Mac will be heading back out to the opal fields in mid July 2010. He plans at this stage to visit Koroit, Yowah and Lightning Ridge, with the small task of moving rather heavy mining equipment. His expedition to Koroit in the last few years proved rather difficult and he has made the tough decision to leave the mining to miners and to stick to the cutting and setting of his passion.

This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a love for the outback and will quite happily spend a day dibbling his fingers in opal, be it rough or cut, he really doesn’t mind. With his artistic eye, he can turn what appears to be an ordinary looking stone in his mind into some quite extraordinary jewellery, with some quite extraordinary titles, such as ‘The Mushroom of Course’, and ‘Earth’s Curve’. He is looking forward to catching up with old friends, and spending a happy hour or 7 discussing the latest finds, and no doubt coming home with parcels from ‘all over’, or should we say, ‘down under’.