Anakie
Anakie is positioned at the Sapphire Gemfields 'crossroads' along the Capricorn Highway Central Queensland, and hosts Australia's largest sapphire exhibition, the Gemfest - Festival of Gems over four days each year in August.
Anakie is located 309km west of Rockhampton and 375km east of Longreach on the Capricorn Highway, 43km west of Emerald a crossroad leads to Anakie township and to the north a sealed road leads 18km to the small townships of Sapphire and Rubyvale, from where a network of unsealed roads and tracks connect the various mining and fossicking localities. Most are suitable for conventional vehicles except after rain.
Sapphire, Scrub Lead, Rubyvale, Divide and Reward are five of six areas of Designated Fossicking Land on the central Queensland sapphire fields where recreational and tourist fossicking is possible under simple Fossickers Licences without the need to contact the relevant landowners.
However, certain types of commercial mining tenures are also allowed in these areas. To provide areas where recreational gem fossickers and tourists can search for stones without any competition from commercial mining, several Gem Fossicking Areas have also been established over certain areas of mainly shallow wash.
Gem Fossicking Areas of Tomahawk Creek, Middle Ridge, Big Bessie, Graves Hill, Glenalva are localities set aside for gem fossickers alone and no further commercial mining tenures have been issued over them.
Designated Fossicking Land of Divide, Rubyvale, Scrub Lead, Sapphire, Reward, Willows allow both gem fossicking and specified commercial mining tenures.
Anakie has your accommodation covered with a bed and breakfast, caravan park and hotel/motel. The nearest hospital is located at Emerald, and there is a service station.
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