Rocky River Road - working bee

[Burbury]

Will be there weather permiting , looking forward to it maybe 3 of us at this stage, thanks to Phil and yourself for
organising .
Cheers Burbury.

[drystone]

Hi guys,
Wood and I have been trying to reply to this topic but without success.
Both are interested in helping with trackwork on Australia Day long weekend,
If Fox or Philski can get in touch with Wood on 0400 623 451 that'd be great,
cheers
Drystone

[Kezndaz]

Hi guys
That there was no follow up on the road repair
Obviously means you hit payable reef in one of the wash outs.
I am heading in there next week with the boy, pans and a ctx3030 for several days
We are walking as only have a 2wd hilux
I was wondering if
1) anyone knew a choice campsite
2) Is there still a track out to Breakneck and Coudon creeks. Can't work out how far up to Meredith the old timers worked.
3) photos ! There are hardly any photos of the rocky to be found
4) is there a current lease holder

Just missed hooking up with you all for the Paradise trip
We walked in there last year for no gold but nice camping
Were there still shovels and sluice at the Tandy junction ?
Hope to meet soon
Regards
Kerrin and Darren

[Philski]

Hi
Kerrin and Darren nice to meet you both.

The guys put in a stack of sand bags and remediation works and i thank them. People power at work.
Some others where still getting down to the crossing. But having a fair bit of trouble getting back out.

1. Down the bottom of the track has a really awesome camp site right on the Whyte river. Fire, water and lots of air
Up top,, Turn left instead of going down to the rocky river at the end of the quarry and go into the forest 327.56 meters or so. perhaps a tad more. its nice and sheltered and secluded.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-41.607 ... !1e3?hl=en

2. I think Fox may have flagged Breakneck Creek in the distant past and actually cut or recut that track and Kane has been up it,, i think.. . so you need to ask them sorry. i have maps etc if that helps.
3. Great point. Its a really beautiful River.
4] Bass Metals. Its a highly mineralized part of our world and loaded in Tasmanian history. Bass metals have been so supportive to us with permissions etc.

[Kezndaz]

Hey Phil
Thanks heaps for the info
Never tire of maps if you want to share
Will be out there 18th to 22nd if any are around
Possibly longer if the river comes up

Kez n Daz

[Philski]

This is some of the stream sediment results and the last figure is AU grades. These maps where done 54 years ago but still applicable today.

Example 3,10,-,-,4
The four is 4 parts per mil or 4 grams AU per ton. There are a few decent grades in there amongst it all but access in and out is sometimes challenging

to see it better, save the image to desktop and preview then zoom in.

The breakneck track i thought was there is a tenement boundary.

paradise-rocky-map0001.jpg

[ratters]

Myself and a mate went down to the rocky a couple of weeks ago. We went with the idea to drive as far as possible then park and walk the rest. We got about 200m from the top and walked the final 2km down the hill.. Camped up on the ridge on the other side of the Whyte and then had a day trip down to the Rocky, walked along the old race and then descended where somebody has attached a climbing rope. As a warning to others, if your thinking of having a pan in that area, forget it, walk further or go elsewhere. Its been dredged to within an inch of its life, the bedrock is clean as a whistle. We tried cracks and crevices and potholes and gravel banks and behind big boulders and all for very little return. And then noticed the big set of pontoons just off to the side of the track which would have supported a floating sluice. Found one small but nice sapphire which was crystal shaped, which then was accidentally lost back into the river.
Some fine gold and one small coarse piece didnt really justify the effort but its a beautiful spot so I'm glad we went regardless. Hope to get back to that area again one day and put some effort into finding a less flogged out area.

The old workings down at the whyte were fun to explore around, the old drystone walls, races, cuttings, a couple of adits and what might have been a capped shaft. I do wonder when that zipline is going to fall, the tree its attached to is totally dead, so I guess one day soon its will end up in the river.

[mfdes]

Hi ratters, I was in the area about the same time, but not in the Rocky. We did fly over it a couple of times though. Were you there while the heli was parked in the quarry? Tim, our pilot, was quite interested in fossicking.

Interesting about the sapphire... where the hell did it come from? There are sapphires in the Stanley, which also drains the Meredith Range granite, perhaps it came from there?

[ratters]

Yep we did see you getting around in the chopper while we were there, buzzed over the top of us a couple of times! We spoke to the pilot on our way back out asking what was going on and had a good half hour yarn with him.

I was unaware of the presence of sapphire down there too until I saw the piece we found, but I have subsequently done some more reading on the Rocky river goldfield and it is mentioned more than once in old reports.

I'd love to get back there soon before the warm weather disappears but I don't fancy the 2km hike down and back up the hill again, but next time maybe on a trailbike. But then again I don't get a lot of opportunities to go prospecting so I tend use the biggest ones to see new places, so I may not get back there for some time.