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Joined: 10 Mar 2015
Posts: 55
Location: Port Elizabeth
Posted: Jul 21, 2017 09:16 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Wow that is precious, I had the joy of meeting the two of them but never took your mother in law for a rockhound like the two of us, that is awesome!
I'm so glad to see that the two of you enjoy them while they are still around, so many elderly people just get abandoned by their kids and you two are setting a striking example of how it should be, inspirational!
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Jul 21, 2017 10:03 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Reinhardt van Vuuren wrote:
Wow that is precious, I had the joy of meeting the two of them but never took your mother in law for a rockhound like the two of us, that is awesome!
I'm so glad to see that the two of you enjoy them while they are still around, so many elderly people just get abandoned by their kids and you two are setting a striking example of how it should be, inspirational!
Keep warm folks.
Thank you Heimo and Reinhardt. We really appreciate the kind words! Yes, our parents (my mom and Riana's mom and dad) are very much loved and cared for by the whole family. _________________ Pierre Joubert
Posted: Jul 22, 2017 09:25 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
PIERRE, A great series of pictures from your area of the world!
I especially liked the ones of people coming out to see the snow. It brings to mind a funny story from my family.
My daughter and her family live in Atlanta Georgia. In recent years, that area has only experienced snow on rare occasions. It is a treat for the kids as the younger ones may have never seen or played in real snow and the older ones know they will have a school day called off. Last winter, for the first time in several years, the news and weather service called for a "good chance of overnight snow". The schools decided to open late or called off classes and the highway departments got their few trucks out to pretreat the area roads. As you can imagine, the Atlanta area is a big city with the usual big city traffic problems.
Everyone was in anticipation. The kids went to sleep with great expectations and the working parents planned to arise very early as their commute to work would be much longer than usual. When everyone awoke and looked outside, all they saw was a cold rain. Not one snowflake had fallen for many miles around!! It was just a couple of degrees warmer than expected with only rain and no snow.
By the next day lots of folks were complaining about wasted time and money on unnecessarily treated roads, time lost from school, bad forecasting with major consequences in this age of advanced weather technology, and no snow for the young kiddies to play in etc etc
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Jul 22, 2017 13:31 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Bob Harman wrote:
PIERRE, A great series of pictures from your area of the world!
I especially liked the ones of people coming out to see the snow. It brings to mind a funny story from my family.
My daughter and her family live in Atlanta Georgia. In recent years, that area has only experienced snow on rare occasions. It is a treat for the kids as the younger ones may have never seen or played in real snow and the older ones know they will have a school day called off. Last winter, for the first time in several years, the news and weather service called for a "good chance of overnight snow". The schools decided to open late or called off classes and the highway departments got their few trucks out to pretreat the area roads. As you can imagine, the Atlanta area is a big city with the usual big city traffic problems.
Everyone was in anticipation. The kids went to sleep with great expectations and the working parents planned to arise very early as their commute to work would be much longer than usual. When everyone awoke and looked outside, all they saw was a cold rain. Not one snowflake had fallen for many miles around!! It was just a couple of degrees warmer than expected with only rain and no snow.
By the next day lots of folks were complaining about wasted time and money on unnecessarily treated roads, time lost from school, bad forecasting with major consequences in this age of advanced weather technology, and no snow for the young kiddies to play in etc etc
Better luck next time. BOB
Hi Bob, the 'no snow' was a big disappointment, but at least we all read a nice story:-) Thank you. I went out to dig for quartz crystals today and found a large pocket. I hope to share some pictures soon. Best regards. _________________ Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Jul 24, 2017 05:17 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
This past Saturday, I visited an area where Reinhardt and I found some nice crystals when he visited here. I took a large wrecking bar and removed some large rocks, only about half a metre from where he found his pocket. I soon found some low-quality crystals, but as I removed more, smaller, rocks, I found another fairly large pocket with, larger than normal, crystals. I spent a few hours removing many crystals and left the rest for Riana to remove next time. Here are just a few pictures from the outing. Reinhardt missed the large pocket with only about 50 cm. Sorry Reinhardt:-( I will send you a few of these sometime:-)
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Aug 06, 2017 16:41 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Yesterday (Saturday), I re visited an area where I discovered one of the best pockets ever. This pocket still had some crystals in, but they were very hard to remove. After walking around on the steep hill, and finding 2 small pockets, I returned to this 'old' pocket where we removed about 20 kg of specimens some months ago. After a lot of sweat and some blood, I managed to open the pocket even more. I found some nice specimens to the left side and had high hopes of removing a nice cluster. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as these crystals were cemented to a solid quartz matrix. It was a tiring effort, but I had lots of fun and even a few kg. of crystals. The real value of crystals lies in the pleasure of finding them. I cannot help but think how special it is that I can recce some areas where no one has dug crystals before me.
