Our first port of call on arriving at Mt Surprise was Pete & Pam of Mt Surprise Gems fame; they own and operate the gem shop and a great fossicking tour to their own private Topaz claim, plus they have all the local info, vital to know and even do a roast chook dinner delivery service once a week out to the camp ground some 38 kilometres away, now that’s what I call service.Like many rivers and creeks in far north Queensland, O’Brien’s Creek and adjacent Elizabeth Creek, flood in the tropical wet season, limiting access to the gem fields. Elizabeth Creek once dry, has been flowing constantly for a few years now, and is a river crossing at the best of times, during the wet it’s a boat job if you dare.
They assured us all was good on the dirt road out to the allocated camp site at O’Brien’s Creek but that we might not be able to cross Elizabeth creek to the gem fields for a day or so, due to the rain upstream the night before. How exciting our new Adventure begins with a river crossing, I hope “Nugget” (Nissan Patrol) is up to it, one never knows until you’re confronted with the situation.
Now if camping is not your style then don’t despair, just over Elizabeth Creek is Diggers rest, Paul and Cindy own and operate the original old homestead, and have three rustic self-contained rooms to rent.
After settling in at the campground we drove around eager to start digging but where do you start fossicking in unknown territory? By chance we met up with an old rock hound Garry, he’d been there all season and was about to head south for the summer, but agreed to show us around before leaving.
The following morning we were up early to catch the best light for filming our tour to Pete & Pam’s claim. This was our first experience fossicking for Topaz so what better way to learn than from someone who’s been finding some nice material.
Topaz (aluminium fluorosilicate) is found in alluvial gravels or “wash” up to 2meters deep in creeks and gullies, in a variety of colours ranging from the common white to shades of pink and blue through to red yellow and brown. Other gemstones found in the region are Citrine, aquamarine, and Smokey quartz. You may also find some fragments of Tin, left over from mining of another era.
There are also some very clever facetors in the region, check out these fancy cuts available.
Our day fossicking for Topaz with Pete was great, but there’s nothing quite like exploring in the wilderness to find gemstones, so the following day we roped Garry into showing us one of his secret spots, way up in those hills is all I can say, but find Topaz we did. In this area you also find have been heard for miles, giving away our secret location.
aquamarine, and smoky quartz crystals and some really good specimens had been found this last season. Thinking back the yahoo’s we let out as we unearthed our treasure would probably. 
A fossicking license is required when fossicking in Queensland and can be purchased for varying periods of time and from many places around the gem fields. Hand tools only are to be used when digging usually a pick and shovel and dry sieve the material, but we were lucky to have plenty of running water to wash our gravel in.
Our days at O’Brien’s Creek went quickly, by day we fossicked & filmed, and constantly marvelled at the spectacular vegetation of the “green season” and in the evening’s we enjoyed the big sky sunsets and watched satellites in the night sky, while relaxing beside our camp fire.
We saw some spectacular specimens of both rough & cut Topaz, Aquamarine, and Smokey Quartz which made our bag of treasure look insignificant in comparison but were thoroughly enriched by the experience of visiting O’Brien’s Creek.
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