Liz and Steve Evans have gone from being stuck in the daily routine to living an adventure life in the space of a year, and are discovering gems along the way to pay for it.
When Mr. Evans ’job in the construction industry became more“ difficult ”last year, the Sunshine Coast couple’s lifelong dream of making a caravan through Australia with their children came out of the ‘scenario.
“It was now or you have to wait 15 to 20 years until everyone finishes school and leaves home and runs away,” Evans said.
“So, we chose now, why not?”
They packed a 6-foot caravan and put the rest of their lives in storage boxes, took their children, Amelia and Henry, out of school and hit the road as “full-time travelers stopped “.
The couple admits it was “terrifying” to leave their home with only a rough plan of what would come next.
However, they soon unearthed an unusual method to fund their adventure: the fossilization of gems.
Mrs. Evans says there is something special about being the first person to wear something millions of years old. (ABC Capricornia: Inga Stünzner)
“Nest egg” finances nomadic life
Mr. Evans inherited the love for fossilization from his father who, along with three companions, used to drive 36 hours from Sydney to the jewel fields of central Queensland chasing that dodgy brilliance to dirt.
The gem fields are one of the largest sapphire-rich areas in the world, nearly 900 miles northwest of Brisbane, near Emerald in the central Highlands.
“We used to do the trip once, maybe twice a year,” Evans said.
The family goes to a special place to dig up buckets of dirt and take them back to their temporary home to sift. (ABC Capricornia: Inga Stünzner)
“It became a kind of family destination.”
Over the years, Mr. Evans has amassed a collection of precious jewelry that he was keeping as a retirement egg.
But they decided that “tomorrow you never have guaranteed, so let’s do it today” and they opened an online jewelry store.
Sales are helping to fund your long road trip.
An irresistible stretch
The family shares their dark tricks with online fans, from digging buckets and examining the wash to sorting and cutting the sapphires they find.
7-year-old Amelia and 4-year-old Henry are already in love with the pit, proudly displaying the sapphires they have found, and earning pocket money from the sale.
They have learned to sort stones and cut them, skills that their father believes cannot be reproduced in the classroom.
Amelia and Henry Evans are now starting their own collection of gems. (ABC Capricornia: Inga Stünzner)
Although sapphires are known for their deep blue, Mr. Evans said the sapphires “basically come in all the colors of the rainbow.”
“Each of them has their own little personality,” he said.
“The fact that they’re tens of millions of years old and have been buried and they’re such beautiful things when you look at them and you’re the first person on earth to even touch or grab it … I think it’s a real buzz “.
The advantage, of course, is that some of these stones are worth thousands of dollars.
“There’s a saying: don’t find sapphires, you earn them,” Evans said.
“That’s true: it’s a hard dig and stuff like that and it’s not like sandy palate.
“There are some I’d never sell … but now I have a few in the collection, so it’s time to drop a few.”
The Evans cut the stones and then assemble them as jewelry, ready for the market. (ABC Capricornia: Inga Stünzner)
Fossicant for Australia
The Evans have been in the gemfield area for almost two months after heading south to New South Wales and Victoria and returning north.
They plan to spend a few more weeks doing fossilization before getting back on the road, following in the footsteps of other known fossilizing regions and hoping to learn how to extract opals and zircons along the way.
They have been on the road for nine months and are in no hurry to return to “normal” life.
“It wasn’t until … two or three months after the trip that I started to relax and say,‘ My God, this is great, we should have done it a long time ago, ’” Ms Evans said.
“That initial part was really scary, but once we got into it, there’s no looking back.”
Ms Evans said she could see the benefits of her nomadic experience on her two children.
“It’s a pleasure for us to be able to spend that time as a family,” he said.
“You’re to blame for not having enough time to spend together and that has really been a dream come true in that regard.
“Just go for it.”
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