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Lightning Ridge

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    • MatkaajaCentral & Outback NSW 2021
      Päivä 10

      Blue & Red Car Door Tours

      13. huhtikuuta 2021, Australia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

      Today we completed the Blue and Red Car Door Tours.

      First up - Blue Tour. We headed out through the opal mine fields, locally known as 'the suburbs', before stopping briefly to explore Bevan's Cactus Garden with over 2,500 cactus varieties and 48 Bougainvillea varieties. Interesting, but not really our thing.

      Next up was the Walk-in Mine Tour. This was pretty cool and being self-guided meant we could move at our own pace.

      Being one of the shorter Car Door Tours, we quickly moved on to the Red Door Tour. We passed the plaque sharing information on the first settlement in 1906 called Wallangulla or Old Town, which is where the first Opal Rush boomed. We then stopped to marvel at the Stone & Bottle House - an interestingly constructed private home made entirely of, would you believe, stones and bottles, and filled with collectables!

      Just a bit further along the road we stopped to explore the Ridge Castle - a unique castle nestled in Lighting Ridge. It was in fact an AirB&B property but as with most things in Lightning Ridge, it wasn't your typical lodging.

      Moving on, we noted some other interesting sights along the way including Sim’s Hill - the highest point in the district (170m above sea level), astronomers' monument - a very cool homemade observatory, and KFC Drive-thru (although it never seems to be open).

      But the highlight of this tour was definitely Amigos Castle - a unique and fascinating private home. The castle was built by Vittorio Stefanato, also known as Amigo, who was born in Italy and moved to Australia in 1970. The castle is built with stones and planks, and Amigo has been expanding it since 1982. The castle sits atop dinosaur bones that are millions of years old - not officially catalogued but locally known as 'Amigosaurus'. The underground tunnels and secrets of the Castle were closed the day we were there as it turns out Amigo had been sentenced to at least 13 years and seven months in jail for murdering a local woman, near his castle in January 2020. He shot her point blank with a rifle after she asked him for money, and then hid her body in the bushland. He pleaded guilty to the murder in October 2021. I think I'm glad we missed his 'private' tour!      Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaCentral & Outback NSW 2021
      Päivä 7

      Lightning Ridge

      10. huhtikuuta 2021, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      We came the long way, but we've made it to Lightning Ridge!

      We're staying the Opal Caravan Park, just 200m from the hot bore baths, and it's fabulous. We have a huge drive through site with our own ensuite.

      'The Ridge' is unlike anywhere else. As a town, it is a bizarre and compelling combination of rural sophistication vs wildly eccentric. On one hand, the main street is sealed, curbed and guttered and has rows of regular shops - and evidently there is a lot of money around.

      On the other hand, you gasp at the house made from bottles and the rough cement 'castle' of the Astronomer's Monument, surrounded by a moonscape of mullock heaps under which literally hundreds of obsessed miners search and dig for the black opals which have made the town famous.

      We love all the quirkiness that Lightning Ridge has to offer. Everywhere you look there's a little joke or dig at conformity to be found if you open your eyes.

      But perhaps the best part of the Lightning Ridge experience for me is sous-viding ourselves in the famous hot pool. The Lightning Ridge Bore Baths, which are the result of an artesian bore sunk by local graziers in the 1960s, provide a permanent supply of warm (more accurately described as HOT) mineralised waters bubbling up from 900m below the surface.

      It is definitely a special experience to sit in the hot pool, especially on a cool April night, and gaze up at the vast outback skies. I've never been so completely relaxed, nor slept better. I could do this every night ☺️      Lue lisää

    • MatkaajaRoad Trip June 2017
      Päivä 24

      Day 24

      23. kesäkuuta 2017, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Had a good night at the free camp last night very quite considering it is on the highway, nice clean and new toilets good overnight stop. Headed off at 8 this morning, stopped in at St George for fuel and kept on going to Dirrinbandi then down to the Hebel gate the Qld and Nsw border, weather still very good 23 degrees so decided to stop in at lightning ridge for the night. At the Opal caravan park, good as usual this is our 3rd time here very busy lucky to get a powered site, had lunch and drove in to town for a look around, booked the bus for 6 o'clock to take us to the bowling club for drinks and tea.Lue lisää

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    • Matkaaja2018 Road Trip
      Päivä 35

      Day 35

      1. heinäkuuta 2018, Australia ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

