I confess that my topic may be a tad overstated.Weird,strange or at least different is how to describe the ridge.We were surprised as to the amount of activity as soon as you arrive.A very busy town indeed and larger than we thought .Quite clearly the tourists dollars are its major income without doubt. We are in the Opal C/Park near the bore.It has 109 sites and is " chokas " The park is superb, glass screens in the showers drive thru sites clean everything ,bus to town etc.$34 and worth every penny.Folks on either side of us are here for 10 and 14 days ! Bore across the road is 42 c thats hot ! We did the 3hr tour today for $30 each, we would not have learnt nor seen any of the sights had we went out by ourselves.The bus guy said that 50 % of the residents are crazy and the other half are in denial ! Its a place that its, kind of like Ayres Rock ,that is to say it is a place that you have to see for yourself as you cannot really explain it to someone and do it justice. We dined at the bowls club tonight ,they did 220 meals this evening.Cheers John
If you have time, drive out to the Grawin and Glengarry fields and have a look round. Quite unique. We got a mud map from the Club in the Scrub, which you come to first.
AmandaJayne said
01:31 AM Jul 11, 2014
lolol am so glad you are enjoying yourself.. we loved it when we were there and at the time they had their opal fair going to there were tables and tables of opals for sale... was fantastic and we have it on the list of things we want to go see again :)
Dougwe said
06:16 AM Jul 11, 2014
Sounds like a great place for sure John, obviously wombat has not been there to cause havoc yet.
Keep up the good reports as well.
_wombat_ said
07:22 AM Jul 11, 2014
Dougwe wrote:
Sounds like a great place for sure John, obviously wombat has not been there to cause havoc yet.
Keep up the good reports as well.
its a great place, we have a friend there who owns a small mine, we stayed with them about 2 years ago, there is a tourist mine you can go down that the owner has mined out and he now has statue's he has carved below ground, well worth a visit.
Just outside of town heading sth there is a parking bay on your right and a toilet, now I only mention this because if you drive in the and it's dark there is a reflector that you drive up to and shine your headlights into it, it then sends your lights up to another reflector that is pointing at the dunny, so you have light to see what you are doing, no need for a torch.
You can see where I have been there are a lot of holes all over the place.
ken thomas said
12:33 PM Jul 11, 2014
wendyv wrote:
If you have time, drive out to the Grawin and Glengarry fields and have a look round. Quite unique. We got a mud map from the Club in the Scrub, which you come to first.
2nd that
It is more like a mining town than lightning ridge
The only thing is you may get the car covered in white dust, but the opal has a car wash at the back
Ken
pambaz said
02:32 PM Jul 11, 2014
Thank you Moamajohn for your info on Lightning Ridge. We are heading there in August for the first time. We were going next week but it's too cold and we need some heat so we are heading north for a few weeks. Looking forward to seeing it for ourselves.
pam
moamajohn said
07:35 PM Jul 11, 2014
Hello Pam ,thank you for your compliments ,it is indeed a truly aussie place to visit, I have no doubt that you will enjoy yourselves . Cheers John.
Hallmark1 said
08:05 PM Jul 11, 2014
Hi John,have stayed at the Opal C/P since it opened,great park.Make sure you visit the Chamber of the Black Hand great viewing.If you want to look at some opals go to Peter Healey Opals(ex Echuca) and mention you are from Echuca area,(mention Barry) and he will show you opals that are beautifull with no option to purchase.
The concrete agitator at your introduction photo was donated by the Warhurst brothers from Echuca. So as you can see the Ridge has a few residents from our area.Have a great trip.
Cheers Baz
Wombat 280 said
08:37 PM Jul 11, 2014
I really enjoyed my trip there. I like going to the local cemeteries in those old country towns the history on those head stones is just fantastic. One of the best War Memorials I've seen in a country area . The Club does turn on a great feed .
I confess that my topic may be a tad overstated.Weird,strange or at least different is how to describe the ridge.We were surprised as to the amount of activity as soon as you arrive.A very busy town indeed and larger than we thought .Quite clearly the tourists dollars are its major income without doubt. We are in the Opal C/Park near the bore.It has 109 sites and is " chokas " The park is superb, glass screens in the showers drive thru sites clean everything ,bus to town etc.$34 and worth every penny.Folks on either side of us are here for 10 and 14 days ! Bore across the road is 42 c thats hot ! We did the 3hr tour today for $30 each, we would not have learnt nor seen any of the sights had we went out by ourselves.The bus guy said that 50 % of the residents are crazy and the other half are in denial ! Its a place that its, kind of like Ayres Rock ,that is to say it is a place that you have to see for yourself as you cannot really explain it to someone and do it justice. We dined at the bowls club tonight ,they did 220 meals this evening.Cheers John
Keep up the good reports as well.
its a great place, we have a friend there who owns a small mine, we stayed with them about 2 years ago, there is a tourist mine you can go down that the owner has mined out and he now has statue's he has carved below ground, well worth a visit.
Just outside of town heading sth there is a parking bay on your right and a toilet, now I only mention this because if you drive in the and it's dark there is a reflector that you drive up to and shine your headlights into it, it then sends your lights up to another reflector that is pointing at the dunny, so you have light to see what you are doing, no need for a torch.
You can see where I have been there are a lot of holes all over the place.
2nd that
It is more like a mining town than lightning ridge
The only thing is you may get the car covered in white dust, but the opal has a car wash at the back
Ken
Thank you Moamajohn for your info on Lightning Ridge. We are heading there in August for the first time. We were going next week but it's too cold and we need some heat so we are heading north for a few weeks. Looking forward to seeing it for ourselves.
pam
The concrete agitator at your introduction photo was donated by the Warhurst brothers from Echuca. So as you can see the Ridge has a few residents from our area.Have a great trip.
Cheers Baz