Lightning Ridge is the only area in Australia where the rare black opal can be found. Miners and fossickers live in interesting dwellings made from anything that will keep the sun or rain off and the dwellings are often marked by old car doors decorated with inscriptions and art work or just bright colours hence the self-drive tours of the area are called car door tours.
We decided to take a guided tour around the district with the first stop at the Astronomer’s Monument. This unique structure was built by a polish man who was wrongly imprisoned for eight years for the alleged murder of his wife. After he was released he moved to Lightning Ridge, staked a claim, began mining and built his monument to astronomers from leftover concrete, vegetable oil cans and anything else he could recycle.
Our next stop was at Amigo’s Castle built by an Italian man from rocks he found in the area. A local artist is now using part of the castle as a studio and gallery.
Afternoon tea of scones, jam and cream and a cuppa provided some refreshment before we visited the “Chamber of the Black Hand”, an underground opal mine where we viewed how mining is conducted. The disused tunnels of the mine are now used by a very talented sculptor who has carved over 500 figures into the walls. The carvings depict many sides of life from religion, movie characters, dinosaurs and history. This very talented artist is self taught and is still creating more works of art. We also were shown how opals are cut and polished and the terminology used in the trade was explained which came in very handy when considering making a purchase. We were also shown what to look for if we fancied our chances at fossicking.
Lightning Ridge has some intriguing signs, art work and buildings. A visit to the John Murray Art Gallery is very entertaining as is a visit to the Bottle House and of course the many opal shops. The Artesian Pool with a water temperature of 43 degrees Celsius is a very popular spot with tourists and the town also boasts an Olympic standard diving centre and swimming pool complex.
As opals are becoming increasingly harder to find around Lightning Ridge the mining claims have now moved slightly south west to the Grawin, Sheepyard and Glengarry area. These small settlements each have a pub which acts as meeting place, post office, general store and even library. Grawin’s Golf Club, “The Club in the Scrub” is something you must see to believe. We called into ‘the club’ for a drink before continuing along the bush track to “The Glengarry Hilton” for lunch before returning to Lightning Ridge via Sheepyard Hotel.
