Today Mick and I went down to the creek to do some fossil-digging. Mick is  an old Australian guy, who I met first yesterday and who offered to introduce me to the art of fossil-digging.

Mick

We brought all of the tools we needed: two different types of sieves, shovel, hammer and two bottles of water. When we had  arrived at the creek Mick spotted out the places, where we could try to dig for some fossils (crystals, diamonds, gold or topaz).

the equipment^^

The first step of fossil-digging is to dig a hole with the shovel next to a big rock and to put all the stuff from your shovel into the sieve. When the sieve is full, you use a special sort of technique to get rid of dirt and little stones. You hold the sieve into the water, until the stones are just covered with water. Then you move it gently from one side to the other, until the stones are lined up in the middle of your sieve. Then you turn your sieve and do the same procedure again, you repeat it for 6 times, then you’ll find the good stones separated from the rest exactly in the middle of the sieve, because they are lighter.

If you find something interesting, you have to hold it against the sun to check, whether it’s crystal or useless. We found some crystals but no gold nor diamonds. But normally, Mick said, he finds more. He is a very wise guy and knows a lot about the places, where you can find different kinds of stones. He told me, that, once upon the time, he was in New-Zealand

and there he found a lot. Nevertheless, I was pretty happy to have experienced some fossil-digging  (I would never try it in Germany but Queensland is known for its large amounts of crystals, diamonds and gold) and I am proud of my stones. Some aren’t crystals but I’ll keep them, because they look really beautiful.

Mick said, that I will have to get my crystals polished (it will take about 21 days).  Then I can use them as a keyholder or necklace. Let’s see where I will find someone, who can polish them for me on my trip around the world.