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Reinhardt van Vuuren
Joined: 10 Mar 2015
Posts: 55
Location: Port Elizabeth
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Posted: Oct 25, 2016 00:32 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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"Dit is absoluut fassinerend" sou Pierre no se hehehe
For the English guys, Pierre would have said "it's absolutely fascinating"
absolutely lovely phantoms.
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Oct 25, 2016 00:45 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Reinhardt van Vuuren wrote: | "Dit is absoluut fassinerend" sou Pierre no se hehehe
For the English guys, Pierre would have said "it's absolutely fascinating"
absolutely lovely phantoms. |
Hi Reinhardt; and the best is yet to come (I hope). Riana is not well, but as soon as she has recovered, we will visit this place again and this time I will treat it with much more respect:-) Best regards.
_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4092
Location: Germany
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Posted: Oct 25, 2016 13:00 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Reinhardt van Vuuren wrote: | "Dit is absoluut fassinerend" sou Pierre no se hehehe. For the English guys, Pierre would have said "it's absolutely fascinating" | ... And "Das ist absolut faszinierend" in German ;-)
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Oct 25, 2016 13:16 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Tobi wrote: | Reinhardt van Vuuren wrote: | "Dit is absoluut fassinerend" sou Pierre no se hehehe. For the English guys, Pierre would have said "it's absolutely fascinating" | ... And "Das ist absolut faszinierend" in German ;-) |
Thank you Tobi! I will keep you up to date with news when we visit this place again. From my side also, congratulations on acquiring your Neudorf galena. I hope you don't have to eat dry bread after purchasing it:-)
_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 14:34 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Riana and I did visit the 'phantom pocket' again and found some nice specimens. There appear to be many more crystals. Anyway, I will show some photos of this outing later.
Today I want to share a trip I undertook yesterday, to a gorge (Kloof) about 6km from our home. As it is a difficult area to venture, not many people visit there. I have only visited this kloof twice in the last 20 years. When I was younger, I visited it a number of times. The gorge extends for a number of km up the mountains and the pools get larger as one move higher up. On this trip, I walked a total of about 6 hours and fished for about 2 hours.
The purpose was two-fold, to look for crystals and to fish. I found no crystals but managed to catch some brown trout and small mouth bass. May you enjoy the scenery of one of the most beautiful rivers in Africa. It is summer here so the flow of the river is not strong.
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Where the Wit-els river joins the Breede river in Michells Pass. |
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A small distance up the gorge; looking back, I can see the tar road in Michells Pass. |
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Looking up to a difficult road ahead. |
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A Verreaux's Eagle (Aquila verreauxii), or Witkruis arend, riding with some smaller birds. |
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One of the many small butterflies of the Western Cape mountains. |
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 14:46 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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A few more pictures from this trip. I must say, I am feeling really old after this trip. How long will this 57-year-old body be able to do this? I will enjoy it while I still can :-)
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A panoramic view of the entrance to the gorge. |
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This is a famous landmark on the river, called Boulder pool. As can be seen, a large boulder has plunged into the river at some time, probably from an earthquake. |
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
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Michael Shaw
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 2060
Location: Oklahoma
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 14:53 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Lovely looking area Pierre. It makes me want to cast a fly to a waiting trout, but winter is approaching here. Even though you didn't find any quartz, just being out, catching a few fish, and seeing the eagle was well worth the trip.
Michael
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vic rzonca
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 820
Location: MA
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 15:39 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Pierre Joubert wrote: | A few more pictures from this trip. I must say, I am feeling really old after this trip. How long will this 57-year-old body be able to do this? I will enjoy it while I still can :-) |
You're just a kid Pierre. I was wondering if you carried a full collecting kit, i.e. bars, crack hammers, chisels, your tea, etc., in anticipation? I see you caught lunch.
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Philippe Durand
Joined: 10 May 2016
Posts: 628
Location: Normandie
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 16:15 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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very beautiful place indeed
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 16:30 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Hi Michael, thank you. Don't worry, your springtime will arrive and hopefully, the wait will be worth your while:-)
Haha Vic! I had a good chuckle and still have a smile on my face. 20 years ago I would have carried a backpack of 40 kg up that kloof, but now I have to act my age. I don't know if I will be able to rock bash into the seventies. I may be a 'kid' but have many miles on the clock -)
Thank you Philippe!
_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Philip Simmons
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 79
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Posted: Nov 18, 2016 19:46 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Beautiful brownies, Pierre!
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Reinhardt van Vuuren
Joined: 10 Mar 2015
Posts: 55
Location: Port Elizabeth
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Posted: Feb 07, 2017 00:59 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Missing this thread. Can't wait to join in the fun :D
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Feb 07, 2017 02:27 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Reinhardt van Vuuren wrote: | Missing this thread. Can't wait to join in the fun :D |
Hi Reinhardt, indeed! Looking forward to a week of sweat and fun. Riana and I have found a LOT of beautiful crystals the last few months, but have also been very busy. I will make an attempt to show a few photos over the next few days.
