6/27/01: We awakened quite late, as it is very dark in a dugout room! We had breakfast at the Camp Oven Kitchen and then found our way to one of our new Aussie friends to check out some parcels. We bought some, and passed on some of the opal parcels. We stopped in at “The Opal Cutter” to see the owners Barbara and Piet and we discovered that Len Cram had just left that morning. He’d been there for a week photographing Coober Pedy for a new book. Len Cram is a famous photographer of opal…has a number of books on the market. Steve says, “He’s my hero” when it comes to opal photography. We visited a bit, and then departed for some lunch at the “New Millennium Café”. I ordered a vanilla milkshake…and in Australia, that is a frothy milk drink with vanilla flavoring. There is no ice cream in it at all, different, but tasty. I understand that if you want ice cream in your shake, you ask for it to be thick. From the cafe, we ventured to the bank…we seem to be a bit smarter this year in our bank dealings. We were able to cash travelers checks and withdraw money, all on the same day…and successfully! But we weren’t smart enough to forego the travelers checks…old habits…
The Big Winch was an attraction we did not get to last year, so hiked up to it today. On our way down, we side tracked a bit off the beaten track, and did a bit of noodling (looking for over-looked opals on the mine dumps). We were surprised but pleased to be finding a lot of chips of potch…and color.
After freshening up a bit, we had dinner at the Mud Hut, and then to a home to finalize a parcel, and to meet up with the main opal-cutting instructor (Stuart Jackson) at the TAFE (Technical and Further Education). Our night became a very full evening, but one worth the while. Upon our return to the dugout, we found a small piece of cake with four candles poked into it, a small box of matches, and a hand written “happy birthday” note for me, as it was my Australian birthday! Steve softly sang “happy birthday” to me and we shared the cake.