Opal Mining Newsletter February-15-03 on Mining Underground for Opals in Coober Pedy

G/Day Folks, This update is bad news for us!

As you know we have began our Holidays to go fishing in North Queensland, Pat got to have a day off work this week because of the Tourist Season quieting down, so she took Friday off, which meant that we could leave a day earlier, this turned out to be a bad Omen.

So we got up at 5 am and was off by 6am and everything was great the trip apart from being boring as unusual, was ok and we reached Alice Springs in good time as the day was perfect for traveling, the wind was down and so was the fuel consumption.
Problem No1, We covered the 700 kms (435) to Alice and got in around 1.30 pm, then fueled up, got a bite to eat and was on our way within half an hour, we got 130 kms (81 miles) north of Alice Springs and the right hand rear tire blew out, BANG.

So I changed wheels, putting on the spare that had a brand new tire on it and carried on, I lost a bit of time on the road as I stopped at ever road house (gas stop) that we came to, because I had to try and buy another spare tire to replace the blow-out, but as it turned out none of these road houses do or carry out any kind of mechanical repairs what so ever, so I had to hope that I would not have any more tire trouble until I reached Tennant Creek.

Problem No2, Well we were 15 kms out from Tennant Creek when BANG, the same wheel I thought had blown out again as there a was a hell of a noise from that wheel, so as I was pulling to a stop, I thought I was really in the s--t with 2 blown-out tires and so close to the town, when I stopped and got out for a look it turned out that the tread had lifted from the steel belt half way round the tire.

This was the noise we had heard, it was the rubber tread coming off and hitting under the mud guard, so I figured that if I was to drive slowly around 30 kms an hour to keep the heat of the rest of steel belt, it might get me into town, which it did, a bit bumpy due to the tire having rubber half way round, but it got me there and it was dark when we arrived at the caravan park we were heading for.

But we got there, that was the main thing, so we rented a cabin for the night with a on suite for $62.00, we had driven from Coober Pedy to Tennant Creek a distance of just over 1220 kms (758 miles) so we had been on the road some 14 hours by the time we had got to van park just after 8 pm, so we were ready for a shower and something to eat by this time and a good nights sleep.

We asked where the closest place was we could get a meal and the van park owners suggested that we try the pub (hotel, one of 4) just up the road as it was about 400 meters up the road and we could walk there as we could not use the vehicle, so as my knee was giving me you know what after being cramped in the vehicle driving all day, I limped up the road getting hotter by the meter.

When we got there, the eating place was not that cool as we would have liked and we did not feel that hungry that we would put up with eating a hot meal in there, so we though we would just go next door into the pub/bar and have a coldie and some munchies if there had some, but they had all of the doors open and I have to tell you that is was a very hot night at that point, somewhere about the 38C (100F) now I have to tell you if I cannot sit in a cool or air-conditioned place after being on the road all day in the high heat, I will not sit in pub and sweat my ass off drinking a cold beer, perhaps they think that they sell more beer that way to the locals, perhaps they do, but not to this little black duck.

So I went into the bottle shop and bought a 6 pack and limped back to van park, went into our nicely cooled down cabin (by this time) of course the beer had warmed a bit by this time, not that I know just how cold it was when I bought it, so Pat made herself a cup of coffee and I had 3 warm beers (ugh) and we ate our nice COLD curried egg sandwiches that we had brought with us and went to bed.

We had a very good quite nights sleep and was ready for what this day had to offer, or so we thought, I have to tell you in advance, this is the stuff nightmares are made of, I got up around 7 am as usual and just before 8 am limped down to the tire repair place and I was lucky as I was the first customer for the morning and they had nobody book in, so they looked after me straight away and nice guys as well I might add, got the two tires swapped over and put on the back, found out that it does you no good to leave your spare tire on the rear of your vehicle for 10 1/2 years and not use it, as the sun here had taken it toll on this one and that is why the rubber has separated away from the steel belt.

Problem No3, Anyway went from there right next door to fuel up, than back to the park to check out to be on our way, as I had finished fueling up and had paid the bill, I was walking around the back of the 4x4 I noticed that one of the new tires was going flat, so I went straight back the tire and he removed it to find out why, I had forgotten that the last time I put tires on which was about 5 years, I had the same trouble, it turns out that the aluminum rim has a couple of small holes in it and I had a tube put in it, this time this guy would not put a tube in it for me, saying it was to dangerous, as I told him it had been in there already for about 5 years, he said no and there is nowhere else to go in this town so what do you do, you have to buy the second hand steel rim that he has for sale for $40.00 and have your spare put on that.

Anyway all is well, we are now ready to hit the road, heading for Mt Isa some 680 kilometers (424 miles) book out and we are on our way, the wind was blowing a gale and we were heading straight into it today, so the speed was going to be down and the fuel cost up, we got about 240 kms out of Tennant Creek and the water pump packed up and the temp gauge never showed that I had a serious problem as I was watching it very closely due the wind, outside temp and running the air conditioner and it was showing well above 1/2 way but well under 3/4 so I never suspected that I had a problem, until the engine cut out, when I listed the hood (bonnet) the engine was smoking, it was cooked.

