Emerald Welcomes You! (Click on image to view larger.)We've made it to the promised land and it turns out there may be some degree of wiggle room in the promises of riches (thankfully, no promises regarding fame were made). Our little caravan park is on beautiful Maraboon Lake and Rowan amazed the Aussies by grilling using actual charcoal (look for Shirl's pix on this). They tend to use the electric grills provided and are deathly afraid of toxic fumes from the coals. (I told them that's what makes the flavor but it fell on deaf ears.)

Bring your dreams...and bury them here.Anyway, we went looking for the fabled gems only to discover others had been there before us, something we had not considered plus Rowan was not made aware that "fossicking" involves getting one's hands into the dirt and mud where the prizes are hidden, which meant this was a no-go without latex gloves. Basically, the gem towns here are roughly akin to Dad saying, "Who wants to go horseback riding?" Of course, I do! Then, when you get there and on the old nag that's carted a hundred thousand other kids before you around the same hopeless rings of downtrodden grass, the thought you're not the first and certainly won't be the last, takes on new meaning.