ABOUT US
Back in 2017, I woke up early after just having a dream like no other. The dream was about opening a crystal & gemstone gallery. This dream was so vivid, it felt so real.
Straight away I woke up Angus with excitement, telling him all about the dream. He just laughed and said “what, you want to open up a fairy shop?”, “No!” and went on to explain that it was going to be a Gallery of Mother Nature’s Art filled with unique, beautiful crystals and gemstones from around the world. Angus then smirked and enquired “How I was going to fund this vision?”, I just smiled.
In my early 20’s, my Mum had taken me to this massive shed, remote from anywhere filled from floor to ceiling with crystals, gemstones, fossils from around the world.
I found it fascinating, that these stunning pieces were all natural and had come from the Earth, gifts created by Mother Nature. On this first trip my Mum had purchased me my first crystal, a tiny rough of Moldavite which I thought to be cool, my own piece of heaven and earth combined.
With the help of Google and of course my Mum, we rediscovered “The Shed” and after confirming they also Wholesaled, the following day we were on a plane with Angus’ companies debit card. LOL.
Spending hours carefully choosing all the pieces, trusting in my intuition. I joked to myself, just choose as if they were going to be mine, and if nothing else I would have a home full of pretty rocks.
After two days of picking the most beautiful stock, I faced a moment of panic! As the plane descended to Gold Coast airport, the realisation that I just spent thousands on dollar on Crystals, Rocks, and Fossils dawned on me, and on top of that I was about to give up my full-time job.
I then just thought, go with the flow, everything happens for a reason (another sign of me being connected but not realising it).
Two weeks later, I opened my first shop, located in the Marina Village in Sanctuary Cove. It was tiny, but my dream had come true, I just wanted to make this work. To this point, please understand I simply loved Crystals, Rocks and Fossils, it was beautiful natural art. However, one day 6 months in, I had an experience that changed everything.
Whilst chatting with a lady in my shop, I felt energy, energy coming from a rough Amethyst piece on the shelf. I admit to being confused and sceptical. So, once the customer had left, I turned off all the power sources and lights thinking that somehow the electricity was coming through the shelving somehow, and then through the Amethyst.
With everything off and a steady hand, once again I reached out for the Amethyst. As my hand hovered above the Crystal, I could feel a tingle on my palm and warmth spread across my hand. Wow, No Way! It’s just a rock, so put my hands up again, same thing.
Rach being Rach, and still not convinced, I turned all the power back on, and spent hours researching how crystals were formed, what minerals seeped into them, the pressure and heat of the earth etc. Then one sentence struck me and completely changed my outlook on rocks but also my life. This was my LIGHT BULB MOMENT.
When you break it down, regardless of size and shape, be it a small tumbler or a massive geode, everything is energy, an atom, the building block of life. An atom is energy!!! You can’t destroy it, but its energy and I felt the Crystals Energy!
So, Rach the “rock nerd” becomes Rach the believer of “crystal energy”.
With my eyes opened, I began a journey of discovery. This coincided with the move to Monterey Keys our 2nd and larger shop from where we ran meditation circles, performed readings, healing and spiritual development.
Then Covid 19 hit the world. Stonez Gallery was extremely fortunate, we continued to grow as people became to reassess their lives and what was important to them. During this time, my best friend, soul mate and husband, Angus was made redundant and came to reflect what was important to him, and within weeks started the sister Gemstonez Jewellery. As a wholesaler of handmade Crystal Jewellery, he now happily travels up and down the east coast and works in Stonez Gallery when not on the road.
In December 2020 Stonez Gallery moved to the iconic James Street in Burleigh Heads. We do love it here, the locals were very welcoming, we get to meet travellers from all over the world, and we still have many customers from both Sanctuary Cove and Monterey Keys.
So that’s a shortish version on how Stonez Gallery came about.
We love our crystals & gemstones, I personally get attached to some of them, and have been known to shed a tear when they leave our store to go to their happy home. We cleanse all our goodies before they come into the shop, and every morning before opening. They are more than just rock to us.
We will only stock natural gemstone and crystals. Although, some Crystals are shaped and polished to bring out its beauty and patterns (which are amazing!!!), there are no manmade or man altered crystals come into our space. The only exception to our rule is on Citrine clusters (heated amethyst, but still a natural crystal).
Mother nature provides us with everything we need.
Thank you for taking the time to read our little story. We hope you love our gemstones & crystals as much as we do.
Rachel & Angus 😊
Update 2024: In July 2023, Angus and I made the decision to close the doors at our Burleigh location. Following my intuition, it became clear that it was time to return home. So, that's exactly what we did. We're now happily living life on Phillip Island, my hometown. Currently, we're running Stonez Gallery online. As for whether we'll open a shop again... Well, watch this space! ;)