Ive got a couple of strongholds, none as polished looking as Zpyders. My original one includes a mine shaft right down to bedrock and Ive been mining out from just above that. So far found tones of redstone, some Iron, a little gold and loads of coal.

My current project is a tunnel to my spawn point, aided by my shiney new compass. When I die, it tends to be at night and getting back to base without dieing again is close to impossible. Project was going well but Ive just hit an underground cave so going to have to equip for battle before exploring. Apparently there can be monster generators in these caves, and of course its dark in there so who knows what lurks within.

Well Ive still been alright digging out the Earths core, I had a small incident with a skel and a spider appearing as I hadnt lit up my growing cavern quite enough, but I did finally get some diamonds! Ive now got a diamond pickaxe saved in my stash. Still finding iron scarce, Ive got too much redstone and a bit of gold. I might make some gold armor (Im guessing it will be better than leather at least). Once im done digging for a bit my next project will be a tunnel to spawn too i think.

oh and I also started finding eggs today near chickens - friday updates? Anyone know what they do?

Compass will be cool

I have to decide, Minecraft or Civ V now!

EDIT:

Yay, sound works again on minecraft. And I just found a monster spawner and 2 chests in a dungeon. Some cool loot stuff in there.

Edit 2:
I think a spawn tunnel will be a good idea. Ive sunk another mine shaft, found craploads of iron, coal and some gold, but its swarming down there, nearly dead, so a quick safe access is needed as I forsee losing a lot of materials otherwise!

How did you do the greenhouse? Block up a river and then flood it?

Hehe excellent.

For another tip, dont mine blocks directly above you. At some point youll mine a block that is holding gravel back and get caught in the landslide ><

Something cool I saw earlier too was a load of sand attached to the cave roof. I mined one bit and the whole lot caved in which was awesome to watch.

I need to sit down and work this out, i make basic stone tools and mine downwards but then i hit black and grey rock that i cant mine through?

Awww man, just as a really good mining session hits redstone and gold, I get killed, and by the time I find my way back through the maze of tunnels and caves my gear has gone I had stacks of iron, ladders, picks etc.

On the plus side I now have found obsidian and diamonds

Yeah, the area I found the diamond in has water and lava flowing through. After I blocked the water up it dawned on me I could reroute it to neutralise the lava I think Ill explore some more down there and get as much as I can in another run and then see about making my roller coaster emergency track to and from the spawn point