A Bureaucrat’s Secret Passion: Noodling

Australia produces over 80% of the opal in the world. Several years ago, when Marc was telling me about his former trip to Australia (ten years ago), he showed me a little piece of opal that he found himself in Coober Pedy, the largest opal mining town in Australia. Since then, I always thought that if ever I go to Australia, I have to find a stone like this myself. And it is not merely a question of possessing a precious stone. It is the idea that I could dig it out myself that appealed to me.

Well, when it was decided that we were finally going to Australia, it was absolutely obvious that we could not miss Coober Pedy, even though it lies in the middle of a desert. Moreover, we decided to make a little detour and visit s much less-known opal mining town – Adamooka. We got there a little introduction to opal types and then spent about half a day noodling around the town.

When we arrived in Coober Pedy, we were already half-experienced noodlers, so we asked a very nice opal-cutter about the best places to find opal around town. He gave us a really great tip: a mining claim about 40km from the city where miners were currently finding the precious stone. We spent a whole fruitful day noodling there.

Let me explain what noodling means. Machines used to excavate opal stones from the ground leave behind large hills of sand and stones they already went through. Once abandoned by the owner, the hill is up for grabs for everybody else. Well, at least this is an unofficial rule and it’s always safer to ask the owner of a claim for permission, especially if he is on the site…. And then you just go there and dig through it, hoping to find a piece of opal that others missed.

Among different methods of noodling, Marc adopted the one I call “the caveman style” – he used one stone to break another, as opal can hide in the rocks missed by the machines. Since I am just a sheila, I contended myself with exploring little stones and dust, looking for opal visible from outside. It’s hard to say which method is more effective, although certainly Marc’s style was more spectacular.

After a few hours of noodling one feels very dirty, very tired, very hot and very, very thirsty. And yet, it is like a drug - really hard to stop. I tell myself: OK, that’s it, it will be reasonable to stop now. But then I spot something sparkling on the ground in front of me and I’m back on my knees.

I can now understand how gold rush could happen. I even know how it feels when you get lucky and find YOUR piece. I know because the first opal I found (in Adamooka) may actually be worth up to a few thousand dollars after treatment. Not that I want to ever sell it :)