Fossicking for sapphires was terrific fun - we are not very good, but still found a few - Claire and Matthew both found cutable stones. You buy a bucket of dirt from a mine and sieve through it to try your luck. The sapphire fields of QLD have been mined continuously for 130 years and are 900 square kilometres - the largest and longest mined in the world. Did you know that a ruby is just a special name for a red sapphire?? Lots of people catch the bug and stay for ages trying to make their fortune - not many manage it though!