How time flies when you are having fun - another month gone by so quickly and it has been a busy time.

We haven't seen the kids for a while so decided to take a few days off and head for Toowoomba to visit them and do a bit of shopping. The kids are all well - Tammy and Trent have purchased a new home which is very nice and will suit them for a long time to come ( see photo ).They put their old home up for sale and sold it in three days so they are on top of the world at the moment as they have been able to organise to settle both on the same day so moving will be hectic but easy for them. Dad was asked to help but will be busy that day!!Trent has plenty of big fit mates from the airforce so they can do without me. They both look so well as they are getting into bike riding and are training pretty hard - Lyn was fair into Tammy because she has lost too much weight - I thought she looks great but that's mothers for you. Tammy is very busy at work as she has been promoted to small business manager in the bank - it's great to see her doing so well. Mitchell and Krizara are also going great - Mitchell has just changed jobs and we certainly noticed the difference in him. I thought he was always being unfairly treated where he was but he is very happy at Butler Toyota and it shows. He and Krizara are in New Zealand at the moment with Krizara visiting relatives there and the family getting together for a traditional celebration. Mitchell will be meeting all of Krizara's family from the Cook Islands and was both excited and nervous - haven't heard from him so all must be going well.

I took the opportunity to go down to the Gold Coast to see my old mate Graham - he and his son are involved in the lease next door here and I look after their machinery for them. They are very busy people and so have not been out here for some time. It was great to catch up, but I laugh every time I talk to Graham as he is past retirement age and continually talks about giving it all away and coming out here to chase opal, but he just won't stop. He has now just purchased another truck ( see photo ) so the opal mining has been put back for a little longer, one feels. He has been putting together a great camp infrastructure to move out here, so I guess the longer it is delayed the better his camp is going to be - that's if it hasn't all died of old age by then. I have been looking for a smaller excavator for a while and Graham found a good one for the money I had to spend - he has been working with trucks and earth moving machinery all his life and has many contacts so it was very handy for me. It was great to catch up with him and I am looking forward to the day he finally makes the break.

On the mining front I have made a major move. I have been disappointed with the area I have been mining this year and after finishing the last run, I had decided to try another good looking spot on the other side of the hole. Unexpectedly, I was approached by another lease owner not far away to come and work on his lease on a percentage basis and , after discussing with the boss, I decided to make the move. The lease is one of the original leases worked on Koroit and has produced some great opal over the years, it is a huge lease with lots of unworked ground . It has just changed hands and the new owner, a young fellow from Germany, realises that he will never mine it in a lifetime, so, getting somebody else in is an advantage for him and well as for me. He does not have machinery himself so already has another miner working there with him. Lindsay has been working on the lease for many years with the last owners and we are old friends - it was he who introduced me to opal many years ago, so I know he had plenty to do with me getting the opportunity to mine there. He is a big man with a heart to match and would give the shirt off his back in a blizzard if he thought it would help you. He does everything in a big way and his bbq made from a bulldozer blade is a fine example ( see photo ).

Anyway, I have moved the old excavator and truck over and have been going hard at for a couple of weeks. The ground is a lot harder there and so Lindsay with old " Dino ", his old excavator ( see photo ), opened up a couple of spots for me. Once the ground is open I don't have too much trouble besides breaking the odd pin on the tiger teeth, which is a bit of a nuisance as it can be difficult sometimes finding the tooth - usually falls down the hole and getting it out is another story on its own. I have had some success so far with a fair amount of very saleable material found so am pretty happy at the moment. There has been a fair amount of work done underground and I have already broken into a tunnel about 18ft down. I don't mind finding tunnels - it means there is potential there even though some has been taken out. The old miners would not persevere for long in an area if good signs weren't showing. I lowered Lyn down into the hole to have a look as she hasn't had the chance to have a close look at the way the old-timers mined (see photos ). It would have been very tough work with a pick and shovel and candle for light - no thankyou! I haven't had a chance to sort all what I have found yet, but, when I do I will take a few photos as some of it is very big and very interesting.

Images show Trent, Tammy and Bailey and all the family in front of their new home,Graham with his new truck,Lindsay and his bbq and he and " Dino ", Lyn inspecting the tunnel in the hole and some sunsets taken over the last month.