Eggbert's Travels

Tuesday 28^th March 2017

SHE SAID:

Slow moving Cyclone Debbie eventually hit land as a category 4 system around Bowen about 1pm. As yet there isn't much information on damage or destruction, but it does appear to be tracking in a south westerly direction... basically our way!

I bought myself some nice sapphire earrings in a little place in town, also a $15 bag of “Wash” - basically the lazy way to fossick for precious stones. The shops bag up the wash from their claims, & sell it to the public. Geoff & I spent a couple of hours washing the dirt from the rocks & trying to figure out what we had. It was quite productive, with what turned out to be a 4 carat sapphire (we asked!). And several small chips.

For dinner we headed to the New Royal Hotel in Rubyvale & met up with Leah & Gene, fellow escapees from the cyclone, for a feed.

Several of the ornate town signs in the area

The Big Ruby in Anakie

The Big Easel & "Van Gogh" Painting in Emerald

Friendly dragon outside the Visitor Info Centre in Emerald

40 Gallon Drum Stack

Geoff's Big Guinness...

Not really, just mini salt & pepper shakers with his Guinness

One of the Gem stores in Sapphire

Our haul from the "Wash" Bag:

several small Sapphires, many quartz pieces too!

HE SAID:

We decided to stay put at Sapphire to see out the cyclone, as it was supposedly going to dissipate and miss us by hundreds of kilometres. It turns out the course changes made by Cyclone Debbie will have it track virtually straight over us on Thursday, though as a much reduced-intensity tropical low. So we are expecting some wind and lots of rain, and hope for a damage-free few days. We could head out from here, but to what gain? North and East are out. West is due for flooding and cut roads. So we could go South, but we'd have to go quite a way, and then retrace our steps, if the roads are open. We have it quite good here at Sapphire, so here we stay.