| My Trip to the Land of Oz!! |
| About a year ago I was invited to visit Australia by Murray Willis, the owner of Australian Opal Mines, who I have been purchasing my rough opal from for years. Here is a link to Murray's website: http://www.shed.com/aom/home.html Take a look at his site if your interested in seeing some fantastic opals! His offer was too good for me to pass up as I have wanted to visit Australia for many years. I booked airline tickets and made arrangements with my employer for a month's vacation right away. I left home on the 13th of Sept., 2003 and arrived in Adelaide, SA(South Australia) on the 15th. Dont forget that pesky International Date Line! Below is a picture of the hotel I'm staying at while in Adelaide. |
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| My stay in Adelaide was planned for one week with lots of looking at rough and finished opals. Of course, I could'nt pass up the chance to pick out some rough in person from Murray to ship home! So far I have viewed literally MILLIONS of dollars worth of opal, rough and cut. It's an "Opal-holic's" dream! The shops downtown have some of the most beautiful opals I've ever seen in person and some very interesting jewelry designs. Over the last year I have made many aquaintances online on various Australian online message boards and groups. One of the groups that I frequent often had decided to have a social gathering here in Adelaide and lucky for me it coincided with my stay here. On a trip to the airport to meet one of these people I was shown a small brick building which said "War Memorial" on the outside. I had assumed it was simply what the name said, but upon viewing what was inside I was astonished. As many of you know, I have been persueing my private pilots license. In the lessons for my license there is a chapter on aviation history milestones. One of these was the first flight from London, England to Darwin, Australia in 1919 with a "Vickers Vimy" WW1 bomber. Much to my great surprise, when I entered the building there sat the actual Vimy that made that historic flight! Below is a picture of that lovely airplane. Sorry about the quality of the photo but the aircraft was enclosed with glass inside an unlit room.. |
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| Friday, September 19th, 2003 I decided to take a stroll down North Terrace Ave. this afternoon to check out the Museum of South Australia. The have a collection of Opalized fossils like no other on earth. This was only a short walk of about 3 city blocks and I made it there in no time. The museum has wonderful exhibits on Aboriginal culture and also a fantastic section on the south sea islands. Of course, they also have sections for the flora and fauna of Australia, particularly of SA. But, being the rockhead that I am........I went straight for the fossil collection! On display are many fossilized mollusks and marine animals. The keystone of the exhibit is an almost complete opalized skeleton of a Plesiosaur! Here are a few pictures from the fossil section of the museum. Pardon the poor quality as my camera isn't an expensive one, but they will give you a good idea anyway. |
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| Opalized Icthiasaur (spelling?) |
| Opalized Belemnite's (prehistoric squid) |
| Opalized Cockle's |
| Opalized Plesiosaur called the "Addyman Plesiosaur" in honor of John and Molly Addyman who discovered it in Andamooka in 1968. |
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| Reconstructed Plesiosaur. |
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| Opalize Sea Floor, mainly mollusks. |