- A few mining photos

Safety Harbor, FL - USA

Here are a few photos from my recent trip of the open cut . . . there will be more soon.

The hole is about 60' x 90'. The excavator is sitting about 25' to 30' below the surface and would reach down about another 20' to the opal level. In one of the photos below, you can see where we dug down to an old tunnel. The nice sliced nut came out of this hole.

- Home again home again

Safety Harbor, FL - USA

I'm back home.

Yes, I am tired . . . particularly after having to waste so much time discussing, debating and getting a bit agitated with several Delta Airlines agents. I am going to avoid flying with Delta again and strongly suggest you do the same. Do not ever fly with them to Australia. . . . I could go on and on, but I am tired.

Soon after I got off the plane from Sydney and through US Customs and was feeling good about being back in the USA, I was about to get on a line at the Delta counter at LAX and who walked right by? . . . an American icon, Ron Jeremy. I love LA.

Thank you Dawn for picking me up at the airport and for being with me.

It's great to be back home.
.

- Bye bye Australia

Brisbane, QLD - Australia

This trip, like every other trip before, was predictable and very unpredictable, as well as quite a learning experience. The lessons have been significant, but hardly cheap . . . but we don't need to go into those details.

Tonight I might wander around Brisbane and take a few photos of the city after dark. There's a new footbridge which looks like it might be very interesting at night.

Early tomorrow morning I will be heading back home to the USA, to the other side of the planet.

During a long layover in LA on Friday, I might wander away from the airport . . . and wander over to a particular tattoo shop . . .

I'm tired and very eager to get on the plane and get back home . . . and yes, most certainly, I am very eager to once again, be back together with my dear Dawn.
.

- Trips Internal & External

Sunshine Coast, QLD - Australia

Yesterday I enjoyed the luxury of a leisurely drive from Toowoomba to the Sunshine Coast along a route I had never taken. Readers of my rambles have heard me talk about the dry & dusty outback & probably know about many of Australia's beautiful beaches, but there are so many different landscapes and personalities to Australia.

Yesterday's trip took me through gently rolling hills, up and down and curving along narrow roads, winding through pastures populated by tranquil cows and a few horses, small towns and along Lake Somerset. The gentle landscape, the occasional views of the water and almost hypnotic (certainly therapeutic) curves in the road brought to life long gone memories of the many hours and many miles I traveled along similarly beautiful back-roads in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine over 10 years ago.

A timeless sort of peace was with me for most of my trip - the sun was bright, the trees - gums, conifers (a few of those wacky looking Fraser Island Firs), the birds and the cows all added to the sense of peace, calm and tranquility, just taking each turn and new vista as it was presented to me.

Around a bend, near the side of the road, was something - ah, a large and freshly killed king brown snake - of course one of the most deadly snakes in the world. It seemed to say rather clearly, attention, beware, even within apparent peace and beauty lies the specter of danger and death. A painting by Poussin, "Et in Arcadia ego", came to mind - but that's another long and winding tale.

I enjoyed a simple lunch of greasy fish and chips at a small-town take-away place. While sitting there eating, a curious and apparently unrelated series of people paraded through, a disproportionate portion displaying a variety of interesting tattoos, including one young lady who proudly lifted her shirt to display a winged dragon she had done the previous day. On the way back to the USA I'll have a layover of about 16 hours in LA. I guess the universe agrees I should go and visit High Voltage Tattoo between flights.
.

- Bye bye Koroit

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

This morning I finished packing and closed the ming camp in Koroit and said goodbye at the end end of another mining season.

I'll try to fill in a few more details about the season when I get to Brisbane in a few days. It looks like you'll need to wait for the photos until I get back to the USA.

Yesterday while shaving (preparing to get back to civilization), something caught my eye, no not some disgusting hair growing out of my ear, but some peculiar critter on the floor not far from my foot. It was a 5 or 6 inch long colorful and nasty looking centipede which could have been a co-star on some episode of Star Trek. I was aware that these creatures bite and their bites are very painful and I won't even go into details about the resulting sweating and vomiting and the fact that often a few months after the bite a sizeable chunk of the area around the bite will fall off of your body. Luckily I was wearing my boots (don't you wear boots when you shave?) and even though it was an amazing and beautiful animal, I terminated it with extreme prejudice.

Now I need to get back on the road - heading east to the coast and civilization. Tonight I'll be spending the night in a hotel somewhere - with electricity and indoor plumbing and creature comforts and no centipedes.
.

- Nuts

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

. . . we found a few nice nuts . . . details later . . . it looks like you'll need to wait for photos until I get back to the USA . . .

Thanks so much to Richard and L - they're helpful, friendly, fun, honest and have been great people to work with.
.