Someone today at the coffee shop said about me, “she’s not interested in a man, only opal.” Is it that bad? Perhaps. I used to have both but there just aren’t many here that are single and are my age and mining. Simple, I am here only three months out of the year after all so put all my energies into the mining and processing and buying that I must do. I feel frozen with so much to do before I head back to USA again for a year. Only twelve days till I leave…eeek. What do I do first? I'll have to bag all the bedding in plastic garbage bags, and tip the mattresses and cover to keep clean of all the varmit poo that will acrue while I am gone ten months. close off the water out of toilet to keep the frogs from taking up residence and again, filling it full of poo. My mind is full of thoughts about poo and rocks...how lovely. I better start getting my “ Yowah and Koroit nuts” in a row. Day after tomorrow I ride into Eulo and Cunnamulla with Kaitlin and Geoff. I need to pay on my back rates and pay the Eulo store on my grocery tab. Perhaps there is something there among his opal for sale that I would like to take to the USA? I need patterned rough stuff for Ron. I need partnership rough opal for Jim. I better take a few finished stones too but I see the locals are charging more for their stones than I do in the States! Guess they look at the internet opals and think they can get the same prices on the field in Australia. The market is always changing and everyone trying to find what works for them. I need to also pay Gwen her share for that opal in the book in Hunter’s jewelry. Cheesh. I need to get a book for Lyle too. He welded the new gidea handle for me on my pick that Des cut from a branch for me. It’s my favorite lucky pick that I used for gouging underground for ten years in Lightning Ridge. I used it to knock out some nuts in my small open cut today to see if the luck was still working…NOT. Lyle was doing welding repairs today on the trommel. Traff and Val put in more pipe for the water and set up at the agitator site. I did two more loads of laundry by hauling eight buckets of water twice for each load and pouring into the washer (need to get the hose connectors in Cunnamulla Wed so won’t have to do that anymore). Ate lunch at Traff’s and Val’s today…fresh slaw salad minus dressing as the Aussies like it, two huge slices of homemade bread and juice cordial (similar to our kool aid). Lovely, and of course, we talked of mining and opal our favorite subject. I got a saw blade from Therese today (you go thru one ten dollar blade a day when sawing) and need to give it to Des to start sawing some nuts. I brought some peanut butter cake I made in the microwave (in this heat, sometimes 120 degrees and more a day I prefer not to use my gas stove and the propane bottle is running low anyway) to Therese and Charlie for a snack in the mines. They broke thru another drive right into my wall of solid ground. There was backfill there, too. Very good. More stuff to process for next year.
To see what I do and why I do it, go to my website at www.ParchedEarthOpals.com
Major Opal Addict
Me shoveling 70 feet below ground into my rickshaw.
About Me
- Parched Earth Opals
- Mayer, Arizona, United States
- I hunt for treasure and I find it in wild, rough as guts, crazy places. The booty I have unearthed includes gems, gold, and big oil pipeline paychecks. I have worked with the crackle of the Aurora Borealis overhead and the crunch of Arctic ice beneath my feet. For the last twenty-five years, I have mined opals below ground and camped beneath the Australian sky. This considerably skewed my city girl perspective of life. Because I lived without electricity 6 months out of the year for so many years, I had plenty of time to observe, write, and cartoon the saga of the thrilling side of my dual life. I am Barbara McCondra, mother, teacher, commercial real estate agent, Arctic oilfield worker, Aussie opal miner, gem dealer, and freelance writer/lecturer. I live with one foot each in two hemispheres. When I am asked, “How did you DO that?” I always respond,” If I dress it, speak it, and walk it, I become it,” Simple and exciting. My life is a perpetual adventure. I love it.
