken still has some Mobility and he is
able to drive the car. Ken is inspirational to talk to and as he says
He just gets on and copes as best as he can. Marguerite sets up the van and does all the other jobs that need doing.
24th August
After saying goodby to Paul & Judy who we went on the tagalong fossicking tour with us, only Marguerite and Ken we left. Called into the shop and payed for a $12.00 tea and scones for Ken's birthday today hoping he gets a nice surprise.
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