Explore Saphire Mining Fields and Towering Sandstone Gorges at Southern Great Barrier Reef, QLD

The Marble Man team had a great experience while we went for an educational tour at Southern Great Barrier Reef hinterland in Queensland.

The Southern Great Barrier Reef hinterland is a great place to explore with the towering sandstone gorges, natural sceneries, water sculptured formations and awesome caves. The total area covered by the Sandstone Wilderness might be larger than Tasmania island state.

It’s around 4 hours drive from Brisbane and stretching from Bundaberg hinterland through to Gladstone, Rockhampton and right up the Capricorn Coast. The Sandstone Wilderness accommodates around 25 imposing mountain ranges with 100 State Forests & National Parks.

You’ll be entering a world rich with history, farming, mining and breathtaking natural wonders. Located west of Gladstone, Banana Shire is a rural jewel abundant in earthy wonders and scenic country drives.  You can base your Australian bush adventure here at the bustling Biloela Township in the Callide Valley.

Enjoy the wonderful bush experience at Myella Farm Stay, or get absorbed in the natural wonders at Expedition, Isla Gorge, Kroombit Tops or Mount Scoria National Parks.

Explore and experience the real rural life at Capricorn's Central Highlands, west of Rockhampton. The Central Highlands encompasses diverse agricultural & mining operations, and amazing natural landscapes. It was such a fresh experience to fossick for gemstones in the Sapphire Gemfields and watch immense sandstone gorges and the endless plains at Carnarvon Gorge.

A 45 minute drive west of Emerald (4hrs west of Rockhampton) on the Capricorn Highway, situated the Central Queensland Sapphire Gemfields covering around 900 square kilometres. Here you’ll see a real-life mining town with opportunities to fossick for hidden gems.

Self-drive fossicking tour with maps and all the necessary equipment will let you explore the back tracks of the mining areas in your own vehicle. There are fossicking parks, where you can learn all about fossicking- buy a bucket of sapphire wash and watch how to sieve and sort for sapphires in the rough. This is an enjoyable and educational tour which will give you firsthand experience in mining.  

It’s a great experience to walk past and see gem shops, galleries, jewellers and locally created cottage industries in the locality. You can purchase stunning sapphire jewellery here. If you happened to discover some gems, the gem-cutters will facet them and jewellers will set them into lovely piece of jewellery for you.

Mined since the late 1800s, the moon-like landscape is as much a part of the lifeblood of Sapphire as the rich treasures in the earth. You can also visit the historic Piano Tuners Grave at Retreat Creek. Graves Hill and Big Bessie are Fossicking areas in Sapphire where you can camp and dig for precious stones.

Enter a dramatic world on a walk-in mine tour where the underground temperature sits at a cool 25 Degrees Celsius. Explore through a network of tunnels, providing insight into the process of underground sapphire mining. See the tiny tunnels, called “tummy tunnels” used by the pioneer miners.

Such educational tours and on job training on state-of-the-art technologies make all of Marble Man stone restoration technicians master craftsmen in their trade. No wonder they can repair and maintain any types of natural stone surfaces with a touch of professionalism and perfection.