- Rough Opal Parcels

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

I'm going to be putting together some parcels of rough Koroit Boulder Opal which I'll be selling on my website: www.koroit.com.

If you'd like to be added to my email list and have me let you know when new parcels are available, please email me at: koroit@gmail.com and let me know.

thanks and Happy New Year!

- Slicing Rough Koroit Opal

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

. . . busy slicing . . . found these this morning . . .

- Sorting Rough

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

Cutting, slicing, sorting . . . I'm home and working through a big pile of rocks.

Here are a few photos . . .

LAX

- Bye Bye Oz

Brisbane, QLD - Australia

In a bit over 12 hours I'll be getting on a plane - the beginning of about 30 hours of traveling to get back home.

After 2 months of digging, I'll admit, I'm pooped . . . and once I get home I'll have a lot of work to do - many stones to cut as soon as possible for all of you folks who have been asking me for cabs and for rough.

Once I get back home, after I've had some rest, I'll post new photos and a few videos . . . and maybe a few tales from downunder.

Regarding the tales from downunder - while in the outback I see and experience a wide range of things. As you could imagine many of the folks who are involved in this business are wacky, idiosyncratic, marginal and colorful characters . . . and many of the experiences are a bit out there . . . that is part of the problem. There are many stories that you simply would not believe. There are many stories about fools and thieves that I shouldn't tell in public for many reasons.

Trust me, it has been a colorful experience that I'm trying to distill into a form that still would be true, but also would be suitable for public consumption.

I'm exhausted and need to go - thanks for taking a look.

- Digging & Finding

Cunnamulla / Koroit, QLD - Australia

After some equipment problems we're back to digging and, thankfully, finding. A few nice pieces were unearthed yesterday. In a few minutes, after picking up a few groceries, I'll be on my way back to the mine and hopefully find a bit more this afternoon.

The temperature has been cooperative, but it's getting warmer. On the way to town this morning I passed by 7 bearded dragons, a small goanna, an emu, a few kangaroos and a brown snake. There are many lizards and snakes around. As it gets warmer there will be even more around. The arrival of the snakes says it's almost time to go home. We'll keep digging for a bit longer, but it's getting close to the end of the season.

- What it's like

Cunnamulla / Koroit, QLD - Australia

When I first bought the opal mine in 2001 I was naive, ignorant and very inexperienced. Yes, I'm very bright, but I was doing something brand new in a very strange environment.

For a variety of reasons, when I first started mining, I decided to mine in a particular area toward one side of my mine. During that season a miner who works a mining lease next to mine decided he was going to dig along the border at the opposite side of where I was digging. A few times I went down in the tunnel my neighbor was digging to see what he was finding, but since it was on the opposite side of where I was working, I did not visit often. To me, the tunnel he was digging appeared to be very close to the border, but estimating where you are underground is tricky, particularly for a beginner. He was a very experienced miner. I did not want to bother him and I figured he knew what he was doing.

While my neighbor was digging in that tunnel he got lucky. He found a beautiful opalized log which he sold to another Koroit miner for several thousand dollars. He also found some other beautiful material.

As some of you know, last season, two other Koroit miners with excavators came to my mine and dug a large open cut. When digging tunnels underground it can be hard to tell where you are or what direction you are digging. When you do an open cut it opens up everything to be seen clearly - there are no doubts. You probably can guess the punch line . . . that tunnel my neighbor dug several years ago, supposedly along the border on his side of the line, was actually completely on my side . . . not at all along the border, but clearly, by at least 5 feet on my side.

Earlier this season I mentioned what we had found in the open cut to my neighboring miner. Based on his rather confused kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar type response, I am led to believe he knew exactly what he was doing and where he was digging the entire time. He knew he was taking advantage of the new guy.

At the end of the season several years ago when he mined that very nice opalized wood, he sold that other material he found to me for $7,000. The opalized log has since been bought and sold a few times. Last year it appeared at a show in Tucson with a price tag of probably over $50,000.

