Emerald
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.
Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. Most emeralds have many inclusions, so their toughness is classified as poor. Emerald is a cyclosilicate. It occurs mainly in association with quartz, muscovite, albite, mica schist, Pyrite schorl, microcline, fluorite, smoky quartz and elbaite.
Getting to Emerald
Central Queensland is served with flights from most major centres in Australia through its coastal airports. Cairns and Gold Coast airports also serve some international destinations. Highway 1 enters Central Queensland from Brisbane to the south and continues north to Cairns.
Worth seeing
Whales, at Hervey Bay, the local centre for watching these majestic creatures. The 'singing ship' memorial to Captain James Cook at Yeppoon.
Things to do
Fossick for gems near the appropriately-named towns of Emerald, Rubyvale and Sapphire. Explore the trails of the pristine Carnarvon National Park. Take a railway tour at the former gold-mining town of Mount Morgan. Prospect for gold at the Prophet Gold Mine in Kilkivan.
Where to eat
Amazing pies at Joccheim's Bakery in Bowen, in the footsteps of Australia actors Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.