Lovely red escarpment seen on the drive to Mintabie. Tree on the left is an Acacia or Mulga...as they are known in Australia. Mulga is suited for dry hot climates.

7/06/01:  Before we left for Mintabie, we made a couple of phone calls.  The trip was a breeze, compared to our last trip.  We completed the deal on the opals, and then drove to Dan and Patsy’s open cut mine, to see if they had found the big one yet…they are so-o-o close.  After a short visit, we headed back to C.P.  Once back, we fueled up, cleaned it out, and returned it to the rental place, and then discovered we had locked ourselves out of the dugout…again! We hung out on comfortable chairs on the patio of our B & B… then walked to our meeting place for dinner with the Lamont’s.   We enjoyed a lovely visit and strolled up to the Big Winch at night to view the gorgeous southern hemisphere stars and see if we could find the Southern Cross.