The sign on the chalkboard next to the pool table was clear: "No name, no game." We'd arrived in the Gemfields in central Queensland just a few hours earlier and, after a quick reccy for the following day of filming, retreated to Rubyvale's pub for a meal. When Chontelle "Chonny" Penfold isn't hustling the pool table, she's hunting for sapphires …
Explosions, bulldozers clashing and a rifle brandished, with mountains of gems at stake. "There was a lot of talk about firearms and at one point, the mining warden had his tyres shot out, all four of them, and the guy that did it decamped," Mr Fancourt said. Though it had little to do with the ongoing mining disputes, Ms Drake …
From one-of-a-kind wonders to country song inspirations and plain old speed machines, Ray Richardson's shed is dotted with cars that could each tell a tale or two. "They only ever made two, and they wrecked one in testing, and this one was put away and has only done 194 miles," Mr Richardson said. The shed isn't just for storing collectable …
Five decades after Kingsley Fancourt started digging at the Gemfields, the 77-year-old is still sifting through tonnes of earth, hoping to find a stone worthy of retirement. "There are not too many places in the world where you can go out and dig for sapphire, and I don't think there's anywhere quite like this area because it is so large," …