Red and yellow and green and blue ...

Today we left the motorhome parked and explored Rubyvale on foot. The first stop was for strudel and coffee, with the cherry strudel a clear winner:

The Austrian who ran the coffee and strudel place has spent some time giving a tropical look to his place which was a nice contrast to the otherwise very dry surrounds in Rubyvale. He was a fan of garden statues which he placed imaginatively:

Whilst much smaller than Coober Pedy or Lightning Ridge, Rubyvale has a similar feel with mines interspersed with shanties and both new and old buildings in the very small main street:

We took a tour underground in the Walk In Mine (about 1.5k from our van park). The contrast between old and newer mining methods couldn't be greater with older miners working on their bellies in long and cramped tunnels.

They love their league up this way:

The NSW display was at the back of a dark tunnel.

We were about 17 metres underground and you can just see the corrugated iron at the top of the shaft:

We decided to return to our van park to buy a bag of wash (rock and rubble/gravel) in the hope of finding some sapphires. After a quick lesson from the van park owner, we were up and running and found a number of small blue, green, yellow and party (multicoloured) sapphires. I learned that sapphires come in a range of colours and not just blue.

Our haul - nothing spectacular, but good fun:

After a last walk into the Main Street to the pub for dinner, we've settled back in the van.  We have a big drive ahead of us tomorrow to Charters Towers.