Willows- Gemfields

It is difficult to realise that we have been here for three weeks already. Believe me when I say that we are busy while here. Digging and fossicking for sapphires is usually a morning thing, right? Yep, right. Off we go out to the diggings that in themselves can change incredibly from place to place. We have dug at the area known as "Steptoe" and have given it ago at the "Duffer" and more recently we have dug out the back of '"Bonanza" which is a commercial mine.
Afternoon, the shadows and therefore, the light changes, so not many dig, sieve and/or wash after 2.00pm. This change in light changes the circumstances to the point that sapphires are more easily seen in morning light.
So, return to camp, covered in dust, get showered changed and a leisurely afternoon until the fire is lit. Around the fire at happy hour, mixed reports come to light, generally this year, not a lot being found. Go figure???
 Sapphires are the product of a volcanic explosion millions of years ago and are actually, the cooled down sparks. The time it took to cool gives them their various colours. At the willows, the traditional (major) colour is green, but you can still find blue sapphire or yellow or brown (star) or pink or it seems even Australian diamonds here. YES DIAMONDS!! WOW.
Camp ground activity is not restricted to fire pit conversations at all, indeed  Tuesday afternoon, ladies craft and at night there is darts for those who would like to participate, no experience necessary. Friday arvo for ladies craft, Saturday mornings a forge is lit for pick sharpening and Saturday evening, the local rec club have an evening cook up with raffles and a singer. Pork on a spit, Christmas in July (7 courses) and tomorrow its a stockmans feed (3 dinner courses, pea & ham soup, corned beef and veg and bread and butter pudding) sounds pretty good. Problem we have had so far is the massive size of the serves. Park owners put on free pancakes each Sunday morning before we head off into town.Sunday market is on at Sapphire about 30klms away with lunch at Rubyvale, another 8klms and home for fish and chips from the rec club. The guys leave the fire to go, have a beer while waiting for the order to be cooked, return and eat around the fire.. All very nice and reasonably priced.
We also allow ourselves a longer trip for more general shopping to the largest of the nearby towns Emerald which is a good hours drive from here, with all the National supermarkets represented there.. Lunches have been very good at the local Irish Tavern.
Emerald is still a major service town to the mining industry and I expect that this will continue. As such, it is difficult getting into a caravan park here and mining vehicles are the major types of vehicles on the streets and in the supermarket car parks.