Lightning Ridge

Last weekend Karyn and I went on a bus trip with a group of people from Women In Racing to a place called Lightning Ridge.  It's about 750km from Canberra, and is in the middle of NSW - just near the Queensland border.

Where on Earth is Lightning Ridge?

We left Canberra at about 6:30am and got there (after a few stops) at about 5:30pm.  We had about an hour's break before we had to front up for a black tie dinner for the International Opal Jewellery Design Association awards.  Let me tell you, it was difficult not to just lie on the bed for a few minutes and have a nap.  But get ready we did.

Overall, it was a good evening, but it was the sort of environment where if you said that you preferred diamonds to opals, you could find yourself dropped down the nearest mineshaft.  These folks weren't half biased towards the opal trade...  with lots of cheering and clapping every time a speaker said that the government should do more to promote the opal trade.  The best part was when the models walked around displaying the jewellery so you could stare at the girls' chests without your wife hitting you.

At 6:30am the next morning we (except Karyn) got up and went for a swim in the Bore Baths.  This is like a swimming pool that is fed directly from an artesian bore dug down about 1 km under the ground.  The water comes up at about 42degrees which is like our backyard spa.  Apparently it has a high sulphur content, but it wasn't really noticeable.

Refreshed, and ready for the day we went back to the Motel, had breakfast, then went for a tour of Lightning Ridge.  It's funny, but I didn't take any photos of the town at all, because it is just 1 or 2 long roads with motels, take-away stores, 1 bank, 1 chemist, 1 community centre, and about 20 opal stores all offering "the best price in town".

Lightning Ridge is an unusual town, with most of the interesting areas being just outside the town itself.  We saw what had been a dried-up lake bed for the past 20 years that was now full of water courtesy of the Queensland floods - to the annoyance of people that now have to drive around it rather than straight across it.

We went for a tour of an opal mining area, and came across this church made entirely from corrugated iron.  I bet it's hot in Summer.

All around, the landscape looks like the moon.  With holes in the ground (mines) and piles of dirt that have been pulled out of them. We were warned not to stray from the road, because there are thousands of mine shafts that you can fall into.

 

















We then visited a cactus farm - they appear to thrive in the hot dry climate.

After morning tea at the cactus farm, some of us who weren't afraid of confined spaces and being deep underground with hundreds of tons of rock overhead, went for a tour of an opal mine.

Later in the afternoon we heard about a "must see" place, so some of us decided to go and see the "Chambers of the Black Hand".  I'd seen it earlier in the day, but I had no idea what it was.  Its entrance is anything but alluring.

Still with no real idea of what this place was about we were given a detailed security lecture and helmets, and then taken down into the mine.

When we got to the bottom of the stairway we were told that we were just half way down, but what we saw there really amazed us.  Firstly, there was a jewellery store there.

Everywhere you looked there were images carved into the rock.

A guide told us that when the mine was first turned into a tourist location, the owner used to get bored between tourists, so took to hand carving the sandstone.  Since then it has become an obsession.

Firstly, we were taken down again to the mining level where they showed us where the opals were mined.

 Here are cedar supports holding the ceiling up.

 Tunnels branching off in every direction.

 Tunnels getting narrow at times

This shows a thin band of opal












Then we went back up to the upper level with the carvings. As we moved around we noted that the miner decorated chambers with specific themes, such as an Egyptian tomb, entombed warriors, mystics, African animals, superheros, and classical images.

And finally, back up to the surface.

That night we went to the judging of the annual Opal Queen. Women In Racing are the judges, I think this is because as outsiders we're not related to any of the contestants and can't be influenced by their mothers.

Last year's winner handing over to the new.

 First and second.

I couldn't get Karyn off the dance floor for a change.

Last day off

Today was my last day off before starting a new job, so I had nothing in particular to do except enjoy it.  Coincidentally, Diamond Jay was racing at Moruya, so I took the opportunity to take myself off to the coast for the day to watch.

Because I was going by myself, I wasn't in the mood to spend all afternoon at the races, so I decided to take it a bit slower and enjoy the trip there, and maybe take some photos on the way.

There were a few interesting-looking roads of to the side that looked promising, but I didn't really have enough time to explore them.

It was a really nice Winter's day - a bit cool but nice in the sun.  I had lunch in a cafe overlooking the Clyde river.  The coriander and chilli squid was excellent.

This should have been Diamond Jay who came 6th instead.  The jockey got caught in the pack and couldn't get enough speed up in the straight.

On the way home the afternoon light had a nice quality about it.

An old boat of some kind.

I had to pull over to the side of the road a few times to try and capture the great atmosphere.

A day of extremes

This weekend Karyn and I went down to the south coast of NSW.  Mainly, we went there to see two of our horses run at Bega, but we decided to spend the night there and visit the coastal town of Eden as well.

