14 July 2014
No internet, no phone service but we do have a camp fire. We are about 14 kms out from the town of Clermont, Queensland. When we go into town tomorrow I will try to upload this blog, so no photos as they take too long to upload.
Yesterday we were at the Anakie Gemstone Caravan Park in Anakie. This was a great little caravan park with managers Sheryl and Graham. Later yesterday afternoon Sheryl came around to all the vans to let us know the owners of the park were putting on a free sausage sizzle – so tea was taken care of.
We had an early start, (for us at least), to drive into the markets at Sapphire. There were heaps of people there and many of the sellers were miners selling sapphire jewellery. A good look around and I bought a silver ring with 5 blue sapphires set in it.
I didn’t know until I arrived here that sapphires come in many colours and the most prized ones are the rainbow sapphires. Yellow ones are bringing in the highest prices at the moment, but the blue sapphire is still the most popular.
The gemstone towns of Sapphire, Rubyvale, Anakie and The Willows have supplied some of the most beautiful and valuable sapphires in the world. Mining started in the 1890’s and continued until the 1980’s when there was a downturn in the sapphire market.
Today, Monday the 14th saw the time we have been on the road mark off 17 weeks of travel. We always know where home is as we watch the sun set in the west.
We left Anakie and drove to Emerald, a further 40 kms east. This is a major town in the Central Highlands and has a population of over 2000. It was a bit of a culture shock to be in traffic and having to stop at traffic lights. Stocking up on fruit and vegetables, filling the car with fuel and we were back on the road, driving northwards to Capella then Clermont.
The country is dry and the cattle are thin, but you wouldn’t believe it, it is 8pm and there are raindrops on the roof. Lets hope there is some relief for the farmers out here.
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