Hey Miguel we had made a 3 day school holiday trip of this weekend so went in to the main paddock today anyway and thought I would let folks know that it it is wet but the biggest problem is the fact that the local lads have made the most of the wet and churned it all up into mud 
might make camping next weekend a bit messy.
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This is happening in so many places now , the coastline around the Waterhouse area has suffered the same stupidity with the result of having Parks close off more and more access . Only the sensible public pay the penalty .
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Thanks Ange,
That’s a shame, it was looking not too bad a couple of weeks ago. How chewed up was it?
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I’ve had a few people ask whether the trip is still on.
Yes, the weather looks like it will be improving a bit (showers forecast for Bridport, but not St Helens, chancy at The Corner), and there are no flood watches or warnings in place, which is what prompted us to move it forward.
So if you’re coming, see you on Saturday!
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Looking forward to the trip, so see you all there!
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Looking to head up myself tomorrow with my son on his first camping & prospecting trip, we are both looking forward to it! See you there!
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I have a do until lunchtime, so I’ll be there by about 6 or 7 tomorrow evening.
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Where is everyone camping??
At the fossicking area or somewhere in Gladstone?
Coming up tomorrow afternoon
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At the fossicking area, mostly. There are directions on how to get to the main paddock in the first post at the top.
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Will not make it, I have a sick girl.
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Father in laws funeral Saturday , will be home lending moral support . Hope some good smokeys surface .
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Thanks @PatHogen, @lyn8curt, sorry to hear that, and thank you for letting us know.
For others that are coming, the entrance to the paddock is fairly chewed up and muddy. If you have a 2WD it might be better to park on the road.
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How was the trip unfortunately I could not get there and was most disappointed with myself did anyone have any nice finds
Had a great time at Gladstone and managed to find a couple of reasonable pieces of Smokey quartz
Would like to thank Miguel for the trip and was really good to meet so many really nice people in the group
Can’t wait for the next one
Cheers 
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Had a great weekend away and came home with a few small bits of Smokey and a heap of other rocks that looked interesting at the time but probably should of stayed at the creek. Cheers to everyone for the tips and tricks and Nigel and the boys for sharing their fire last night. Cant wait for the next trip.
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Had a great weekend: new country for me: smoky quartz from old tin workings on granite.
Good turnout: ~25 people all up, most found bits to take home, some coins also found by those with relic detectors.
The sun shone, bush camping with fire and beers makes for a cheery crew 
I found some fair chunks of tumbled smoky crystals, 1x pice of pale amethyst and 1x nice piece of clear crystal.
Panned some tin near Sextus Ck, but no topaz sighted.
Thanks to Miguel for organising!
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Had a detect around the camp at the fossicking area at Gladstone on the weekend and found a silver disc shaped piece of rubbish and put it in my pocket
Got home and put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out and thought I need to throw that away
Looked at it more closely and to my surprise I had actually found and old sixpence
Check your rubbish
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Thanks everyone who came along!
The way in was very muddy, but the weather mostly held, rain only fell at night. About 25 of us turned up, and there were a few nice pieces found, nothing huge. I forgot to take pictures of other people’s finds, but here’s my pick of the day, a piece of citrine / pale smoky quartz that is crystal clear facetting grade.
Some of us camped up the hill in a small cul-de-sac where we still managed to fit ix or seven vehicles and tents:
Thanks again to everyone who came, and I look forward to seeing many of you again at Reece Dam in November.
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The smoky quartz sleuth strikes again . Looks like a very nice piece Miguel , hope you get it cut and show us all .
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It was great to catch up with everyone over the weekend - a good number of “Old Hands” plus some new faces. I think most people found something of interest not far from the camp.
The cleared area was host to a Chinese camp and gardens over a hundred years ago and I managed to snag a couple of old Chinese cash coins and 2 silver British coins, both dated 1898 from what appeared to be an old hut site, using my trusty Minelab Equinox 800.
Had to work fairly hard for those finds as the site has been very thoroughly detected in the past.
Thanks Miguel for your efforts in organising the trip.
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