That's what it's like to be an opal miner . . .

Over the weekend I spent some time crawling under a 40 ton excavator to help tighten several nuts while various excavator fluids dripped on me and I had to duck as the grunting and groaning beast moved just above my head.

Now the excavator is back to digging. Hopefully some treasure will be unearthed before the end of the week.

- A Bargain?

Cunnamulla / Koroit, QLD - Australia

A few days ago I heard a neighbor had found some opal and had sorted and priced it. In addition to mining my own material, I'll also buy rough opal from my neighbors if the price is right. I was curious and went to take a look.

He had twenty-something containers of very low-grade rough priced between $20 and $220 per container. Some miners are firm with their prices and some are willing to haggle a bit. When asked how much room he had on his prices he said that the prices to pick and choose were as marked, but if I took everything I could have the lot for $3,000. After spending a few minutes looking I wondered how much of a discount the lot price would be off of the marked prices. I asked him. He was not sure, so he added up the prices. The total of the marked prices if I were to buy the containers separately was $2,960. Obviously, the lot price was not a very impressive discount.

That's what it's like to be an opal miner.

- Color and Big Grasshoppers

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

. . . or should I say locusts? . . . yes, they are locusts and they are all over. Australia is a land of feast and famine. This latest plague of locusts could do serious damage to a variety of crops throughout this peculiar island continent. Even out here I have driven through clouds of the flying beasts - I'll spare you the details, but driving through such a cloud can be very noisy.

. . . back to the opals . . . yes, I have been digging and finding . . . and yes, I will be willing to share some of the goodies . . . in the next few days I'll be mailing some new material home to Dawn. She'll be photographing it and listing it - feel free to email her for details - please email her using the email address on our website (www.koroit.com) - to get to the email address on the website, please click HERE.

Opal production throughout Australia is way down. Production in Koroit is also down. I have been very lucky to be able to find some very nice rough. I have already shipped home over 5 million carats of rough this season. (I have already shipped home a bit over a ton of Koroit rough. My shipping agent said that US Customs wanted to know how much rough I had shipped and needed to know the amount in carats. A metric ton - 1,000 kgs - is equal to 5,000,000 carats.) I hope to be shipping home much more before this season is over.

Rain has been falling for the last several days which has gotten in the way of mining and has made for gloomy skies. Today the sun is once again shining.

- Tonight . . .

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

Shame on me for not thinking of mentioning this earlier . . . in a few ways I'm still like a 7 year old kid and still go WOW at some things . . . tonight likely will involve a wow . . . even though I've been visiting the outback for years and have a lot of work to do here, the night sky in Koroit, the southern hemisphere stars with no light pollution, the clear and bright night sky of a gazillion stars in the outback - makes me go wow . . . the milky-way looks so, so very milky here.

. . . I'm looking forward to the wow of the sky tonight and a very deep sleep and maybe a few curious dreams . . . between you and me Koroit is one of those places on Earth that has a special connection with the heart of the universe - you really can feel it here - particularly at night . . .

- Almost There

Cunnamulla, Queensland - Australia

. . . nearly there . . . I'm in Cunnamulla and soon will be on my way to Koroit. I should be out at the mine in about 2 hours (after getting a few groceries and driving for an hour).

It feels a bit warm here, a bit too warm for early September. If the temperature is this high already, the next 2 months might be a bit uncomfortable . . . hmmm . . . I'll wait and see and hope for the best.

This morning, while driving for 3 hours from St George to Cunnamulla, I saw at least 5 bearded dragons on the road - a sign that winter is indeed over . . . if there are that many lizards around, it probably means many snakes have already arisen from their hibernation.

. . . gotta run . . . keep your fingers crossed that it stays cool, I find opal and don't find any snakes!

- Arrived in Australia

Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland - Australia

This needs to be quick . . .

I've arrived in Australia . . . the plane landed yesterday and I spent the night with Friends - thanks to Frank and Heather for their wonderful hospitality.

