Armfest Pty Ltd

We didn't know what to expect and just rocked up and meet Carol, who is a gem. She gave us some info we got a bag of wash and just enjoyed being there, their property is so peaceful you could spend the day there.
Carol was so generous with her time, and very passionate about what she does and takes the time to show you what you have found and provide education. Their cut sapphires they have for sale are stunning and they have so many colours.
It’s such an incredible feeling seeing the stone in the raw form and seeing the beauty
Thank you so much, Carol, for sharing your home, time, and stories.

This would have to be the best place to start your sapphires journey. Highly recommend a visit.

Carol is incredible, spent so much time with us and taught us everything an amateur fossicker needs to know. Above and beyond expectations. Found some out of this world sapphires, including some large star sapphires that will definitely be made into jewellery.and now I know exactly where to send them to be cut and set into beautiful pieces of jewellery. 🤩💎

Bought the small bag, which is better quality. Had a great time saving through, the owners were really helpfull, and I came away with some nice gem quality stones.
Loved it.

We came up at Xmas time 2023 and had a great time, so much so that we stopped in again today to get some more bags of wash. Bags of wash are the best out of all businesses in the area, highly recommend a visit to this business. Very friendly and offered a lot of information on how and where to get your sapphires cut. We will see you again in a couple of months before it heats up.

I visited on my own in the low season, I had the place to myself and did a bag of wash and just enjoyed being there, their property is so peaceful and I could have spent the day.
Carol and her son BJ were so generous with their time, they are both very passionate about what they do and take the time to show you what you have found and provide education. I took my husband and kids back in the afternoon to show them because I couldn’t stop talking about it to them and we did another bag.

I asked to see their cut sapphires they have for sale and WOW!! BJ cuts and facets the sapphires from their commercial mine, they are stunning and they have so many stunning colours. I fell in love with some beautiful pieces and can’t wait to have them set.

It’s such an incredible feeling seeing the stone in the raw form and seeing the beauty BJ brings out of it, nothing compared to meeting and talking to the person who has spent so many hours creating it. No more chain jewellers for us.

Thank you so much Carol and BJ for sharing your home, time and stories. We will be back!

Love this place. This is the second year we have visited Armfest and hopefully not the last. Carol and her family are a wealth of knowledge and expertise. The faceted sapphires on display are exquisite. We purchased bags of wash here and were not disappointed, we came away with some beautiful stones worthy of faceting and polishing. We highly recommend this site.

Not having a clue about fossicking, I didn't feel like I was being led up the garden path here. The kids had fun. Carol graded the stones we sorted through. No complaints here.

If i ever come back to Sapphire I will be dropping in to this place again. Most definitely the best place to visit to learn 1st hand knowledge of fossicking, and the most beautiful people that are genuinely happy when you make a good find. We might even stop by again before we leave in the morning. Happy days thanks Carol and BJ.

We enjoyed our trip very much to the GEM fields and will do it again. The owners are very nice and explained the process and what to look for when sorting the stones. If you are passing through or want to visit, I would highly recommend going and have a few hours learning having a little central QLD fun.

Highly recommend this place. Carol was only to helpful to help and educate us novices. She was great with our young one. If you are in town this is the place to go.

This is the best fossicking place ever!!! Was recommended by someone in the caravan park and so glad we visited. Learned how to properly seive and find sapphires. It's so much easier when you do it properly. Very friendly and helpful and will grade your gems in the end. We will visit again!!

Blown away with how informative and accomadating Carol was. She helped us pan one of the small wash bags and we were pretty pleased with our find. Definitely be coming back again!

Awesome, thank you so much for your time spent with us this afternoon

I have visited Armfest a number of times now. It has always proved to be the best place to visit to try your hand at fossicking. Good amounts of sapphires are regularly found. The fact that they have willobies to bounce your wash is a nice touch most others don't provide. Above all this, the biggest standout is the personal help that they provide, which is informative and friendly. I highly recommend Armfest to anyone wanting to have a go at fossicking for sapphires.

Love, love this place. Addictive and brilliant day out. Have my sapphires cut in Thailand and I am very happy with the result. Now what to do with them! We will be back, see you in 2022.

The ppl there are wonderful make you feel very welcomed
We got 2 bags $75 bag found a 8crt zircon and a 7crt Star Sapphire and a $25 bag my Daughter found 5 Star Sapphires really great place my son loved that he got the show and tells lol

We recommend anyone starting out on sapphire hunting buy a back of wash and wash it under Carol's guidance. She graded what we found. Then explained how she did it by letting us look through the loupe. Helped us greatly. Also advice on how to get your finds cut. Great place to start. Well worth the money.

This place is a gem in the rough. Don’t pass Sapphire, proceed immediately to Armfest for the most authentic fun filled and educational fossicking experience! Carol is a wealth of knowledge and raconteur, and you will almost certainly walk away with a gem or two. This is a great place to stop for your gem filled adventure because you will be equipped with knowledge for the rest of your experience in the area. Thanks heaps from the “Lockdown Loop” Loonies i.e. Anders, Dianne, Geoff, Sharon, and Tonya

We loved this! We knew nothing about looking for sapphires. We purchased an $80 wash bag and Carol took us through the process. We had so much fun searching through and picking out our sapphires. Carol then graded them for us and split them up into what we could do with them and where we could get them cut locally if they were over 2 carats or sent away if they were under. We had one sapphire over 2 carats that we had cut locally, a bag full of nice stones under 2 carat to send away to get cut, a bunch that were for skin polish (if cut would crack), a bag of stars, some black spinel to get cut and a bag of sapphires for tumbling. For a family of 4 it was well worth the $80 bag, we learnt so much and had so much fun in the process! Thanks Carol 😊 (there were also $25 bags av).

Thanks for the experience, nevermind the rest! This is the place to go if your fair dinkum on finding quality sapphires with all the help you need. I’ve been to the other places in sapphire for the same experience and most are a joke.