      A little bit noisy last night till the road trains stopped but otherwise all good, on the road by 8 this morning, taking a shortcut from Mitchell to St George good road a small amount of single lane the rest of the 200km was very good. Stopped at St George to top up with fuel and to grab some cold pasties for lunch, and had a cuppa had to find a dry spot had a lot of rain here overnight. Onto the Castlereagh Hwy heading south next stop was Dirranbandi for lunch it rained nearly all the way there and the temperature is only 13 degrees here back to reality after 5 weeks of warm weather, Hebel Gate was next to pass through and then the NSW QLD border, we got into Lightning Ridge about 2 o'clock our stop for the night. Had some good rain here too but a little warmer at 17 degrees, lucky we booked as the van park is full school holidays now so busy everywhere, off to the bowling club on the courtesy bus for drinks and dinner a tradition when we are here 👍Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaJanuary 2023 Caravan Shakedown
      Päivä 20

      Day 20 - Narromine to Lightning Ridge

      23. tammikuuta 2023, Australia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

      Bacon and eggs for Brekky today!! A great breakfast provided by Linda to send us in our way from Narromine to Lightning Ridge. Along the way we stopped at Gulargumbone and Coonamble to check out the street and water tank art. Many outback towns are now using this art as a means of attracting visitors. Some of the art today was very cute. Then on to Lightning ridge for the next 2 nights. Famous for its black opals Lightning Ridge is a famous outback town sometimes populated by people who are evading the police and want to “get lost”. Tomorrow we will look around this town but first impressions are that if has more to offer than we originally expected. A wonderful sunset and starry sky tonight.Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaLightning Ridge 2023
      Päivä 2

      Big 4 Opal Holiday Park - Arrival Day!

      1. huhtikuuta 2023, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

      Big 4 Opal Holiday Park - Friendly, family atmosphere with great service. Artistic metal sculptures adorn the place and a small fossicking area for the kids (and adults!) to find their very own little Opal treasure.Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaOff to the sun with GMcG and F
      Päivä 10

      Hot springs in Lightening Ridge

      27. kesäkuuta 2022, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      On the road to Lightening Ridge we stopped by the Artisian pool here in Walgett.
      It looked pristine...gloriously clean and sparkling.
      When I dipped my foot in - it was a very pleasant 38degrees.
      Surprisingly, the pool was empty!. Not for long though, our Tassie neighbours came walking across the grass in their bathers ready for a dip..Good for them!
      We arrived in Lightening Ridge around lunchtime. What a disappointment. No sullage, so any surface water soaks onto the ground- which was like a quagmire in places. Our site is little bigger than the caravan - not even room to put a seat out!
      We walked the town- plenty of flash looking opal stores.
      The biggest bowls club was on the main street. It was enormous, with plans to make the place bigger again, with another story to be added. The club included a bottle shop, Cafe and restaurant. We met Wally and Aileen again outside a surprisingly well stocked grocery store in town. And of course their caravan park has big drive through sites across the road from the hot baths.
      We took Frankie to the tennis court to throw his ball. We thought all the gates were closed....but he found an open one...out onto a very large oval.....and he was off- out of sight .
      I couldn't see him, but Ian spotted him sitting in the long grass around the edge. He took his time coming back...but he made the right decision. I cooked Nachos for dinner - Fiona and Greg had some too and we told them that we were leaving on Wednesday. Wished Stephen happy birthday 48 years old!!
      ...      Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaGundaroo to Townsville & Back
      Päivä 2

      Lighting Ridge NSW

      22. syyskuuta 2022, Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Wow, love this place, however can not explain wow. Its in the middle of nowhere, however the locals are lovely as. We didn’t want to cook so went to a local Italian Restaurant to order a pizza. While waiting had some wine and chatted to the locals about living in the camps. Camps are 50m x 50m and you could live in a very basic house or a caravan!!!

      Went to John Murray’s Gallery again and am always in awe of his artwork. Wish I had heaps of $$$

      Did the “yellow” and “blue” car door driving tours and saw some camps and opal mines.

      Bad news is found out next part of trip means a back track due to floods 😥      Lue lisää

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    • MatkaajaThe Lap
      Päivä 8

      Lightning Ridge

      13. tammikuuta 2023, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

      Describing Lightning Ridge is going to be difficult. We arrived at lunchtime after an interesting drive from Moree, lots of emus sighted which always makes me happy to see in their natural environment.
      We set up camp just across from the giant emu called Stanley that sits on the ridge that Lightning Ridge was named after. Drove into town and while there is a lot of normalcy in the main part of town with its opal shops etc as you dig deeper and follow the Door tours ( special drive by tours through areas marked by coloured doors) you can see the eccentricity of the Opal miners with their Castles and houses made of bottles, beer can or flagon s definately a unique area. Most of the claims are 50 metres X 50 metres, but they are also a few massive open cut mines. The town has an awesome aquatic centre and is building the Australian Opal and Dinosaur Centre in the next few years. We swam in the Artesian bore pool and had dinner at the Bowls Club.      Lue lisää

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    Saatat myös tuntea tämän kohteen näillä nimillä:

    Lightning Ridge, LHG, Лайтнинг Ридж

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