Cash and Treasures: Digging for black opals in Australia

by Jamie Rhein on

Cash and Treasures, as mentioned in a previous post, is a Travel Channel show that often features kid friendly places. Host Kirsten Gum, an engaging sort, heads to where you can dig up treasure. I’ve been watching every Wednesday for the past several weeks, finding out more and more about the bounty one can find above and below ground. The finder gets to keep all of it for a price.

Episode: Digging for black opals

What are they? Stones of a variety of color ranging from black to blue with the shades in between that shine up into various patterns and designs. The design influences their value. Most of the opals in the world–95% come from this part of the world.

Location: Lightning Ridge, Australia–a small mining town that’s a bit of a poke to get to. Gum said it took 11 hours through the Outback.

Digging details: Gum started her quest by heading to Black Opal Tours located in Lightening Ridge. This tour establishment is a place to find out about the various types of opal patterns and their value, as well as the history of opal mining in the area. While Gum was in Lightning Ridge, besides digging, she hob-nobbed with some of the miners and downed some beers, “stubbies,” to find out about the miners experience and secrets. They kept the secrets to themselves. None of them looked like they are getting rich.

After sitting in the sun in 110 degree weather, sifting though mine dirt piles by hand, hoping to find an opal that someone missed–but to no avail, Gum headed down into the mine of two brothers whose family has been mining for four generations. The brothers blasted one wall of the mine to loosen dirt for Gum’s benefit which gave her the view she wanted– seams of color. As she describes it, the colors range from blues to purples to greens.

Gum grabbed some rock with black opals inside and headed to Sidney to get them appraised at the National Opal Collection, Australia’s leading opal company. The aim was to find out their value and to see which ones might be turned into jewlery. Only one of the stones was worth turning into something. The others weren’t big enough, or didn’t have enough value. For example, Gum was told one of them might be a nice addition for a kid’s rock collection. My son would find it cool.

The 4 1/2 carat opal that hung around Gum’s neck at the end of the episode was worth $500. Gum was pleased with the results and felt that getting hot and dirty to get this opal was worth the effort.

In case you may think that finding black opals could be easy, here’s a telling comment by one of the miners who sifted though the dirt with Gum for awhile. “You need the patience of a 99 year-old virgin.”

Other things to see in Lightning Ridge:

Check out Kirsten’s blog for her impressions of Lightning Ridge and what it’s like to mine for opals.

Five myths about traveling in Tokyo

by Grant Martin on

I’ve been wandering around Tokyo for the last week or so and its been an eye opening experience. The culture is rich, the city endless and terrifying and gray and intense. Every day I’m astonished by the differences between our societies and the way that the Japanese operate, horrified by the varieties of food that we eat and warmed by the hospitality around me.

It is an experience far from what I had predicted, I am pleased to say. Back in New York we had broad, naive expectations formed by our guidebook scouring, stories from friends and films we had seen at the theater. They’re beliefs held by many Americans, I feel, and I thought that sharing my experiences would help clear some of these ideas up. Take a look at the biggest five myths I’ve found about traveling in Tokyo:

  • You won’t be a tall monster in Tokyo. While the national height average is a little lower in Japan, tall people do exist here and are not uncommon. Unless you get on a particularly short subway car, you won’t be able to see end-to-end with your friends. Similarly, your feet shouldn’t hang off the bed by 6″ when you check into a hotel. Three out of three of my mattresses so far have been fine for me and I’m pretty tall.
  • Electronics aren’t crazy awesome and cheap. While Electric City does have a ton of electronics with a remarkable variety, much of it is the same as US equipment and the price is also on par. I was looking at an IBM x40 Thinkpad for about 250$ this week, which you can get on Ebay for about 270$. Factor in the Japanese keyboard and having to carry it all of the way back to the States, and it isn’t really worth it.
  • People won’t stop to ask for your pictures. I’ve been with two tall people (over 6’4″), a nerdy African-American lawyer and a blond girl from Long Island, and have yet to be stopped for a picture. Some schoolchildren did ask for a photo at a temple in Osaka, but it was part of their homework assignment.
  • Bowing is nice and polite, but not necessary. Japanese understand that you’re visiting and don’t necessarily subscribe to their culture so don’t expect you to bow at every transaction and conversation. This especially holds true for small things like asking for directions or buying street food.
  • You can get around with English. Subway and rail stations all have English directions so you can navigate without a guide or translator.
  • Matthew Firestone is not the genial Lonely Planet and Gadling writer that you think he is. He is a dangerous, dangerous drunk that will feed you cow intestines and steal your children.

As in any metropolis, culture steps away from the traditional, outlying areas and shifts towards a central, efficient system. Most Tokyo residents wear business suits around town, work hard and party hard into the early hours of the morning. Visit with an open mind and a warm heat and you’ll find it among the most amazing cities in the planet.

Sleeping over at the von Trapp’s house

by Anna Brones on

I never really fell in love with the Sound of Music. But other people did, and I am sure that those people will be excited to know that the original von Trapp family house is being turned into a hotel.

If you’re having trouble remembering the true story that the movie was based off of, there was an aspiring nun (played by Julie Andrews) who did a whole lot of singing and somewhere between “do” and “fa,” won the hearts of Baron von Trapp and his seven children.

The von Trapp family lived in the house from 1923 to 1938 when they fled Austria during the Nazi takeover; eventually they made their way to the US where the youngest of the children operates a Vermont lodge. Now Salzburg will get the von Trapp touch, and starting this sumer, visitors to Villa Trapp visitors will be able to sleep in family members’ former bedrooms or even choose to exchange vows in the chapel. Located just outside of Salzburg, Austria, the hotel will open sometime in July.

Building a hotel that capitalizes on the fame of a movie really isn’t that crazy and sometimes hotels even star in movies themselves. Salzburg tourism officials say that actually 40% of overnight stays are made by fans of the Sound of Music. So if you are one of those fans, now you too — for only 100 euros a night — can practice your singing skills right in the von Trapp household.

Latest mentos geyser world record event

by Jamie Rhein on

I recently found out that Leuven, Belgium has trumped Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2007, Epybird, the two guys that orchestrate mentos geysers, turned Fountain Square into more than 500 bottles of simultaneously shooting Diet Coke.

On April 23, 2008, a group of Belgian students donned blue raincoats, and, with the help of Epybird, turned Ladeuzeplein Square in Leuven into a mentos Diet Coke mess. It’s reported that 1,360 people participated in this latest Guiness World Record-breaking endeavor.

Buy Oprah’s old clothes

by Jamie Rhein on

As I’m pawing through warm weather clothes and putting winter clothes away, I’m casting some of them off. Eventually, they may end up on the racks at a charity store in Columbus or in a pile at a market someplace in Africa.

Oprah, though, has enough cast-off clothes that she recently opened a store in Chicago so we can buy them. We can also buy her shoes. I have maybe two pairs of shoes that I could let someone buy. Usually, by the time I get rid of shoes, no one would want them. Oprah, though, has dozens. Clothes range from things she’s worn to some that maybe hung in her closet until she decided they are a no show–except, of course, on you. They are sold in the Oprah’s Closet section of the Oprah Store in Chicago.

To capitalize on all things Oprah, the Oprah Store also has Oprah inspired items–things that a person really needs like items peddled on her Web site. The thing is, I have so many Jamie things, that if I bought an Oprah thing, my house would explode.

If you do buy Oprah’s old things, the money does go to Oprah’s charity–the Angel Network. My stuff is heading to Volunteers of America. They’ll come get it. [Listen to recent Weekend Edition story on NPR]