Fossicking Thundereggs at Mount Hay

First stop on the Capricorn Highway into the outback is Mount Hay. At this place we can find, fossick, for thundereggs. And I am very exited to do that, I've always love fossiles and beautiful stones and shells! Below I've copied a text explaining what a thunderegg is. At the location we were the only oneS and the guy at the shop (if you can't find them you can buy them 😉, and many more stones) gives us a pick, bag and a bucket with a brush. It all looks a bit shabby or worn down, but let's see. He explains us what to look for, and there we go, it's us and a big pile of dirt! The boys start enthusiastic and are excited about every rock they find.. at the end it's the boys playing in the mud, Guido walking around with Lucia and I'm still fossicking with my pick. I love it! In the end we show the stones we found, hoping something will be inside. The guy sits down behind his stone cutting machine, uses some oil to cut the stones and full expectation the boys and me look to the end result...and yes, we found some beautiful thundereggs!
With our 'treasures' we continue our drive to Emerald to stay for 2 nights.

But before arriving at Emerald we make a quick stop in Blackwater at the Coal museum. Only today we've already seen about 4 to 8 trains with 102 (!) Wagon (yes, we counted them!) with coal, so we wanted to understand a bit more about those 322 tonnes of coal that's mined here every year! Interesting

What a day! 😁

What are Thundereggs?
As molten lava cooled, a rhyolite shell formed around trapped gas bubbles. This shell cracked allowing the gases to escape, leaving behind a hollow cavity. Siliceous liquids containing minerals and impurities entered the cavity and crystallized, sealing the cracks and forming the mysterious centres. These colourful centres are usually made up of agate, chalcedony, jasper, quartz crystal or a combination of these minerals.

These volcanic marvels are very rare, found only in a few countries, and are known by different names. Thunderegg is thought to be a Native American Indian name. They believed the Thundereggs dropped from the sky during thunderstorms. In Europe, Mt Hay Thundereggs are known by various names, such as “Amulet stone”, and “Star Agate".Read more