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A small pocket found in solid quartzsite.
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The first crystal to come out.
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I found this crystal and had high hopes of finding a pocket. I did find a small pocket with a few nice crystals in it.
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Sep 03, 2017 12:23 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Already a few days into Spring! Yesterday, I took a drive out to a farm to enjoy nature and look for crystals. I found one new pocket and removed some nice crystals and enjoyed all the flowers and beautiful scenery. Late evening, I also witnessed a spectacular sunset. It was a very fulfilling afternoon. Here are just a few photos.
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A new pocket which produced some nice, very clear, crystals.
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A Toktokkie beetle (one of the many species of Darkling beetles). The name Toktokkie, refers to the beetle's habit of knocking the ground to attract a partner. If you knock on the ground next to them, they often respond.
Joined: 07 Oct 2013
Posts: 66
Location: Arvada, Colorado
Posted: Sep 08, 2017 07:57 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Hi Pierre
Thanks as always for taking the time to record and post your outings. I know it's a labor of love! I also know that the FMF community very much enjoys your posts, based on the number of views. Beautiful finds!
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Sep 08, 2017 08:04 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Chris Rayburn wrote:
Hi Pierre
Thanks as always for taking the time to record and post your outings. I know it's a labor of love! I also know that the FMF community very much enjoys your posts, based on the number of views. Beautiful finds!
Chris
Hi Chris. Thank you! I appreciate your kind comment. My main intent is to reach those who do not have the privilege that I have so that they can enjoy these experiences with me. _________________ Pierre Joubert
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Oct 23, 2017 03:36 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
This past Saturday, I drove out to a remote farm where, about a year ago, I spotted what looked like a quartz reef, in the distant hills. I approached the manager of the farm, who took me in his 4x4 to the foot of the hill and explained the best way to drive as close as I could to where I wanted to start walking. Fortunately, the farm road was quite good, so I could drive the few km close to where I wanted to start walking. It was quite hot and the terrain was not very nice for walking, but there was a lot of quartz, which kept my interest going. The area has a lot of bird life, and I enjoyed seeing many different species. I found crystals everywhere, but nothing spectacular. I wanted to watch a semi-final rugby match in the evening, so I could not venture too far. Just as well, I did not walk further, as I was very tired when I got back. As I descended the steep hill, I got to a place where an area was machined (or blasted) to make a small weir. I found a large rock with 2 small quartz pockets in and removed about a handful of crystals. I decided to scout the direct area and found, to my delight, that 2 quartz pockets were opened up and sprayed over a few meters. I collected some nice crystals and even removed some from open pockets too. When visiting new areas, one never knows what you will find, so it was a surprise to have found some nice specimens.
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This picture was taken as I was ascending the hill.
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I discovered a small cave with moist, rich soil and a number of Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica). These are supposed to have valuable healing properties.
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Nov 17, 2017 08:50 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Last week, Saturday, I drove out early in the morning to visit one of my favorite places on earth, a place that I have visited on and off for about 30 years. The last time I visited there, was about 2 years ago. Villiersdorp is situated about 110 km from Cape Town and about the same distance from Ceres. I reached the farm at about 9 am and drove straight to an area where I have found numerous pockets. It was very hot and a fire (a year or so ago) burned down most of the trees, so there was no shelter against the heat. After an hour of fruitless searching and digging, I decided to walk to other areas with quartz outcrops. The fire made things much easier and I found a good quartz outcrop. I did not find much and the heat and a devastating headache drove me to drive to another area of the farm to find some shade. I spent a few hours resting, swam in a dam and decided on a place to spend the night. I parked the car near a very steep hill and noticed a white area of about 1.5 m about 10 m up the steep hill. I walked up to investigate and found some promise. I dug there till dark and found a number of semi-clear to light smoky quartz crystals. The condition of the crystals shows that they formed under rather unstable circumstances and probably moved to where they were during a landslide.