Breakfast is history. . . next I'll pack my 4WD and get on the way to Koroit within the hour. . . along the way I need to pick up some 55-gallon drums and a few groceries.

This evening probably will be spent in a small town between here and there . . . I expect to arrive in Koroit sometime tomorrow.

I'll try to add more soon . . .

A380

- LAX

Waiting ......

LAX

- LAX

Just arrived at LAX.... taxiing to gate, then wait for tonight's flight to Australia.

- Heading Back to Oz

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

Tomorrow I'll be on the way back to Australia.

I'm sorry I wasn't good at posting new bits and pieces here. While I was home of course I sorted and sliced and cut a few rocks . . . and I gave a nice rock to Dawn . . . on September 3 we got engaged! It's a sapphire ring surrounded with diamonds. It's the first time I ever gave someone an engagement ring - thank goodness she said yes.

During this trip to Australia I swear I'll try to be a better blogger. I'll be there for about 2 months and hopefully will have the time to post to this blog regularly.

Gotta run . . . .

- On the way . . . almost . . .

Brisbane, QLD - Australia

A few dollars changed hands as I sat down for a cup of tea with my shipping agent a few minutes ago. He makes sure the 55 gallon drums of rough Koroit opal that I toil to collect make it all the way from Australia to my place in the USA. We chatted and laughed a bit. He told me the drums I had sent him on Monday (and was told would be delivered to his office on Wednesday) had not yet arrived (today is Thursday) and after he had made a few phone calls nobody could tell him where they were and one person went so far as to make the rather extreme metaphysical claim that they did not even exist. I really do not want to digress into a discussion of existence, theories of epistemology, certainty and wanderings into the oh-so-attractive quagmire of solipsism, so, please pardon my rather bold claim . . . I know they exist. I'm also rather confident they'll be found in the next day or two and soon will be on a ship heading across the Pacific.

He also mentioned rather politely that based on his limited experience, it seemed to him that "some of the people people involved in opal mining were a bit strange". Of course I laughed and let him know almost everyone involved is at least a bit strange. It is a collection of curious characters and curious adventures and misadventures.

Tomorrow I will be on the plane back to the USA.

My apologies for not posting more entries during this trip. I was busy mining and sorting and had little spare time. Yes, there were some experiences I hope to share with you faithful reader (Are you really there? Is anyone really reading this stuff?) . . . and a few photos I will post once I return to the USA. . . . and maybe some details about my transcendent experience.

It's Like . . .

Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia

Yes, I'm still finding pretty opal. I'm helping a friend at his mine and another friend is open cutting my mine - he'll soon be at the opal level. When he gets to the level I'll be bouncing back and forth between my place and my friend's place hopefully seeing lots of gorgeous colors and patterns.

Many people ask me "what's it like being an opal miner?" . . . hmmm, can be a bit hard to answer . . . . A few days ago after stopping by the local artesian bore to take a shower in wonderfully warm and very soothing slightly minerally water, I had a chat with a fellow miner. I had been staying at his camp, but was going to be moving to stay at another camp. I told him I was going to stop by his camp to pick up my stuff. He told me to remember to throw some wood on the fire (it is winter here and gets chilly at night). He has a small fireplace (which I built a few years ago out of corrugated iron and about a thousand rivets). The fireplace does keep things comfortable. I stopped by his camp, collected and broke up some firewood as the sun was getting lower. Of course during the process of breaking the firewood I encountered a couple rather large and unhappy to be disturbed spiders and a bush cockroach (looks like a USA cockroach (often referred to as a palmetto bug) with a tribal shield on its back). Once the fire was started in the fireplace I sat back on his small couch for a few minutes to make sure everything was ok, let out one of those sighs that is produced at the end of a day of hard work and watched the flames. The door to his camp was slightly behind me on my right side. I had left it open and the red glow from the setting sun was filtering in as was a slightly cool, but very fresh breeze. As the sun dropped below the horizon, my thoughts halted, I was embraced by that wonderful stillness that occurs in the bush, punctuated only by the delicate and pretty songs from a couple of nearby birds and entranced by the beautiful smell and dancing of the fire in the fireplace. That's what it's like to be an opal miner.

