If you’re tempted to strike it rich or are stirred by all things Celtic, then Glen Innes, in the New England Tablelands of northern New South Wales, is the place for you this autumn. Known as Celtic Country, Glen Innes is part of NSW’s most prolific sapphire region, including the prized royal blue, and is claimed to have the world’s richest mineral diversity belt.
So it’s hardly surprising that Minerama fossicking and gem show (www.minerama.com.au), NSW’s biggest, will again attract commercial traders and tailgaters from a wide area on March 12-14. They display gems, jewellery, minerals, fossils, lapidary supplies and other items in the Services Club while tailgaters overflow in a carnival atmosphere to an adjoining park.
Entry - and the festival’s evening entertainment - is free and there’s a series of guided field trips to almost a dozen locations. Fossickers travel in self-drive convoys for the trips costing $11 an adult, $4 for children to 16 (children under five free). Features include ‘salt and pepper’ trips to mystery sites where the wash is ‘enhanced’ to provide a rewarding experience for beginners. Fossickers list their finds on a ‘brag board’- valuable examples were highlighted last year - with cash prize draws as well as raffles and lucky door prizes offering some $1000 in fuel.