When I was a child I lived in Coober Pedy for a while. Mum always said she never intended to stay even one night, but when she stopped to ask for directions a local tour guide and potter gave her a freebie, just one tour, hang about and see if we can change your mind. And clearly they did!
It was a pretty formative time for me, I was only 9 or so, but that's kinda when my memories of youth anchor themselves now. I noodled and fossicked on the ancient piles of mine-shaft rubble beside our dugout, found opals on the side of the road when the main street was undergoing roadworks, and developed my love of the Australian landscape, the night sky, fossils and aboriginal history - and the glitter of Coober Pedy rough poking out under that gold dirt. I remember looking into the window of the opal shop on the main street to stare in incomprehension at the monstrous black opal on display there, and saying firmly that it didn't matter how bright and expensive it was, I preferred the potch with a fleck of colour I'd found down the road, and the tiny fragment of fossilised shell almost devoid of colour was my greatest treasure, and still is to this day.
I've grown up obviously, and with regret moved away from the world of opal for a long time figuring cutting was outside my skill and price range. It wasn't until my mum took up cutting and brought me some stones for my birthday to learn to hand sand on that I realised this really was possible for me, too!
I still like jelly and crystal best. :)
Posting seems to have messed up my formatting haha! Teach me to be clever. Thanks for the chance to share. :)