The Fossickers Way Visitor Guide Volume 1 | Page 18

Glen Innes

REDDESTONE
SAPPHIRES
Located in the Glen Innes Visitor
Information Centre, Reddestone
Sapphires is a family owned retail
outlet with a long history in the local
sapphire game. It sells fine cut and
polished sapphires in a range of
colours, including fine blue, gold,
yellow, green, pink and partie.
Reddestone sells both loose
stones and fine jewellery, and offers
other services including cutting and
polishing your own rough stones and
repairing heirloom jewellery.
Even if you’re not in the market to
buy, it’s worth calling in to see the
truly stunning and high value finished
product of that which you’ve waded
around creeks and streams to find.

Did
you

know?

parks, Washpool
The largest confirmed sapphire
and Gibraltar
found on the Reddestone Creek
Range. These offer
was a blue weighing 151 Carats
pristine wilderness
(in the rough), which cut to 47
walking tracks,
Carats. In today’s market
4WDing and camping
it would realise over
opportunities.
$700,000
Options for fossicking
are plentiful: from the
privately run sapphire
len
fossicking parks, to the
Innes is blessed with
challenging Kookabookra,
World Heritage National
suitable for experienced
Parks, rich history and
fossickers, or Glencoe, where
heritage, great food and a
young families can try their
thriving creative community.
luck. It’s little wonder, then,
The region is also home to
that Glen Innes is home to
one of the richest deposits
the largest annual fossicking
of sapphires in the world,
gem and jewellery show in
making Glen Innes the perfect NSW, Minerama, which runs
destination for fossickers.
every year in March.
About half-an-hour
Minerama attracts gem
from Glen Innes are
lovers, rockhounds and
the neighbouring World
outdoor adventurers, and
Heritage-listed national
includes a three-day program

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18

of guided fossicking field trips
to suit both beginner and
experienced gem hunters.
Glen Innes is also rich in
historic buildings, so the selfguided heritage walk around
town is recommended. It’s
an attractive town with
sprawling parklands, set
amidst rolling countryside
dotted with granite boulders
and historic homesteads.
Glen Innes is also home
of the Australian Standing
Stones, the national
monument to all Celtic
pioneers who settled in
Australia. The Australian
Celtic Festival runs the first
weekend in May each year and
celebrates all things Celtic.

WHERE TO FOSSICK
Three Waters High Country Holidays,
sapphires and zircons

Head west on the Gwydir Hwy
for 1.4km, then turn right on
Emmaville Rd. Travel 4km
then turn right onto Bullock
Mountain Rd. Travel around
9km then turn left at the sign