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September 26, 2009 Alice Springs
Today, we rested, mostly... I managed to sleep in until 7:30! WOW!!! We enjoyed the brekky buffet at nearby Lasseter Casino Hotel and along the way we got some photos which you will see below. Then Katrina and I spent about 90 minutes in the opal store in the lobby talking with the owner. He gave us a class on opals. 95% of the worlds opals come from Australia. There are three main types: white opal, black opal, and boulder opal. The black and boulder opals are only found in Australia. Beware when you are purchasing opals that you don't get the synthetic versions that are made in a laboratory in Japan (unless that's what you want). Back in the states though, the law are such that they don't have to tell you it is synthetic... Here is a link to the history of the opal. Fascinating reading! We also learned that the reason the colors shift in opal when you move it is that there is actually water in there and it is like a rainbow effect! This is the only gem in the world that has this!
In between our visits with Paul at the Red Rock Opal shop, I worked tirelessly on blogging...getting the videos and photos set up is what takes so long.
We enjoyed lunch at The Juicy Rump. The restaurant was very busy with people watching the big rugby game here yesterday. It was neat being in there and groups of people cheering when this team made a score or when the other team scored. Of course, we had no idea what was going on, but it was fun to watch!
Katrina and I hopped in the pool for a bit. It was heated, but I still froze. I spent most of my time in the hot tub while Katrina swam about the pool. We watched Grease on television and went to sleep.
Now for the photos of the day:
There is green space here at the Crowne Plaza and in it we located a peacock. Not sure what he is doing here, but he is magnificently colored!
Katrina found this guy in the lobby!
Some lovely flowers along the way to the restaurant.
And more lovely flowers.
This bird is beautiful and everywhere (like pigeons at home). It is a very pink color underneath.
Another cool looking bird!
This palm tree looks like a giant pineapple!
This boulder opal has a design inside of it that looks like the continent of Australia with clouds crossing overhead. I couldn't really capture it in my photo, but maybe you get the gist of it....