So there we was about 240 kms out of Tennant Creek, broke down, going nowhere, could not even say up shit creek without a paddle, cause I had two of them in the dingy. Lucky there was at point plenty of traffic on the road and from the point of me breaking down 3 vehicles including one semi trailer had passed me but had made no attempt to stop for me, I had to let the engine cool down a bit so I could assess how deep in trouble we was. I took the radiator cap off and no steam came out not a good sign, so I poured a little water in, as I carry water and oil with me along with my tool box, but this time they would do me no good, as I heard the water hiss and saw it running out from the bottom of the water pump, engine was finished and so was we, literally.

So I thought I would flag down the next vehicle that came around the bend, little did I realize that I was about to meet a guy who is a true Aussie and a one in a million if not more than that, he asked me what the problem was and I explained what had happened and asked him if he would stop at the next place up the track which was about 240 kms away and ask if someone could come and tow me in.

He said that would cost me a fortune (he was right, but) and that he would give me a tow as he had a bungee rope with him, I explained that I would be too heavy for him as I weighed over 2 tons, he said that when he got it rolling it should be alright, so I said if he wanted to try I would be most grateful.

This time he slowed down as he said we had a few small hills coming up and a lot of places where there are Cattle on or next to the road, so he was driving around 70 to 80 kms per hour all of the way, sometimes down to 60, so it was long trip for the last 200 kms, but for me, what can I say, Peter is his name and you do not run across many like this guy I have to tell in this day and age, used to be like this 25 to 30 years ago, but times have changed, so this makes that guy Peter more special.

This is shot as you can see of a vehicle overtaking us, I did not have the camera ready in time or I would have taken one of the semi that you can see in the distance in front, you will also notice that the landscape here is very flat and not a lot to see as is most of the country that you travel through here.

G/Day Folks, The news is a bit better for us!
After many phone calls at a public phone here in the van park, that eats coins like it was a close relative to a slot machine in Vegas, I finally managed to find a second hand engine that has a reconditioned cylinder head on it in Townsville, which is the next town we are heading for anyway some 861 kms (535 miles) away.

I also managed to get the 4x4 towed (put on the back of a tow truck) to a car care workshop, where the engine is going to taken out and replaced with the replacement when it gets here, which should be sometime Wednesday morning I hope.

The engine is going to be fitted with a new water pump before it leaves Townsville, just to make sure that I don't have the same problem with this 2nd hand engine as I have just had with my original engine.

The engine was supposed to be started to be removed at this point, but as of lunch time today the job had not been started, he said that it would be started later in the afternoon and be ready to pull out first ting in the morning, so we will have to see and hope that the other engine arrives as promised, we would like to leave here on Friday morning if possible to go to Townsville and stay the night.

Nothing has turned up at the workshop by lunch time today, so I rang the wreckers yard in Tennant Creek and it turned out that they did not have the motor ready in time for the afternoon pickup to get it on the truck for that afternoon, so it should arrive tomorrow, but today they have pulled out my old engine ready for the replacement, I have marked where that oil plug came out of the cylinder head that caused me all of that trouble about 3 weeks ago and I had to have one made.

The replacement engine has been fitted today with all of my old accessories and the new clutch, but it would seem that the heat that got into the engine block collapsed the rubber's in the lift pump, that is the hand pump for pumping up the fuel to the injectors, and this would not hold pressure so they have had to send it out to get a kit put in it, this has cost me another day here, so it depends on what time I get the vehicle back tomorrow to if I leave tomorrow or not as it will be a 9 hour drive to get to Townsville and I don't like arriving in the dark if I can help it in a strange place and look for accommodation towing a boat on the back.

The owner of the van park came and knocked on the door at 7.30 am this morning, telling I had to ring the mechanic about my 4x4, being that early I knew it had to be bad news of some kind, but I was not prepared for what he had to tell me.

He said that the engine he had just put in was no good, he had trouble getting to run the afternoon before as the compression in the cylinders was very low, so after running it for a bit, he went home and left it till this morning to check it out further, turns out the head is cracked as well as there was a lot of water in the oil.

So we have wasted a week here, as the engine has to pulled out again on Monday, so all of the labor is for nothing and I will have to pay for that, I also have to ring this wrecker in Townsville and get him to give me all of my money back, the engine will be no problem, but he might not want to pay for the freight, so I will have to see, now I will have to get my engine fully reconditioned so I will be up for a few thousand dollars now and I will be here for at least another week and a half, more expense.

G/Day Folks, The news is a bit better for us!
I have got back to the wrecker in Townsville and he has agreed to return the money for the engine and he will wear the cost of the freight there and back, the second hand engine was $2200.00 and the freight was $130.00, but the labour on fitting it in my 4x4 was $840.00 so I am out of pocket for that plus we have been here for a week for nothing as I am back where I started and it has cost us $350.00 for the weeks stay in the caravan park.

