Day 49, Wednesday, March 1, 2006 After a very rainy night and no better prospect for today, (it never rains in Rocky, the gas attendant says), we decided to head inland to the gem fields of Emerald, Sapphire and Rubyvale. It’s about 300K and takes you through the coal fields the Queensland Central Highlands. This coal train must be 1K long. We stopped at the small town of Comet to let a heavy downpour pass over. “It never rains in Comet” the waitress informed us. Uh Huh. The Heritage Mine in Rubyvale is no longer a working mine, but provides guided tours underground to experience what it was like. This ladder up a vertical shaft was the only way in or out when it was a working mine, now there is a walk-in shaft that winds down to the pay zone. Sapphires, rubys, and zircons were commonly found here. We stopped at a gem shop as a sudden shower soaked us. “It hasn’t rained in Sapphire since Christmas Eve“.
“What year?” We stayed at the Ramboda Homestead, a farmstay B & B near Anakie. Hosts Ann and Jimmy operate a large beef cattle farm. It’s home to a family of kangaroos as well. Jimmy took us out to one of the pastures to pump water to his stock. I got to open and close all of the gates. We had supper at the Anakie Hotel and Bar. It was a lively place as Wednesday was darts night.
Bob’s Blog
2 comments:
Nice of those kangaroos to pose so perfectly for you. Those guys look huge!! I wonder what Murray would do if he saw a kangaroo...
Vicky,
These live in the vicinity of the farm and may be used to people, but they are sure curious. Either Murray would put the run on them or vice versa. I think they are about 6 feet tall.
Dad
The kangaroos' look of mild curiosity just racks me up. I saw one in 1770 who we surprised with a great mouthful of munchy stuff from some guy's garden. He just looked like he was thinking "are you going to blow the whistle on me or what!"
Mom
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