Man's 'very rare' find at famous Aussie camp ground after digging for six hours

A man has made a “very rare” find just off a path on an Aussie mountain after spending six hours scouring the dirt “hardly knowing” what he was doing, or looking for.

A curious and determined Juan Pablo Kosec made the “beautiful” discovery last month during his first-ever mining trip at Queensland’s popular tourist destination, Thunderbird Park. The attraction, which is also a caravan and campsite, stretches over 112 hectares on Tamborine Mountain, which is famous for its crystals and gemstones.

After spending most of the day digging with a pick, Kosec told Yahoo News he was just about to give up when he spotted a hidden treasure from the corner of his eye.

“At the end [I had] sore hands and [was] pretty tired, and my girlfriend told me that it was time to leave,” the 33-year-old from Uruguay, who has lived in Australia for five years, said.

As the couple walked along the path to make their way out of the park’s mine, Kosec said he was scanning the floor when he “saw something that appeared to be a thunder egg”.

“It was pretty much on the surface,” he explained.

Thunder egg opened to reveal incredible pattern

Thunder eggs are spherical objects that form in volcanic rocks and open to reveal an interesting mineral formation inside. They can be found in certain areas around the country with some deposits dating back 120 million years ago.

“I didn’t know at that time it was going to be like that inside,” he told Yahoo. “So after finding it we headed back to the Thunderbird Park workers and asked them to cut it because we were really excited to see how it looked inside — then boom. Surprise.”

After splitting the 800g rock in half, the group discovered both sides lined with black druzy quartz and a second yellow quartz growing in the middle. The shocked staff “said it was a great find”, the 33-year-old recalled.

Excited about his score, Kosec joined several rock fossicking groups on Facebook to learn more about it.

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Aussie fossickers praise 'very rare' find

The pictures attracted a lot of attention online, with one mineral hunter describing the thunder egg as “a very rare specimen to get at Thunderbird Park”.

“Very few finds have hollow inclusions like that and to have a different colour nodule of chalcedony in the centre is super rare,” he added.

“Never saw one like that before. Well done,” said another person who had worked at the tourist park and “grew up in the area”.

While thunder eggs may not be worth a lot, Kosec said his treasure now holds a “sentimental value” and has “opened a new world for me”.

“Now I want to go fossicking every time I can,” he added.

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