After a long day of driving we had a two night stop at Charters Towers. The highlights were swimming in the massive resort-style pool at the caravan park, taking the historical walk to watch the sun set from a hill overlooking the town, and a tasty Indian dinner.

From Charters Towers we drove to Emerald. At Emerald we took a short drive out to Sapphire and Rubyvale to fossick for precious gemstones. We toiled for two hours in the hot sun and dust with our bucket of wash and were rewarded with a good dozen sapphires. After the fossicking we were starving so we had a picnic lunch and were off again to tour a walk in mine – it was so much cooler in the mine and very interesting to learn about the early mining techniques. It is not for people who do not like the dark, dirt and confined spaced. After the mine tour we followed the signs to the “Strudel Haus” run by a German miner selling gems and strudels – either cherry or apple. Though there was no one else there they were the best strudels I had ever tasted, so good that we even ordered another cherry strudel. A yummy end to our day trip out to the mining fields.