Noreena Jasper

Next on the “digging list” for this year is Noreena Jasper. This is a stunning rock Glenn found and named himself.

When we reach the lease we find a bushfire has gone through since we were here last year and the area looks quite bleak. Only the eucalyptus trees have regrowth and there are very few of those. Even the Spinifex is only just sprouting again. However, there’s lots of colour here. All sorts of flowers are in bloom and where we make our camp it seemed as if we had a garden (much to my delight!) as we were surrounded by colourful plants.

Glenn gets the backhoe into operation and soon the bags are filling up.

Every piece we throw into the bag must be knapped first as the seams can be fickle. Just about every good piece of rock is geometric in shape and just a small tap on one corner will show the potential colours inside. It was very satisfying to give a plain red rock a little tap and see pretty colours just peeking out.

Here (below) Glenn is sitting against the seam and has sprayed the broken rock with water to show how it will polish.

(click on image to enlarge)

Crazy Lace Agate Mine

We had an interruption to our digging - Glenn injured his wrist badly enough to have to rest it for a few days so we made a flying visit home. This proved beneficial, however, as we had mail to deal with and more importantly it meant we could pick up the dog from the kennels. We missed him more than we thought. The intention was to save him the discomfort he would suffer from the dreadful grass seeds. Last year each evening we would sit after dinner and pick them out of his skin and ears. I decided this time I would keep him away from the grassy areas one way or another.

As you can see, he was glad to be home.

We’d been home a few days when we heard rain was forecast for the Pilbara Region so we left in time to get there before the roads were closed. They are unsealed roads and with the Almighty Dust of the Pilbara it doesn’t take much to turn a road into a quagmire. We arrived late at night and it was nice to get into our cosy tent.

In the morning it was pouring with rain so Glenn strung up the tarp for shelter and that was where Woody and I sat waiting for the rain to stop while Glenn unloaded the truck.

It eased off by the afternoon, just as the weatherman said it would and work could begin again.

It’s not long before we have a truckload to take into town and this time His Lordship gets to ride in the sleeper cab!

Most of the road we use is the railway access road and it’s not surprising that we pass the Ore Train because it is going back and forth constantly, transporting iron ore to Port Hedland for shipping to China. It’s over a kilometre long and has two engines; one at the front and one in the middle, so I took three photos as we gradually overtook it. The train driver waves and gives us a blast on the train horn too!

A couple of days later we saw another ore train that was 2kms long and had two engines at the front, three in the middle and two at the rear.

Our black and grey dog is soon black and red.

Is he looking lovingly at Glenn?

No...

Anyone would think from reading this blog that our life revolves around the dog!!! Absolutely not!!!

Apart from punctures... (we woke up to this one)

(There's a man under that truck!)

...and mechanical problems, other small setbacks occur (see below). Fortunately there is another bucket Glenn can use but it’s half the size of this one.

The digging here is complete but before we leave the area we take a drive to a lease not too far away for Munjina Stone. It’s a beautiful place and yet another beautiful rock.

We pack up our camp at the Crazy Lace Agate mine and head off for Roy Hill.