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Yowah home of the Opal Nuts
Outbackjack
Cracked Nuts at Yowah!
Cracked Nuts at Yowah!
One of my most favourite towns in the South West Corner of Queensland is Yowah and that's not just because of fossicking for opal nuts. Yowah is a great town because it has all the right ingredients. Charm, character (lots of characters) history and lots of Aussie wildlife.
Part of Yowah's charm is that it is a real outback town that lack's many of the mod-cons but you soon realize that you don't need them all anyway. All the basics are there though. Food, accommodation and of course plenty of Opal
The people in Yowah all 120 of them are as colourful as the opal they search for and they have plenty of time for a yarn. We heard some really good stories while we were there. (You can check them out soon in "outback Stories")
There is a great little mine tour you can do that takes in both underground and above ground mining
Part of Yowah's charm is that it is a real outback town that lack's many of the mod-cons but you soon realize that you don't need them all anyway. All the basics are there though. Food, accommodation and of course plenty of Opal
The people in Yowah all 120 of them are as colourful as the opal they search for and they have plenty of time for a yarn. We heard some really good stories while we were there. (You can check them out soon in "outback Stories")
There is a great little mine tour you can do that takes in both underground and above ground mining
We took the tour with Peter Broom who was very friendly and informative. He knows his subject well and I would recommend that you do this tour before you begin your own opal fossicking adventure in Yowah. This way you will know what you
need to do to find your own Yowah opal nuts.
The tour was very reasonably priced and took about 11/2 hours. To book your tour contact Peter Broom email ycrtc@dodo.com.au.
Yowah however is not just a place to look for opals, there are other gems in this outback Australian town. The birdlife here is amazing. The birds take full advantage of the flowing artesian water that meanders its way through the town. You will find great bird watching and photographing opportunities right in the towns parks. I counted 8 species of bird early one morning in the park next to the caravan park.
The tour was very reasonably priced and took about 11/2 hours. To book your tour contact Peter Broom email ycrtc@dodo.com.au.
Yowah however is not just a place to look for opals, there are other gems in this outback Australian town. The birdlife here is amazing. The birds take full advantage of the flowing artesian water that meanders its way through the town. You will find great bird watching and photographing opportunities right in the towns parks. I counted 8 species of bird early one morning in the park next to the caravan park.
Other attractions in Yowah are:
Four wheel driving, fossicking, places of historical interest - Museums, art and opal galleries, and of course just meeting the colourful locals who always have a great story or two to tell. There are a couple of authors in Yowah and we were lucky enough to meet one - Yankee Barb as Peter calls her - Barbara Mc Condra has written several books including "Fire in a Plain Brown Wrapper". She has been comming to Australia for many years to mine for opal. You can get a copy of her book by contacting the Yowah community centre ycrtc@dodo.com.au
Yowah gets a big 10 out of 10 from this family. Hannah and Jack would like to recommend the outdoor artesian baths at the local caravan park a also a visit to the Gallery Opal shop where Scotty and Val work. They had fun fossicking for the Yowah opal in the "mullock heap" outside the shop and it only cost a donation to the Royal Flying Doctors. By the way don't forget to visit the "Lonely Gnome Home" on the way into town if you can't find it just ask one of the locals about it.
One last thing! I would just like to give a little praise to the people of Yowah they have a real 'community spirit' and are making Yowah into a great place to live as well as visit. We found them to be very friendly and helpful and they really made this town come alive for us. Well done Yowah !
Four wheel driving, fossicking, places of historical interest - Museums, art and opal galleries, and of course just meeting the colourful locals who always have a great story or two to tell. There are a couple of authors in Yowah and we were lucky enough to meet one - Yankee Barb as Peter calls her - Barbara Mc Condra has written several books including "Fire in a Plain Brown Wrapper". She has been comming to Australia for many years to mine for opal. You can get a copy of her book by contacting the Yowah community centre ycrtc@dodo.com.au
Yowah gets a big 10 out of 10 from this family. Hannah and Jack would like to recommend the outdoor artesian baths at the local caravan park a also a visit to the Gallery Opal shop where Scotty and Val work. They had fun fossicking for the Yowah opal in the "mullock heap" outside the shop and it only cost a donation to the Royal Flying Doctors. By the way don't forget to visit the "Lonely Gnome Home" on the way into town if you can't find it just ask one of the locals about it.
One last thing! I would just like to give a little praise to the people of Yowah they have a real 'community spirit' and are making Yowah into a great place to live as well as visit. We found them to be very friendly and helpful and they really made this town come alive for us. Well done Yowah !
People go 'nuts' fossicking in Yowah! Be careful you may get Opal fever or start going nutty yourself. Watch out for the 'nut worm' and the Bower Birds whom both like to steal your opal.
Here are some pictures of Yowah Opal nuts, boulder and matrix stones. As you can see we did not find much opal but we got some lovely picture - matrix stones. We still have some Yowah nuts to crack but we are waiting until we get our cutting and polishing equipment.
We think this Yowah boulder looks like a duck. Can you see the green opal eye?
| Cracked Opal ! Have you ever bought some opal and had it crack? Sometimes this happens and it can be very dissapointing. Opal cracks because it dries up. Opal is made up of 6-10% water and extreme heat and low humidity can cause it to crack. The Yowah nuts and boulder opal is very resistant to this happening as the matrix it is found is is very stable. For more information use the link section - Right --> |
Don't forget to stop in at Toompine on your way through. Toompine is between Quilpie and Yowah and is a great place for the whole family to grab a meal or just a 'coldie'. Click Here to find out more --> Toompine