Uralla Fossicking Area, near Armidale NSW
Not far from Armadale in New South Wales you find the small town of Uralla. Only a couple of kilometres outside of town, simply follow the signs to the Uralla fossicking area. It is a free camping area and is dog friendly. We stayed there for two nights in our travels.
It is a true fossicking area and while we were there we met a young bloke travelling that had been fossicking in the creek. He showed us some precious stones, gems and more importantly some gold that he had found. Apparently it is hard work and he was the first to admit that the hourly rate is not good. On our second day he was extremely excited that he found a piece of gold the size of half a match head. His ultimate goal is to collect enough gold to have a ring made for his girlfriend. He’s probably a few years away from having enough gold, but I still think it’s a really nice idea.
The facilities are very basic. Nothing more than a couple of drop toilets. It is also very hard to find a flat spot for camping. Even camped on an angle we still managed. I wound the jockey wheel on the camper trailer right up so we at least slept level. A couple of rocks under two of the table legs sorted our stuff sliding off as well.
The scenery immediately around the camp area is very nice. Lots of lovely big gumtree’s and some nice rock formations to look at. But for people like us that weren’t there for fossicking, the biggest attraction was being able to swim in the creek.
There is easy access to walk down to the creek. In the “main” area you walk down you are met with a large sandy beach area. The water is not very deep but there is enough to have a dip and cool off. The water is full of golden glitter. We thought this was someone’s practical joke for people that come fossicking. But our young fossicking friend says that it is something called “mica” and is a type of “fools gold”.
We did enjoy our stay at the Uralla Fossicking Area, but two days was enough.
