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.