Trip to Weldborough - gemstones - 28 Nov 2020

Our last field trip for 2020 will be to Weldborough on Saturday 2020-11-27T22:00:00Z2020-11-28T06:00:00Z

The meeting place will be at the beer garden of the Weldborough Hotel at 9:00 am Saturday 28th November. As usual, there is no cost for the trip, but it is only open to members. If you’re interested in joining PMAT, you’re more than welcome to come along and join up on the day.

We probably won’t have much Association business to discuss, and the meeting will be more to organise who’s heading where. Options include Main Creek, the Moorina Fossicking Area on Weld River, and Black Creek.

As many of you may already know, there have been some issues with access and damage to the camping area inside the Moorina Fossicking Area early this year. These issues affected only the camping area, which is now being rehabilitated. We’ve had good rainfall last winter and early spring, which might have carried out some fresh sorting of the gravels in the Weld River. With luck this will have improved the fossicking, so it’s a good time to give it a test.

Getting there

The Weldborough Hotel is located at 12 Main Road, Weldborough, approximately 25 minutes from Derby and 45 minutes from St Helens.

Where to stay

There is free camping at the back of the Hotel, with toilet facilities and paid showers. The Hotel serves meals, though they have warned us that, because of COVID, their capacity indoors is restricted to 25 people, so if you’d like to eat at the pub, it would be wise to book early: https://weldborough.com.au/contact-us/

What to bring

With a bit of luck the water will have warmed up a bit by the end of the month, but still it would be good to bring either waders or a wetsuit in order to stay warm for extended periods in the water. For fossicking for gemstones, your main tools will be a long-handled shovel and a pair of gem sieves. Other useful bits of gear include panning dishes, scoops, and containers for your gemstones.

Nowadays using a small river sluice is allowed, and Black Creek has a small amount of gold in it, so if you’re planning to head out there, bring your pan or sluice.

Fossicking options

Three main areas have easy access from Weldborough: The Weld River Fossicking Area at Moorina; Main Creek; and Black Creek.

There will likely be people heading to all three of these either on the Saturday, or those who stay overnight, on the Sunday.

Trip rules

Because of COVID regulations, we have to collect contact details for every attendee. There will be an attendance sheet available, please sign in, and also please sign out when you leave so we know you’ve returned safely.

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Hi Miguel
The email has the dates as the 27th and 28th and above it has 28th and the 28th, I am assuming the dates are for the meeting 09.30 on Saturday the 28th and fossicking to continue on Sunday the 29th.
“O” I am so confused.
Cheers
Wayne

Hi Wayne (@WDeb), I haven’t sent the email out for this one yet, did I say 27th and 28th in the previous email I sent about Back Creek? I’m not at home with access to my emails so I can’t check.

In any case the trip is Saturday 28th. Some of us will stay the night and go out again somewhere on Sunday morning, but the official field trip is Saturday. What I mean by official is that we have the sign-in sheet and so on. Sunday is more of a DIY thing.

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Hi Miguel.
The original I recieved by email had (Our last field trip for 2020 will be to Weldborough on Saturday 2020-11-27T22:00:00Z UTC → 2020-11-28T06:00:00Z UTC) but when I clicked on the link to the PMAT site it had the 28th.
My flip type desk calendar this year is different to what I have had for years. Normally it started with Sunday and went to Saturday. S M T W T F S but this years started with Monday and went to Sunday. M T W T F S S and this has done my head in all year Hahaha.
Cheers
Wayne

Hey just checking in that this trip is still good to go? I am new at this game and am keen to meet some folk who know what’s what :grinning:

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I called the Weldborough Hotel . They are now fully booked for dining INSIDE the hotel for Friday and Saturday nights. However they say there’s plenty seating outdoors and they serve outdoors too.
So we should be OK as long as there is no rain.

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Thanks Warren, good to know. I better take some backup food and a stove then.

See you all there!

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Hi AngeWF,
Yes, trip is still on, I’m expecting 20+ people to show: there will be some with experience, some like yourself so a good mix!
Just read the notes provided by Miguel as to what to bring etc.
If showers are about, wet weathers and mozzie spray may be required
See you there!

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