Opals Down Under News

With the Australian dollar now below US90 cents (at the time of writing, it was around US 86 cents), we haven’t seen the Australian dollar this low since mid-way through last year.

What this means for our online international customers is that you get a bigger bargain with the currency conversion (except for the Euros… sorry, but the Australian Dollar is still holding strongly there).

If you’re been wanting to get yourself your very own opal, now’s the time before the Australian Dollar regains ground.

Yes, it is our 25th birthday this year, and we though a great way to celebrate would be to have a little facelift. The store has been in the exact same location since 1985, and as we do get frequent, return visitors to ODU, it’s always a good idea to surprise them from time to time.

The inside is getting a bit of a spruce up, with some new colour added to the interior, as well as some other goodies.

Outside, we’ve already created a cool little shelter for the secondary Scratch Patch, but an even bigger shelter is being planned.

A little hint - we’re moving slightly away from the look of the popular ‘opal kangaroo’, and incorporating something sleek. You see, the problem here for us is that the tourists can find us easily, but our local demographic has trouble understanding the beauty of opal and the possibility of this phenomenal stone to be something fresh, modern and exciting. So, we thought we’d spell it out to them, to take another look, per se.

Hard to figure out, but once completed it will look very nice.

Showing new designs, opal info and specials

A bigger, bolder one is planned further in front of the store.

Out with the old, in with the cushy and new.

Pretty.

Stay tuned for when the transformation is complete.

We recently had a parcel of opal arrive for us, which are now up on the site.

It’s interesting to see the different ranges in pattern and colour in the stones that were all cut from one host rock.

While somewhat similar to a degree, each stone, though a section cut from the original piece, is not like the next.

Judge for yourself.

That’s right. We like to stay linked in with social networking technologies, so not only are we on Twitter and Wordpress, but for all you Facebook users out there, we now have a fanpage for ODU, where we’ll put up quick updates, Custom settings we’ve done (that you won’t necessarily find on the website) and more.

You can find us on Facebook by clicking on this link.

It was waaaay back in 1985 that Immo and Louise Stein started Opals Down Under, just off the Bruce Highway on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Frequented by travellers and opal-lovers, the Opals Down Under name grew, along with its reputation of being one of the premier opal dealers, with Immo Stein regarded as one of the best opal cutters in Australia.

2010 sees ODU celebrate its 25th year, with a few surprises up our sleeves. These COULD be the release of 25 limited pieces to commemorate this milestone, a new-look for the store, a few more additions, a new-look website and more.

I guess you’ll have to stay tuned for the announcements as they come.

Some clients of ours, who have had rings made, had some sad news to report recently, when one of their rings (a man’s Boulder Opal ring) was lost while on a shopping trip. Quite distraught, they contacted us for advice for insurance.
A few days later, they contacted us to say that the ring was just handed in to the local police station, but the ring had been quite badly damaged.
Fearing the worst for the beautiful stone that was in it, we prepared to locate some replacement material (this was going to be difficult due to the colour spectrum and brightness of the stone).
To our surprise, after inspection, it appears the Boulder Opal has remained unscathed. The same cannot be said for the ring itself, which appears to have been RUN OVER by a car.
Have a look at the images in amazement…

This is a really good example as to how a protective setting, such as a bezel set (this one had an almost bullbar-like bezel on it - great for a man’s ring), can protect your opal. Imagine if this was in a claw setting?

…and what better way to celebrate our national day but with Australia’s National Gemstone, the Opal.

Approximately 95% of the world’s opal supply comes from Australia - and a vast majority of Australians don’t know this.

So, when lumping all things Australian - football, meat pies, kangaroos and holden cars - don’t forget to add the beautiful Opal in there as well.

Happy Australia Day.

We’re interested to hear your thoughts.

After checking through our weekly Google Analytics report, I’ve noticed that our Bounce rate is up a little higher than normal, yet the visits are still quite consistant, if not busier than normal.

Are there items on the website that you just can’t find, or would like to see? Let us know.