I had an excellent nights sleep in my car and spent another few hours digging at this spot on Sunday, finding many crystals, mostly broken. I hope to be back sometime soon, as there must be many more crystals in the ground. What a pleasant trip.
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Nov 17, 2017 14:09 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Philippe Durand wrote:
thank you Pierre for you report; it is always a pleasure to see your country and your quartz discoveries.
an last, tomorow evening, i will watch the match between our teams in Paris.
SA seams favorite.
Hi Phillipe, thank you for your kind comment. Both our teams are not playing the best rugby ever, so let's hope we see a good game. May the best team win:-)
Here are some specimens from this new find. I hope that the deeper I go into the ground, the better and bigger the crystals will become; hopefully darker coloured also.
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
190 x 48 x 42 mm
Description:
The largest crystal from this find.
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
98 x 37 x 35 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
96 x 40 x 30 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
73 x 41 x 32 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
58 x 19 x 17 mm
Description:
Quartz with a black, unknown mineral, which appeared in abundance in this hole.
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Mineral:
Quartz with Chlorite
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
67 x 21 x 18 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz with Chlorite
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
51 x 28 x 25 mm
Description:
Quartz, formed under very unstable situations.
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
43 x 34 x 18 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz with unknown mineral
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
36 x 23 x 18 mm
Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Dimensions:
59 x 16 x 14 mm
Description:
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P1340696.JPG
Mineral:
Quartz with Chlorite
Locality:
Villiersdorp, Theewaterskloof, Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Dec 11, 2017 11:16 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
This past Saturday afternoon was my time to escape from civilization:-) I drove just a few km from home; parked my car close to a farm labourer cottage. After a brief chat with the farm folk, I hiked up the mountainside and spent a few delightful hours searching for elusive quartz pockets. I finally went to a place where I always find something and, although I did not find anything very spectacular, enjoyed the stunning surroundings. Here are just a few photos.
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I call this Crystal Valley, as there are so much white quartz everywhere. Crystals are hard to find though.
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A tunnel under the rocks with a large crystal bearing ridge.
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Jan 02, 2018 04:51 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
Guess what we did on the first day of 2018? :-) The 2 years, old and new, were joined together by a welcome shower of rain, which started just before midnight and lasted for a few hours. We are experiencing a massive water shortage in the Western Cape, so every bit of rain is like manna from heaven. This first day was cool with clouds, so we took the opportunity to drive out to yet another new area. We spent a delightful half day looking for crystals and were rewarded with a few pockets. I wondered what the other FMF members were up to. Here are just a few photos.
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Riana busy removing the contents of a nice pocket.
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A large crystal that was unfortunately already broken before we attempted to remove it. Nevertheless, I will mend it and keep it for ourselves.
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Description:
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Mineral:
Quartz with goethite
Locality:
Ceres, Warmbokkeveld Valley, Ceres, Valle Warmbokkeveld, Witzenberg, Cape Winelands, Western Cape Province, South Africa
Joined: 09 Mar 2012
Posts: 1605
Location: Western Cape
Posted: Jan 15, 2018 03:18 Post subject: Re: Quartz collecting outings in South Africa
On Thursday, late morning, I left home to walk a route in the mountains that I last did with a friend about 30 years ago. This friend has since died. For my age, it is not an easy walk and the heat was also against me. Nevertheless, I have been wanting to re-visit this area for many years and decided it is now or never. Because I have not been there for so long, I missed the route and walked a totally new, unknown area. I never felt in any danger as there are definite beacons but instead of 4 hours to and 4 hours back, I walked about double the distance. I encountered a number of cool, trickling, mountain streams with ice cold water which helped a lot. I found a lot of quartz seams but not one worthy of exploring. I found only 2 crystals. The original conditions of the quartz formations were not favourable for the growth of quartz crystals. I slept next to a small stream and, with a clear sky, was treated to a spectacular starry host.
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A reservoir about an hour's walk into the mountains.
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The same reservoir, with a small clear stream running into it.
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Looking back a distance up the mountain.
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The Ceres valley, way in the back.
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An inhabitant of the small mountain streams high up in the mountains. I also saw a water snake, but could not photograph it.
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