Fay & John's 2013 Holiday: LIGHTNING RIDGE

Left Mudgee for Lightning Ridge via an overnight stay at Coonamble. As it was only going to be a short drive from Coonamble to Lightning Ridge, there was no need to get up early, and when we did finally get ready to leave we discovered that the car battery was as dead as a dodo! Fortunately it did not take long for the NRMA to come and jump start us so that we could be on our way.

On the approach to Lightning Ridge we came across Stanley which is an 18 metre high sculpture of an emu made of steal and old Volkswagen parts.

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining town and the only place in the world were you can find Black Opal. There is no commercial mining here only small leases are available which effectively cuts out the big guys. That means people like us have as much chance as anyone to discover opals.

Black opals are not really black. The 'black' part is the backing on the back of the coloured part of the stone. This is what brings out the colour. Naturally occurring opals with a black backing are priceless. Man made 'black opals' are less valuable but by no means less beautiful.

There are 80 different nationalities here and around 35 spoken languages. The population is around 2600 but probably as many as 4000 in the surrounding area.

There are many interesting places to visit and they have a unique system for self drive tours. It is called Car Door Tours. You purchase a sheet showing you the four different routes depicting four different areas of the town providing information on what you see along the way. Each route has a different colour. All you have to do is follow a particular colour car door.

The picture above and to the right is of a house built of beer cans in 1977. Would have to say a lot of beer was drunk to build it. You can also see through the 'window' the desolate landscape around.

An opal mine is a narrow shaft approx. 1 metre square (very little wriggle room). They are quite deep as you have to dig through the sandstone layer until you get to the clay layer where the opal is. Once there you then have to dig the clay and get it to the top. The picture opposite shows a mine shaft with a automatic hoists to get the clay up and into the truck. The clay then has to be washed to expose the opal. Old cement mixers are used to wash the clay. There is an amazing amount of rusty old cement mixers, trucks and old machinery just lying around all over the place.

Lightning Ridge also has it's share of eccentrics. Two of which built but didn't finish amazing structures which are now heritage listed so that they will not be pulled down as they sit on mining leases.

Royal Air Mail Daily Delivery

Amigo's Castle

The first one is Amigo's Castle. This is a private home single-handedly built of ironstone. Started in 1981 and inspired y Roman ruins in northern Italy, near Amigo's birthplace. Underground there are trap doors, dungeons and tunnels incorporated as part of Amigo's mine He also has a great sense of humour judging by some of the signs around the castle.

Winner Tour de France 1896

Astronomers Monument

The second is an amazing concrete Astronomers' Monument'. It was built by a man called Alex (not his real name) who was wrongfully jailed and spent 4 years and 8 months in jail before being pardoned. He then made his way to Lightning Ridge where he built his 'concrete folly' by using left over concrete from other jobs around town. It has lots of inscriptions in the concrete in memory of famous astronomers. He called himself the second Robinson Crusoe. No one is quite sure why.

Another very interesting tour is to the Chambers of the Black Hand. This truly is something to see. Forty feet below the ground is a series of tunnels with carvings of a 10ft Buddha, Angels, Jungle cats, Super Heroes and much much more. The artist has been doing this as a hobby for the past 15 years and has only been persuaded in the last few years to open it up to the public. He also mines for opals as well.