II have rang around and found a engine Reconditioner that is going to fully recondition the engine, which is what I should have done last week, but I tried to save time and money by putting in a second hand motor which did not work out.

When the engine came out last week, I asked the mechanic to remove the clutch so I could have a look at it as I have had a trip last year in August to Alice Springs where the clutch was slipping all the way there and when I got to the Alice it came good for some reason and has not caused me any problems since, but when I saw the clutch plate, there was not much wear left on it.

So I had a new clutch fitted at a cost of $700.00, plus the bits and pieces such as a new water pump, which is what caused this problem in the first place, cost $200.00 and new fan belt, air-conditioning belt and power steering belt, oil filter and oil which has to be replaced again, so the bill is getting up.

So far it has cost us just under $2200.00 and the engine will cost about $4000.00 if the cylinder head is alright, if not I will be up for more as I will have to chase up another one to replace it and to get the warranty on the engine I have to have the diesel injector pump overhauled, that could cost up to $1200.00 and don't forget it has to refitted again, so the bill is going to be big.

I also finally managed to find a shop that would let me hook up to a phone line so I could get on the net for the first time in 11 days so I could catch up on things, they charged me $10.00 for the time, but the biggest cost is that we have to keep using Taxi Cabs to get to everywhere we want to go and to get to this shop it is a cost of nearly $17.00 for the fair both ways.

Went back to the shop to get on the net again to finish uploading changed pages on the net plus emails, another $26.00, nothing to do now but wait for things to happen, the engine will not be finished until sometime next week, they said they wanted it for 5 working days, but now they have it I will just have to wait and hope things start to go right for us, possibly here for another week and a half, makes you wish that you had stayed at home and bought a fish, instead of going to try and catch one or two.

Below is the cabin that we are staying in for the time we are here, very nice inside but a bit on the small side, it is OK for a overnight stay, but for nearly three weeks feels like being in a prison cell.

I asked the van park owner that as I would not be on the net long now, only to download emails and send some and that I should be on for about 3 minutes, so they have now said that I can use there phone line in the morning for this, at least I can get and send emails every day again, who knows might even sell something, will go out tonight to a club called the Irish Club, very nice place turns out there have just spent $8,000,000.00 doing it up over the last 2 years, a smorgasbord meal costs $13.95 and it turns out that for pensioners it is just $5.00, so out we go tonight and we play the pokies for an hour, who knows might win enough to pay for the oil filter.

Below is the view outside our door, there are storm clouds above, this photo was taken on Friday the 14th as a storm was approaching and it did rain, with thunder.

Still no good news for us, did not win anything last night, I went to the workshop where the 4x4 is and I was told that the cylinder head was if fact far beyond repair, just as I thought, this is why I tried to get a reasonable second hand motor in the first place, as I used to run my workshop as an Engine Reconditioner and have a lot of experience in these things, but as you can see that experience did not stop me from cooking my own engine, turns out that if I did not have any BAD LUCK I would have no luck at all.

So I have to chase another cylinder head as a replacement for it and again I have found one at that wrecker in Townsville, which he says he is reconditioning at the moment, so I will have to wait and see what it is like and hope that this time I get a good item from them.

The Cylinder head did not arrived as planned, beginning to wonder if anything or anybody can do what they say here, but it will leave Townsville tonight and will be here in the morning, the workshop is only open until lunch time so do not know if they will get it by then.

The engine Reconditioner will start to assemble the engine on Monday and will need the cyl head by lunch time at least and also needs the fuel injector pump and injectors to set them up on the motor, but the injector pump as of yesterday afternoon at 1.30pm was still out at the workshop where it is being serviced, so I do not know if and when it will be ready or the cost, the only good thing is that we received no phone call from them so far which means that there is no major parts to be replaced so at this stage it looks like a straight service, cost around $1200.00.

This a good photo of the thunder storm clouds just before it started to rain, did not last for long.

Today for us is going to be a quiet day with nothing to do but stay put in the cabin, it has started to rain again here, but I don't thing it will last long as it is not heavy so far, all I need to do is to go up to the office and use the phone line to download emails and send some.

Be glad when we can get out of here and start telling you guys something good and exciting for a change, maybes show you some nice scenery shots of where we are and of the water, etc.

Oh well next week is another week and as of tonight we have been stuck here for 2 weeks, so hopefully we will be out of here next Friday morning and in Townsville on Friday night, then we have only about 300kms to go north of Townsville to get to our friends house.

Who said that being an Opal Miner was a dull life and that we all where rich, not me that's for sure, we have bought 16 tickets for tonight's Lottery which is worth a cool $18,000,000.00, man if we can get a slice of that action I can tell you that, well that could be another story maybe for next week.

Hope you have enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next one, hopefully I will have some more good photos to show you in the next issue and maybe some of Good Looking Fish and lots of them, I am still hoping that this will be a good year for us in mining when we get back, so stay with us over the next few months and find out what goes on in our part of the world as far as Opal Mining goes.

Stay Tuned for the next Issue, who knows what I will have to report.

Until the next issue.........

and wish me lots of LUCK.

Cya Later, Stuart Bird.

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