- At the mine

Cunnamulla, Qld - Australia

Thanks to frank and Heather for their hospitality while I was staying with them on the coast before my trip out west.

I've been in Koroit since Saturday. All is well. I've had the good fortune to play with some beautiful Koroit opals already.

Right now it's about 4 pm and I'm a bit drained after being in town all day. . . . my wits have been dulled. I need to get my laundry out of the dryer and get on the road back to Koroit before the sun gets too low. At this moment I have neither the time nor the sharpness of mind to wax eloquently about the sights and experiences I've already had. . . . . for example I saw a large adult wedge-tailed eagle (at least 3 feet tall, but looked at least 4 feet tall) perched in a tree at the side of the road, but was in too much of a hurry driving a miner's brother to have an emergency root canal at a dentist's office which was 3 hours away to snap a photo.

More next time . . .

- In Qld

Sunshine Coast, Queensland - Australia

Tonight I'll be sleeping near the coast of Queensland, a bit north of Brisbane. Tomorrow morning I'll start the drive to Koroit.

I have to pick up some supplies on the way and as many 55 gallon drums as I can fit inside my 4WD and tie onto its roof rack as possible . . . my Toyota will bear a striking resemblance to an outback version of Jed Clampett's car on its way to Beverly Hills.

Tomorrow night probably will be spent somewhere between here and Koroit. I hope to get to Koroit no later than Saturday.

It took me about 40 hours to get from Tampa, FL to the place I'm staying north of Brisbane. By the time I got here I was rather numb and lacking some of my higher functions. After a good night's sleep in a real bed and a shower I started to feel much more human. I'm still not 100%, but by tomorrow life should feel like it is worthwhile.

By the way, Telstra (the main Australian phone company and the company that supposedly provides my mobile phone service), has severly screwed up my account and will take several days to unscrew it. I'm too tired to go into the foolish details of what they have done, but suffice it to say it is amazing that a company which has such poor organization and terrible customer service is still in business. I had hoped to post several entries to this blog from my mobile phone during my trip, but thanks to the horrible service provided by Telstra, I will not be able to keep you well informed.

LAX - USA

- Gene McDevitt

LAX - USA

- Away on Sunday

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

On Sunday I will be on the way to Australia. The trip, from take off in Tampa to landing in Brisbane, will take about 34 hours.

I'll try to keep you updated . . . however, I never can be sure of what access I'll have to the internet while in Koroit.

If you'd like a postcard from the outback, please email me your mailing address through the contact page of my website: www.koroit.com and I'll try to send you something interesting!

later . . .

- 2 weeks to Australia

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

In 2 weeks I'll be on my way back to Australia. Soon after I land I'll pick up my newly re-registered and repaired 4WD and make the 1,000 km drive out to Koroit.

Before I go, I'll be sorting through the rough I still have here and be putting together many parcels of rough. If you'd like any rough, please email me via my website (koroit.com) and let me know ASAP.

I expect to be adding a few inexpensive parcels of rough opal for sale on my website. To get to that page click here: Rough Koroit Opal for Sale.

It now looks like the "newly repaired" 4WD's repairs are going to cost around $3,000 . . . so I'd really like to sell some rough before I go.

Thank you!

- Going Soon

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

Soon I'll be on my way back to Koroit . . . to dig and sweat and find beautiful rocks!

Since I'll soon be leaving, it's time to really sell some rough. I'll be putting together a variety of parcels of rough during the next two weeks.

If you might be interested, please email me and let me know what you're looking for.

I'll try to post a few on my website (www.koroit.com), but usually folks just email me, tell me what they're looking for and I sell to them directly.

Now back to work . . . .

- A Bright Nut

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

. . . a nice bright nut I opened today. This week I expect to be slicing quite a bit of rough and will post photos of some of the gorgeous opals I'll find.

