The caravan park at Marble Bar was old but interesting with some relics lying around….

We had a few things planned for the day… Klaus was stinging to use his metal detector to fossick for the big nugget… but that had to wait til later as we decided to see a few sights first…

Just on the outskirts of Marble Bar in the old (no longer working) Comet Gold Mine – the mine site itself is not accessible as it is too unsafe but is visible from the road…

The museum located near the mine was apparently really interesting, so we went for a look… The man working there was also very interesting to talk to – he gave Trev and Klaus lots of tips on where to fossick and even showed us some gold nuggets he had found that week…

The museum was full of historical artifacts from the town, the mining efforts and WWII memorabilia as the secret Corunna Downs air force base was located not far from here during WWII…

There were some amazing mineral exhibits… and the famous Marble Bar Jasper on display… Marble Bar was so named due to the huge Jasper deposit that was found – which was mistakenly thought to be marble initially….

From the Comet Mine we drove to the Jasper deposit where it was permitted to take samples… and came upon a couple who were searching the area … and using their drone… we had a chat with them – they were from QLD and were travelling for 2 years….

We poked around and found a couple of samples to take… it was obvious from the pile of chipped rock pieces that many people come to do exactly the same… the colours of the rocks were lovely… and there were some wildflowers also coming out….

We drove on to Flying Fox Lookout for a great view over the large (empty) riverbed and the gauge used to measure river height that spanned across the valley like a flying fox…

After taking in the view, we drove down to Chinaman’s Pool – one of the swimming holes – it was quite muddy and did not look that inviting so no one went in….

the area was beautiful though – there was a lot of birdlife around… we saw pelicans…

and a flock of corellas that filled the trees along the bank…

Kerry and Gordie had a photo session to get that great holiday pic – thanks Dave!!

Next stop was the “protected” famous jasper deposit next to the Marble Bar Pool – another local swimming hole…

This jasper was NOT to be taken and it was easy to see why – it was incredibly beautiful and a huge deposit which was a spectacular example….

The colours were so varied, and the striations and angles of the rock deposits were astounding…

Klaus spotted a couple of very colourful dragonflies and took some great pics!

The Marble Bar Pool was much clearer and looked great for a swim, so Gordie and Trev got in for a quick dip….

The scenery around the pool was serene and very picturesque…

We finished up at the pool and headed back to camp for lunch.On the way we took the opportunity to get some group shots at the Marble Bar town entrance….

Dave and Rose were invited to watch the Swannies game in the caravan of the QLD couple we had met earlier that day….

Klaus, Trev and I decided to head out to “The Commons” – a mysterious area not marked on the map that the guy in the museum earlier that day has said was OK for people to fossick for gold in general without a permit…

The hunt was on… the metal detector was running hot….

Much digging ensued and a bullet casing was located…. More hunting and digging…. 2 pellets of metal (?birdshot?) were at first excitedly thought to be nuggets… but they were too evenly round 😊

More wire and tin cans got the metal detector excited…. And as the sun went down we called it a day… no nuggets but a lot of fun trying….