We first visited Koroit Queensland back in July 2005 and the experience has always kindled the longing to return one day. We found this ancient land to have a magical/ spiritual effect which is very hard to explain.

But what is the attraction for this isolated community with no electricity or running water, life is pretty rough with only shanty / camping type accommodation and too hot for any one to live there seven months of the year. To the guys and girls that mine this rugged mulga country on the edge of three deserts, (the Simpson Desert, the Strzelecki Desert and the Sturt Stony Desert) the solitude of silence is just as much a craving as the desire to find the pulsating colour of Australia’s opal, a unique stone forged deep in the earth, remnants of an ancient inland sea. Matrix opal is where the opal occurs as a network of veins or infilling of voids or between grains of the host rock (ferruginous sandstone or ironstone). Matrix comprises precious opaline silica as an infilling of pore spaces in silty claystone or ironstone. Yes we are die hard rock hounds.

Yowah nuts - Found in the far South Western mines at Yowah in Queensland, Yowah nuts are ironstone concretions resembling 'nuts' which contain precious opal in their centre. Upon cracking or slicing the Yowah nut, the precious opal is revealed. Australian opal is the worlds finest with each opal field producing its own unique definable type, a remarkable act of nature. Fossilized wood, snails, shells, pipes and dinosaur bones have also been found through careful hand excavation with opal now replacing the fossils cavities such a thrill to know the original piece was millions of years old. Australian opal is renowned for its vivid colours and is also less likely to shatter or craze due to its low water content. Australian opal is also harder than other forms and represents a very good investment.

And yes we have the itch to go again. AL.B & Laurie C

Gemseek.