- Hoses, a Hole & a Hello

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

Things look promising. I won Lotto - I just collected my winnings, $31.55! It might not be millions, but it still is appreciated.

Something else appreciated was a very nice dinner at the very clean and tidy home of Lyn & Richard (cooperopals.com). They're good folks and dinner was delicious . . . and I didn't have to do the dishes. Thanks also for letting me send a few emails and for the tour of your cutting room. It's always interesting to see how other folks cut.

L and Richard have been busy digging - steadily moving mountains of dirt. As a matter of fact, while I'm here in town typing this and getting groceries, they're in Koroit digging. The hole is now about 90' x 40' and about 20' deep. There's another 15' to go to get to the level. Because of trouble with a few hydraulic hoses, there have been a few slight delays. It looks like some of the opal level will be exposed by Friday.

The walls of the excavation show promising signs about what lies below - pink / red / maroon sandstone with broad white streaks . . . apparrently good indicators.

For those of you unfamiliar with digging, the dirt which has been dug out of the ground occupies more volume when you pile it up then when it was packed tightly in the ground . . . about 3 times the volume. So when you dig a big hole, you have lots of dirt, piles of dirt. Each time you move the dirt takes time and costs money. A big part of successful excavating is knowing what to do with the dirt - planning ahead. Thank goodness L is an expert and really knows what he's doing. Richard is learning quite a bit from L. The two of them work together very well. I'm very grateful to have both of them there working so efficiently - as I said, they're moving lots of dirt . . . and doing it quickly and efficiently.

Thanks to Kim & Len for their continued hospitality and for letting me use their computer.

Soon a farewell to Glen. Safe travels and Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday I saw a small goanna (a type of lizard) - a bit over a foot long. They tend to come out only once it has really started to get rather warm. A couple of days ago a neighbor encountered a brown snake at his camp only about 300 meters from my camp. Don't worry Dawn, I'm keeping my eyes open.

Hello Dawn - even though we talk often, I miss you . . .
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