55 km west of Emerald. This is your chance to discover the sapphire or, in this case, ruby which will pay for your entire holiday (or at least make a miniscule conversation piece for your coffee table). You’ll have to buy a license, and you’ll need to hire the necessary equipment (sieve, shovel, pick). These are available at most popular fossicking sites.

Fossicking is good fun, but can be hard work in the heat – the temperature can rise to over 40°C. Alternatively, you can simply try ‘specking’ (looking for surface finds). The best time for this is during the winter rainy season, when the topsoil washes away and you can (sometimes) catch the glint of what looks like a coloured fleck of glass. Blue is a sapphire, pink a ruby.

As you’d expect, tales of fabulous finds abound. A favourite is the one about the Sydney woman who had a puncture. The garage hand who fixed the tyre found the puncture had been caused by a large ruby. Ownership of the gem was naturally disputed, so they went off to the local hotel to discuss the matter over a few beers. One thing led to another, and they eventually got married, using the ruby for her wedding ring. (As you’ll find, credibility is never allowed to get in the way of a good story around these parts.)