_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: May 06, 2017 11:28 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Yesterday (Saturday) I took a drive to the upper Witte River valley (not to be confused with the Wit-Els River which is about 6 km from our home). The Witte River runs down the stunningly beautiful, and well-known Bainskloof (gorge). To reach the upper Witte River valley, I drove the 30 km to the Bainskloof pass and followed the twisting/winding road through the gorge to where the road starts the descent to the valley below. At this point, I parked the car just off the road and started my hike up a 4 x 4 track (used only by foresters and farmers managing a water 'divider'. On my way up, I encountered a monument to a young man that fell to his death there 5 years ago, and further up another monument to a disaster, which happened in the 1800's, in which a number of young people drowned in a flash flood. These where a reminder that nature also has its dangers. I have walked many, many km in the mountains, and am keenly aware of this, but also very grateful for God's protection.
My walk had 3 purposes: looking for crystals, catching trout and taking pictures. The weather report said that there would be a few clouds, no rain (SA weather reports are very unreliable). Not long into my walk, the clouds gathered and it started raining.
Fortunately it was not too cold and I had a warm jacket; also, the rain was intermittent.
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The first pool I visited. |
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A monument to flood disaster victims (some of them heroes that lost their lives trying to save others) |
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At one point, I crossed a small bridge over a deep trench, dug through the mountain, to lead water to the valley below. |
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Another view of the trench. |
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Stunning flowers, with no leaves adorn the mountains after field fires. |
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Thousands of the above mentioned flowers. |
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: May 08, 2017 11:41 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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'Far away from the maddening crowd', that is my cocaine :-) I continue where I left off: As this was the first time that I had ever visited this part of the vast gorge, I walked off the beaten hiking track for most of my way up. I calculated roughly that I had walked about 15 km. The Western Cape has had 17000 field fires this year!
https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/firefighters-battle-17-000-fires-in-the-western-cape-since-december-20170313
(link normalized by FMF)
As you can see from some pictures, a lot of mountain areas are burnt. As soon as the winter rains begin, these areas will be green with lots of flowers. There is already one type of flower that has beaten the other species to it and can be seen by their thousands. The amazing thing of this flower, is that it has no leaves, only a stem and flowers.
I looked out for quartz deposits, but even though I found a number of (low quality) ones, I only found a few insignificant, small crystals.
The fishing was not much better either, and I only caught one nice sized brown trout.
Life is not just about crystals and trout and I enjoyed the remote quietness and beautiful scenery very much. Here are a few more photos of my trip.
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
'The tree of silence bears the fruit of peace. ' |
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Philippe Durand
Joined: 10 May 2016
Posts: 628
Location: Normandie
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Posted: May 08, 2017 13:07 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Thank you for these photos.
Your country seems to have a lot of nice scenery places.
Can we say that the climate is mediterannean ? (with fires)
Reviewing some pictures, if the vegetation is different, it reminds me of the "bush" south of France, like here. But in South Africa granitic rocks replacing limestone.
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: May 09, 2017 06:08 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Philippe Durand wrote: | Thank you for these photos.
Your country seems to have a lot of nice scenery places.
Can we say that the climate is Mediterranean ? (with fires)
Reviewing some pictures, if the vegetation is different, it reminds me of the "bush" south of France, like here. But in South Africa granitic rocks replacing limestone. |
Hi Philippe, thank you for the photo and comment. Yes, the WC is Mediterranean. You probably have very nice species of minerals in that area of France.
Here are a few more pictures of the last trip.
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Quartz veins in sandstone. |
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Quartz found in sandstone. I always believed that these are rounded pebbles from original rivers, but I am now convinced that they are just nodules of quartz that formed in the sandstone. |
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Quartz nodule in sandstone. |
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The only fish of the day:-( |
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Jul 21, 2017 03:57 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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On Sunday we took a drive out towards the mountains, which had a good deposit of snow on them, and took my in-laws along.
Here is my mother-in-law, a week before her 89th birthday. She had so wanted to look for crystals again, but after her double, above-knee amputation ten months ago, thought it was an impossible dream. We drove to where I had seen a small quartz outcrop previously, then maneuvered her in her wheelchair until we got to a spot where a few small crystals were lying around. We lifted her out of her wheelchair and put her onto a groundsheet and towel, where she was able to pick up and also scratch around for crystals with a little stick. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did we, just seeing her joy! Her motto is: "Accept your circumstances, and with God's help, make the most of it, and enjoy life while you still have it." My father-in-law (almost 93) also enjoyed the outing with us, but after a few minutes outside, decided that it was more cosy inside the car, where he then sat and just enjoyed the surroundings.
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Some people, especially in Canada, may think it strange that we drive out to view snow. We may have 5 snowfalls a year and mostly at the top of mountains. |
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
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Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
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Posted: Jul 21, 2017 03:58 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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A few more pictures.
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_________________ Pierre Joubert
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Heimo Hellwig
Joined: 03 Aug 2014
Posts: 722
Location: Swakopmund
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Posted: Jul 21, 2017 09:02 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa |
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Hello Pierre,
I think the expression on your mother-in-law's face, holding those quartz specimens, says it all. She will remember this for a long time to come. Regards to Riana.
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