We didn't have much luck with the horses - Stake Knife ran second and Diamond Jay ran eighth.  But it was a nice day at the races anyway, and we had a bit of luck with the betting.

After the races on Sunday, we stayed overnight at Merimbula (about 30 minutes drive away).  We stayed at a really nice place opposite the golf course, and decided to go to the golf club for dinner.  The food was nice, but unfortunately there was a jazz festival on, and they decided to torture us all evening with jazz.  I hesitate to call it music. If only the musicians would all play the same tune at the same time!

On Monday morning we drove to Eden, about another half hour south of Merimbula.  Unfortunately it was cold, cloudy, with a fine drizzle.  We had breakfast there and had a quick look around, but it's the sort of place you need to experience on a nice sunny morning.

We headed back to Canberra, and when we climbed back up to the Southern Highlands we came across a nice little fire.  Either someone was burning off some grass, or there was a very productive fire-bug in action.  All the following photos were taken from the same spot using my big zoom lens.

Somehow it was amusing to see one lone person with a backpack fire-extinguisher - just in case the fire got out of control.

I was glad I had my 18-270mm zoom lens on me.

Diving with the seals

Matt and I went diving in a marine sanctuary at Montague Island which is about 40 minutes off the coast of Narooma.  Unfortunately I've got a lot to learn about taking photos underwater - it's quite different from taking them on dry land, and seals are tricky things to take pictures of because they just shoot through the water.  I have lots of good pictures of their tail fins.

Anyway, I was glad the camera's movie mode worked.

Easter with the sharks

This Easter we went up to Port Stephens for a few days to visit my mother-in-law.

The highlight of the trip was that Matt and I got to spend a day diving out at Broughton Island which is about 40 minutes off the coast in a marine park.  We had a great day, starting off at Feet First Dive at 7am.

The boat took us to the Looking Glass which is a fissure between two halves of a small island where we planned to traverse from one side to the other - but unfortunately the swell was too strong, so we had to move to the protected side and just stay on that side.  Even on the sheltered side we got swept around quite a lot - it was a bit like being in a washing machine with the swell moving us 6 feet backwards and forwards with each surge.

We have a new underwater camera housing, but it will take a while to work out how to take good photos underwater.  The camera certainly takes a lot longer to focus.  There's also a green cast to most of the images that I'll have to try and correct for -  but the reality is that the water tends to make everything a blue-green colour.

We weren't there long before a few of the locals came to see what we were doing.

Here the flash reflected off some of the sediment kicked-up by the surge.  Fortunately the sharks don't react to an electronic flash.

 Waiting at the decompression stop to bleed off some more Nitrogen from our bloodstream ....

You can see the opening in the rockface where we went in just behind Matt.

 This is the quiet spot that we pulled into after the first dive and decided to stay here for a second dive.

Matt and I having a break between dives.

 Underwater at the second dive site.

 Matt exploring.

 Matt leading the way.

 There was a lot of seaweed around, so I decided to go to ground level and have a look around.

Under the seaweed

 Matt discovered this moray eel.  You can see why it's a good idea to keep your hand away from its mouth.

 Coloured soft corals.  Under the water they just look a dull grey colour until you use a torch or flash to return some red light to the spectrum.

 Matt

Returning to Nelson Bay after the dive.

Scuba diving at Bateman's Bay

Over the past few weeks, Matt and I have been going down the coast to go scuba diving.

Matt recently learnt to dive, and is keen to get some experience under his belt.  It's been interesting for me to take up diving again because I haven't dived for probably 20 years.  I gradually stopped diving when we moved to Canberra because it really isn't convenient to dive when you live 2 hours from the coast compared with living in Sydney.  Before coming to Canberra I'd been a scuba instructor for 5 or 6 years, but getting into the water again after so long was surprisingly easy - it's like riding a bike. Personally I'm pleased to see that I finish the dive with more air in my tank than anyone else, which reflects a degree of relaxation under the water coupled with efficient movement through the water - the lack of either of which causes you to breathe heavier.

There have been some improvements to dive equipment, but not as much as I expected.  None of my old equipment is really any good now - too much of the rubber has perished.  My wetsuit also seems to have shrunk.  Surprisingly, people at the dive shops keep saying that the equipment now is so much better than in the past - they assume that ours were very primitve - but I don't find them any better.  I think that there is an incorrect assumption that newer=better.

We've joined a dive club and so far have had several shore dives at Bawley Point, about 20 minutes north of Bateman's Bay.

This is a popular spot where we've seen sharks, stingrays, cuttlefish, moray eels, octopus, and many, many, types of fish.  So many types of fish that I've had to pull out one of my old fish-identification books to help remember which is which.

We've been driving down to the coast on Friday afternoon and staying overnight; having a couple of dives on Saturday, and then driving home on Saturday afternoon.  Then spending Sunday recovering.

We are going up to Port Stephens in a few weeks, so we'll do some diving up there as well.