Come visit our cyberspace showroom for a look at the wonderful opal gems and opal rough we have for sale online!
EBAY AUCTIONS
Come take a look at the opal we have for sale on eBay, there are some great deals to be had!!
OPAL BOOKS
Some of Len Cram's best selling titles, most of them are out of print and almost all are signed by the author.
OPAL INFO
Look here for general information on different types of opal, formation, and the like.
MINING INFO
These are articles about the opal fields, the opal life, mining, cutting, and whatever else we get a chance to write.
OPAL ARTICLES
Click here to learn more about opal in our articles: (The McCondra Report) in the archives section of the E-mag "The Eclectic Lapidary"
ESKIMO NELL
Who is that???
Suppliers of Quality Opal Rough & Spectacular Finished Stones, specializing in Yowah Nut Opal, Opalized Wood, and Lightning Ridge Black Opal.
"HOW ESKIMO NELL CAME TO BE" by Barbara McCondra 
When I first went to Australia to mine opal, I went with my heart in my throat. I'd quit my job and headed to the opal fields to wrench opal gems from the earth or at least feast my eyes on what others had mined and perhaps learn how to find my own. A lone female in the bush of Australia yearning to be an opal miner was going to need help. At first I was a novelty. I was a joke. However, I was afflicted with the same fever as the miners and they soon became friends and partners. A few obliging souls saw the value of free and enthusiastic labor and took me under wing. Each mining partnership was fraught with tears, laughter, frustrations, and hard work. I had many friendly bush folk help me find tin for building my camp. Others sent me on wild goose chases for a laugh. Kindly women of the bush fed me and taught me how to use a wood stove and build a campfire. Some miners took time to help me peg a claim and taught me how to drive a Case loader and big tip truck (dump truck). Many just snarled or leered at the idea of a woman mining. A myriad of bruises, cuts, and strained muscles later, with some basics and experience under my belt, a friendly camaraderie developed between me and the gougers of Lightning Ridge. When an insect had bitten me and thrown me into allergic strife, townsfolk and campfolk alike took turns to check on me at my camp. Free repairs were done on my ragtaggle equipment when I was broke, and I was charged when I had money to spend. I'd joined the volunteer burial committee and drove a backhoe through the streets, just to get to the graveyard to get the job done before the rain. My determination to learn drove me to have a go at anything. My fear and ignorance didn't stop me, I guess it helped me navigate in this foreign, isolated, wild place. The universal force at work here was the all consuming love of opal the need to find it, see it, and talk about it!!!! Throw in a wisecracking sense of humor that had seen me through working construction in the Arctic and I got through my trial by fire in Australia, and in the process, I became a miner of opals and one of the town characters, "Eskimo Nell". Go back |