Fossicking for Topaz

After a relaxing afternoon at the campsite Max asked if we could try our hand at fossicking the next morning. Harry wasn’t that interested so Max and I decided we would go out alone and see how we went.
The next morning fossicking was a little delayed as Max met up with another boy and they spent the morning playing and creating in the adjacent creek, so we didn’t set off until just before lunch.
In order to do so we went and had a chat to John – who runs the campsite – to find out what we were actually looking for, how we went about it as well as purchasing the required fossicking license. John also provided us with some equipment to make our search somewhat easier.
The drive out included creek crossings and a few interesting tracks which Max really enjoyed (later on, on the return trip he was trying to find additional tracks we could traverse that included more bumps, slides and water ).
Once we had picked a spot to try it was off to work. After about 15 minutes Max decided that while he liked the idea of fossicking the actual effort required was all too much like work, so most of the rest of the day revolved around me doing the work and Max providing the commentary! After we had a break for lunch we decided to try a different spot nearby. Our total return ended up revolving around pieces of rock that Max liked the look of with nothing even resembling a hint of an actual gemstone.
By mid-afternoon Max’s enthusiasm has completely waned so we went for a drive a little further along the fossicking area simply for the enjoyment of exploring new areas. We stopped off at an interesting rock formation which Max then discovered a little rock pool that had him occupied for the remainder of the afternoon. While he was doing this I had a little play with the fossicking gear and came up with a tiny sliver of poor quality Topaz, so we can actually lay claim to finding something!
Then it was back to the campsite for the evening with Max once again showing remarkable enthusiasm for every bump and splash.
Next morning we packed up and set off back through Mt Surprise for Normanton, with the intention of staying between Normanton and Karumba to allow us to potter around Karumba the next day which would be our only look at the Gulf of Carpentaria. This was truly the start of a stage that we had been really looking forward to as neither of us had any real understanding of that area of the country, with both Liz and I having been to Cairns and the tablelands previously and both of us having been to different parts of the Pilbara but neither of us having been to any of the regions in-between.