John's New England Minerals and General Geology Blog: SUE’S FAVOURITE SPOT YARROW CREEK, GLEN INNES NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

SUE’S FAVOURITE SPOT YARROW CREEK, GLEN INNES

NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

The long straight stretch of Yarrow Creek

In 2003 and 2004 the Glen Innes Baptist Church Fossicking Group had so many good sites to search for sapphires along Yarrow Creek that it wasn’t easy to decide where to go each Wednesday. “Let’s go to my favourite spot”, Sue would often say to me, and so this place got its name.

February 2004

We had found it at the end of 2003 by the simple process of walking into the creek and finding that there was lots of gravel in one place, which we eventually extended along the channel for about 100 metres. Our fossicking guests found lots of sapphire, zircon and garnet cutters there. As late as the beginning of 2007 another new patch of gravel was found and I’m sure this won’t be the last.

There have been several highlights of our many trips to this productive spot. One happened when Mal Leyland – well known in Australia for his documentaries – came out with us to get some fossicking

October 2005

footage for a video on Glen Innes he was working on. As it turned out, I got a nice blue cutter in the first sieve which was all he needed to see. Then he was gone! If you can find a copy of this video, the magic moment is preserved for all to see.

A second interesting event happened right back at the beginning when Yarrow Creek stopped flowing in a dry summer. Long stretches of the creek were dry, but we were concentrating on the Glory Hole at that stage and didn’t even get to check the rest of the creek out. By the time we did, the water was back to normal and hasn’t been down that far again since.

40 cutters in one day from the 2007 patch

The rich patch we found in 2007 was in a deep hole I hadn’t even noticed until then. It turned out to be chest deep (or deeper) and there was a submerged log down one side. Under the log was where the goodies were trapped. Unless you were standing in the water you could never have found this patch of gravel.

We use the name “Sue’s Favourite Spot” for a nearly straight 500+ metre stretch of the creek which starts where the “Glory Hole” area ends and finishes where the “Blockup” begins. At least half of this is reedy and uninviting, but who knows? There might be another bonanza or two in there.