Opal Fossicking at the 'Ridge'.

Goodooga and Lightning Ridge, NSW.

Monday 25th - Thursday 28th April

After we left Bourke we headed towards Lightning Ridge. We stopped at the small town of Brewarrina for lunch on the way and had a look at some of the remaining rocks that make up the ancient brewarrinas (fish traps) made thousands of years ago by Indigenous Australians. There was a very strong head wind so we decided to stop for the night about 75kms out of Lightning Ridge in Goodooga. The local council has made an excellent free camping area, complete with a artesian bore bath!! This was just what our tired and dusty bodies needed. We spent about an hour soaking before dinner, then another 30 minutes after dinner then another hour first thing the next morning. It was the first time Jackson's fingernails had been completely clean the whole trip!! We all felt amazing and we were very grateful to the council for providing this place.

We pulled into Lightning Ridge mid morning and were greeted by a very welcoming lady at the Visitor Information. As well as giving us a wealth of suggestions suitable for our needs, she also gave the kids a few opal samples and got them very excited and keen to go fossicking.

We decided to camp at Lorne Station, which was about 3kms out of town. It was very basic but suited us fine and ended up being perfect for opal hunting as they used rock taken from mines for the roads. Jackson spent every spare minute we were there squatting down opal hunting. He found heaps of lovely small pieces of opal, as well as a few larger bits. Emilia joined him for some of the time, though she wasn't as keen when it was raining and very muddy (as it was on Wednesday when it rained all day!). The rain exposed more opal though, so Jackson didn't mind getting wet as he had some great finds.

Whilst at Lightning Ridge we did a mine tour in a hand dug mine - Jackson said, 'if that was me, I would have used a shovel not my hands!!' We had to explain that hand dug meant done without a machine - not literally with your hands.

We also did 3 of the 4 'car door' tours they've set up around Lightning Ridge. They have old car doors in specific colours around the town, numbered in order of the corresponding info sheet we were given. The tours took us around the shanty towns the miners have set up around their mining allocations. The miners have been very innovative in their home designs- with everything from bottles, cans, tram cars, tarps, old tin, rocks etc. used to make homes. They were all so interesting to look at and to imagine how life is for the people who choose to make this place their home.

We took advantage of the local hot artesian bore bath, which was particularly lovely on Wednesday morning, as it was raining whilst we were in there. We all have incredible skin at the moment, which must be due to the high mineral content in the bore water. A lot of locals enjoy these baths too (as well as all of the tourists) and I find it funny to think of these hard core miners with baby soft skin!

On the day we left Lightning Ridge we went did the 3 pub tour in the local Grawin area. This is an even more remote mining area where there are 3 unique and unusual pubs, one even has a golf course. We only made it to 2 of them as the rain started again and the roads were getting very muddy. It was a really interesting area and there were lots of unique characters living out there!

That night we made it to another bore bath in Burren Junction that also had free camping next to it. After our morning soak we began our journey towards the coast (we are aiming to make it the Gold Coast by Tuesday afternoon), looking forward to the adventures we'll have on the way.

About to start our mine tour.

Jackson really got into character for this photo!

Both Daniel and I had to bend down most of the way - such difficult conditions for the miners.

One of the unique houses built around Lightning Ridge - they had really embraced the 'castle' theme at this place - there was a drawbridge, a catapult (complete with a sign detailing the fictitcious invasion where they used it), a clocktower, a well and seats for the reigning king and queen!

Getting into the spirit of the town! We actually went to the John Murray gallery, he has done so many incredible paintings that really epitomise the reality of the outback.

A house made with cans and bottles.

It was pretty amazing inside, just a shame it has been let go to ruin.

Not sure how the livers of the builders who made this house are faring.

Monument to the first mining shaft sunk in Lightning Ridge in 1902.

Enjoying the hot bore bath. This one was super hot (over 40deg) so we kept popping out for cold showers!

Stanley the Emu welcomes travellers to Lightning Ridge. He was created by John Murray (local artist) and an emu was chosen for its cultural significance to the area.

The 'Club in the Scrub'. There is a golf course here and it is a registered club (so we had to sign in). We had a drink inside and marvelled at the paraphernalia inside.

Enjoying a cold one at the Club in the Scrub.

The war memorial in the remote mining region, built by miners. Apparently their Anzac Day service is a huge event.

A bra tree at the Sheepyard Inn- these pubs certainly had a lot of character (if only these walls could talk, I bet they have seen a lot!). Jackson spent quite a lot of time inspecting the bras and found one he called a 'Devil bra' as it had spikes on it. Not sure if this counts for home schooling????