Tour guide and couple in an underground mine tunnel.

Four Days Fossicking for Fortune at the Sapphire Gemfields

Try your luck at striking rich at the largest sapphire-bearing area in the southern hemisphere. Covering Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale and Willows Gemfields this four day itinerary will teach you all the tricks to the fossicking trade.

Explore Itinerary
Metal statue with different coloured glass to represent gems.

Day 1: Anakie and Sapphire (10 minutes)

After arriving in Anakie, start your day with a locally roasted coffee at the Anakie Crossroads served beneath the towering Sapphire Reflections artwork. Continue into the Anakie Railway Station and discover the 140-year-old bottle tree, engraved with the initials of the soldiers who were on their way to war.

After learning a little of the local history it is time to start fossicking, head north to Sapphire, and spend the afternoon searching for gems at Pats Gems Tourist Fossicking Park.

Finish your day at the Sapphire Gemfields Wetland Reserve. The 14-hectare protected area is filled with walking and cycling tracks, a restored historic fossicker’s home, a boardwalk and a bird watching hide.

Stay: Sapphire Caravan and Cabin Park, Rubyvale Caravan Park or Sparrows Perch

10km
Two people taking a selfie underneath a big replica of a ring with a sapphire.

Day 2: Sapphire and Rubyvale

Now you have the fossicking basics down pat, take it a step further and spend the morning on a tag along tour out in the ‘fields. An experienced miner will be your guide as you dig, sieve, wash and inspect your diggings.

While your fossicking finds may not be large, the Big Ring, Big Spanner and Big Pick, Shovel and Sieve located in and around Sapphire certainly are.

Go back in time by taking an underground mine tour at Miners Heritage Walk-In Mine in Rubyvale, venturing 16 metres beneath the surface into a network of winding tunnels to see how pioneer miners extracted sapphires.

Finish your day with an icy-cold schooner of Fossicker’s Ale at the The New Royal Hotel Rubyvale.

Stay: Sapphire Caravan and Cabin Park, Rubyvale Caravan Park or Sparrows Perch

8km
View from hill over country filled with trees, a kangaroo is in foreground.

Day 3: Rubyvale

No matter your success in the ‘fields’ you are sure to find a winner at the local Rubyvale Gem Gallery, make sure to spend some time admiring the beautiful jewellery on display.

Take a drive around the mining claims and see some of the unusual short-term dwellings built with recycled materials such as billy boulders, bush timber, and even glass bottles. Be sure to stop at Policeman’s Knob to spot rock wallabies and watch the sunset.

Stay: Sapphire Caravan and Cabin Park, Rubyvale Caravan Park or Sparrows Perch

A couple fossicking for gems, using a pickaxe and shovel.

Day 4: Willows Gemfields

You’re ready to step out on your own! Hire the equipment, buy a licence, and spend the day fossicking at Willows Gemfields.

55km

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