Gem Tree (7th June - 11th June)

Great! Great! Great! What more can I say. What a great place based around so much family history. Stayed for the weekend and did some amazing things.

Funny thing happened on Friday, when at School of the air in Alice Springs, prior to arriving at Gemtree. The two boys receiving awards at the school were the boys that live at Gemtree and they were in Alice especially for assembly to receive these awards and present some work pieces. Little did we know that we would see them again in the afternoon on check-in.

Friday night, we went to the Paddy Melon Bowls, a game designed by Kate, the owner, to make a use for these useless melons that grow wild over the land and are poisonous for human consumption. Had a great time as about 20 of us bowled these melons towards a blue melon jack. I was so close to winning a free nights accommodation but got pipped at the post by another lady on the last shot. Sam was extremely proud that he got one point as this was a first for a child. Ashley, did the most amazing overarm bowl that came amazingly close to the jack as well. Straight to bed post bowls as early appointment to go ruby garnet fossicking with a guide nearby.

8.30 Saturday morning we met our guide Linton who had all the gear ready, picks, shovels, sieves and bucket with 20 litres of water/ group. Headed off in convoy 27 km down the road to a place in the middle of the bush. We were all shocked as I think we were all expecting a small creek bed at the bottom of a mountain but instead came to a small, dusty area in amongst some bushes with wholes dug out every few metres. Linton showed us how to fossick and then he headed back to base for coffee time while we continued to find our riches, which we did. Sam, as previously noted, has an extremely keen eye, and found many nice, big garnets. Maddy was a champion digger with the pick and shovel and even made some of his own tools to make the job easier. He filled up buckets and then passed them onto us to sieve out the dirt, then wet it and hold to the sunlight to find the good gems. Sam was the best at this and other groups called him over to check their finds. On return to camp at 14.00 Aron, the owner, sorted our stones and classed them into sizes. We managed to find a size 7, 2 size 6's and 2 size 5's plus some good smaller ones. The size 7 was worth $160. To have it cut and polished it was $44 so we decided to do this with the 5 largest and have them sent back home to have made into jewellery at a later date. This was great fun for us all and we hear there is another place close by we're you can look for zircon which we'll do in the next few days.

Saturday night was great. We had a camp kitchen roast which was amazing and succulent. We had a tour of Kate's camp kitchen and saw a movie about her uncle and the rest of the chalmers family and this area which dated back to the 1920's. There were 20 children at dinner and the kids played all sort of games and had a separate table where they could eat their meal. We all sat at beautifully candlelit tables by the open fire and ate like kings. The camp kitchen caters for 300 at times and is cooked over coals and the potatoes in a beer vat welded into a rotating roasting oven. YUM! And ideas for the future.

Sunday was a day free to catch up on some things. For Sammy, that meant a little schoolwork and for papa it meant a day in the shed at the campsite trying to change the CV boot. He struggled to find the tools needed for the job and even a mechanic, on site, hadn't seen the tool before that Luuk was needing. Once again, I thought to myself, if only we had a Toyota or another non-European car. Luuk had the tool, unfortunately in his tool kit back home, but decided it probably wasn't needed and didn't bring it. Once again we discussed our next getup which will carry everything such as welder and all the tools required to live on the road and off the road for that matter. Finally, Luuk had to concede and cut the new boot he had bought and tie rib it in place until we get to Darwin and he will re-do the whole thing. At least it is still on and must be doing a better job than the one he removed as that had totally perished. The maintenance never seems to end!!

Sam and the kids and I also went to the schoolroom on Sunday where the Gemtree kids study during the week. Amazing place built around a caravan with 6 different rooms catering for each activity. School of the air provide the satellite dish, computers , microphone etc. even though they only have the same funding as other public schools and require a lot of fundraising to cater for all the outback kids needs. Great service they provide!! We also drove to the Zircon mines and did a brief fossick and spoke to some people who were camping there, fossicking for 3 months. They were lovely and gave us a bag of zircon so we knew what we were looking for. Once again, without even digging, Sammy walked along where people had already dug and picked up quite a few small pieces. Amazing gift I think.

Monday, Luuk started to fix the fridge vent and skylight over our bed which we had lost on the way to Gemtree from the East MacDonnell's. He went to the junk yard at Gemtree with one of the workers ( Linton, who had stopped travelling for a few months and picked up a job as handyman for the station ) and found an almost perfectly sized vent to cover the fridge whole and just cut it to size. Luuk then looked further and found a Whirlpool tucker box top loading fridge door and it fitted perfectly into our open skylight space. A few screws, a bit less sunlight and we were done. On the way back down Plenty Hwy towards Stuart Hwy we kept a lookout for the original skylight and unbelievably found it still in one piece with only a few scratches.

Just prior to leaving on Tuesday, the man camped next door to us, who was a gem fossicker and dealer, gave the kids the most beautiful stones for them to treasure. Ashley's was specially given to her, with lines similar to ancient writing and he thought that, because she was so talkative and expressive with her language this was very appropriate. The boys also were given a turquoise coloured stone and they all want to put wholes in them and make them into necklaces which papa will endeavour to do when we have our next big stop. Amazing story this man had, however, as he also travelled with his children for years and he said although they had no formal schooling they both became geniuses in what they do. He travelled all over the world with them and they went to school for the first time in their early teens. He now lives 6 months in Australia fossicking and then 6 months in India, in a small town, where the whole towns livelihood is based around making the gems into jewellery. He also has a shop in Adelaide where the jewellery is then sold. Such different stories you hear when your travelling and meeting new people daily. Luuk and I keep discussing our future and where we will end up and what we will do.???

Camping in Taylor's Hill tonight , along the Stuart Hwy, a free camp around 200 km south of Tennant Creek. Around 40 people are here on their way up north. Once again the kids have found a group of other travelling kids and are having a ball.