Banded Jasper and Chaldedony
New South Wales, Australia
June 2004
By Darren J.
bang_dead@yahoo.com.au hi all

just got back from fossicking been away for 3 days ok were do i start a few months ago i got a email from scott braley from mcrocks and he told me that he was coming to australia to teach a course for a week and to have a holliday for a week and asked if we could met and take him fossicking. so he finished the course and a few phone calls later told me he and his dad jerry was in nsw 10 hours drive away from me so i gave him my address and told them that we would love to have them. so i get home thursday night after work and walked inside and there was scott and jerry looking at my gem display in my kitchen. my girlfriend kery was home and let them in (we knew thay were coming) so after thay put all there stuff inside we took them out for dinner at the club and a few beers and talked about rockhounding till 12 at night lol the next morning we got up and i took them to dig thundereggs but we couldent get in it was shut so i took them to a animial park with roos wombats dingoes and ask the lady ranger if she could get out the koala and she said no probs so i took some pics of them patting the koalas (thay loved that) after that we headed down the van for a few days fossicking. on the way down we stoped at a creek and found some awsome banded jasper scott found a black with dark red lines it was unreal. me and jerry found some very nice reds and purples


me and scott looking for jasper


some of our jasper we found

my fossicking partner tully rang and said he will be downthe van after work (i took the day off lol) so that night the 4 of us had a bbq and a few beers. the van was full with all 4 of us staying for the weekend and all our gear lol the next morning we drove to me and tully fav fossicking spot about 1 hour away doon doon creek for colored rhyolite and chalcedony and did we get some. damm awsome stuff and some big ones to i was happy when scott found a unreal bit of colored rhyolite. i think when cut it will be very much like my bit. red pink yellow with all the sandy colored spots we all got a big amount of stuff thay loved it. its a awsome place


me,scott and jerry at doon doon after that we took them to oxley river for chalcedony

we walked the creek for a mile and found a bucket full between the 4 of us we also got some sard onyx and moss agate. the chalcedony we get in this
creek is the best. its been a fav spot of ours for a long time we allways come here after a flood.


some of the chalcedony i found

after that we went back to the van and had a bbq and had a few beers the next morning scott and jerry went back to sydney and me and tully drive back home to brisbane thay fly back to the usa today thay had a great time and got a lot of awsome stuff to take back to the usa


me, tully, scott, and jerry

it made me and tully happy to show them some of our fav spots and what rocks we get and how we rockhound in our country we all had a unreal time and i hope to see them again when we come to the states thay were nice people. very different from from us aussies lol(we understanded each other lol) just like to thank the mcrock board for the chance to meet and fossick with rockhounds from the states tully and i had a awsome time and to help other rockhounds when thay come to our country makes us smile thats what rockhounding is about also thanks to scott and jerry for all the rocks thay brought me over from the usa.

darren j

CLICK THE LITTLE MINER TO RETURN TO THE FIELD TRIP PAGE