- A few more opals . . . and lots of rain

Palm Harbor, FL USA

Here are a few opals I've recently cut:

The mining season in Koroit is just starting. The big news from the desert is water - since around Christmas it has rained and rained and rained and flooded in southwest Queensland. Apparently there was more rain and more water than at any time in recorded history. Luckily it appears my mine is ok.

Friends have told me it's greener in and around Koroit and Cunnamulla than they have ever seen before. It sounds pretty. However, all of that water will mean many things are growing and reproducing - grasses and other plants, mice, those who eat mice - like snakes . . . and the kangaroos will over-populate. It's an extreme ecosystem. The addition of a large amount of water will tip its delicate balance. All of that water could make the next couple of years rather interesting, unusual and potentially dangerous.

I'm eager to get out there and see it for myself.

I've made a few improvements to my website.

You might want to take a look: www.koroit.com

Now off to show and sell a few beautiful opals!

- A few opals

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

Here are a few small opals I just cut. . . .





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- Tucson

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

I'm back home, unpacked and back to work. However, I wanted to mention a few things about my recent trip to Tucson.

The number of buyers attending the shows in Tucson this year appeared to be significantly down from last year - and attendance last year was very low. Other dealers I spoke with agreed that attendance was down. It also was clear that the number of dealers was down.

However, in spite of the smaller number of buyers, I was very pleased with the results. The buyers who did show up were interested in buying opals and spent a few dollars.

On my last night in Tucson I went out for for dinner with Mauro (an Italian gemologist, stone wholesaler, dealer in antiquities, manufacturer of glass cameos and my next door neighbor in Tucson for over the last 10 years). We went to a very nice seafood restaurant (curious to eat seafood in Tucson) and met a few other folks for dinner. Among those at our table for dinner were a talented metalsmith who conducts hollowware workshops in Europe, an award winning gem cutter, a former editor of a major industry publication and a gentleman who once actually held the unset Hope diamond in his hand. Conversation that night was entertaining and the mahi-mahi I ordered was delicious.
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- Back Home

Palm Harbor, FL - USA

Yesterday I finally got back home after a trip of about 4,600 miles.

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by my booth in Tucson. I very much appreciate your business and you visiting my booth to say hello.

Soon I'll be back to work, slicing and cutting new material . . . yes, I'll be posting pictures.

- Tucson

- last day

Maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast

- Tucson Booth

My brother in the Booth in Tucson

- Second Day of GJX

Tucson, AZ - USA

. . . just finishing leftover pork fried rice and a bowl of maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast - yum, yum . . . about to hop in the car and get the booth ready for another day.

Yesterday was a good day. Not as busy as opening day, but still good. The attendance clearly is down for previous years. This year I'm particularly grateful for my customers and for their continued business and support . . . and thanks to all of my new customers. . .

I'd post pics of the show, but taking pics inside a wholesale trade show is a no-no. I may sneak a few of my booth.

My brother's ready, gotta run . . .

_

- GJX Opens

Tucson, AZ - USA

The GJX opened yesterday. It was a great opening day for me, although buyer attendance in Tucson this year appears to be way down.

. . . gotta run, off to another hopefully great day . . .

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- Tucson

Downtown

- Arrived

Tucson, AZ - USA

This morning I arrived in Tucson after driving for about 31 hours and covering approximately 2,070 miles.

Tomorrow I'll finish setting up my booth. My show opens Tuesday, Feb 2. I'll be at the GJX, booth 105. If you're in Tucson, please stop by and say hello.

There are more photos on my facebook page.

(I just noticed I still had the posting time for the blog set for Brisbane time. It's not a big deal, but I fixed it.)

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Tucson

Texas Canyon, AZ

Driving to Tucson

Texas - USA

today I drove from home in FL to Texas.  Tomorrow I'll continue toward Tucson, but probably won't make it all the way.

I'll try to add a few more photos.  Most of today's trip was overcast, gray, rainy and not too photogenic.

Pensacola, FL

Sunrise