Mac Goes Outback At Long Last.

At the last count, Mac had been pulling into the township of Lightning Ridge and heading for the motel that were run by the ex-egg farmers who had thrown in the proverbial towel and headed for the Ridge. Years ago, they had come to Mac for lessons in opal cutting and had moved to where the opal was in the air.'
"I love it here," Mac had stated on his mobile phone, "there is opal everywhere."
He and his mate were on an opal scouting trip. They were going to start in the Ridge, head for the outer lying fields, and then make their way up to the south-west Queensland fields. The intention was to talk to the miners, purchase anything that was going that would be suitable, and generally sit around the camp fires at night and talk opal. Mac was particularly looking forward to seeing one stone in particular that had been dug out of the ground by one particularly hard working miner, who had been smacked in the face by a particularly large tree branch, busting through the glass of the cabin and making a horrible mess of his face, that was for sale for $40,000. Miners prices. Goodness knows what it would be worth once it made it to the open market. Watch this space ...