lightning ridge - part 2

Day four- lightning ridge – Grawin & glengarry  opal fields

Here we are again for the second part of out Lightening Ridge trip with the car club.

 

Day four we are all off in the bus for a tour of the black opal fields, Glengarry & Grawin.

We stopped for morning tea at the war memorial and museum.

This is truly a community in the middle of nowhere. And the locals  must be very special people to live in such isolation. OR, in my opinion, more often they have a very special reason for wanting to isolate THEMSELVES from the rest of society.

Anyway the memorial is on Anzac parade. They also have Parramatta rd.

 

 

Then we made an attempt at a bit of fossicking. Without any success.

 

Lunch was at the Club in the Scrub. (the opal miners club). Where I could have easily picked up a new bloke if I had the inclination!!

 

Many of the cars aren't registered, they only drive them around the opal fields and not into town. Although it seems to be the final resting place of lots of all bangers, old double decker buses and trams

Below, is the club entry.

On our way back to the Ridge we stopped to admire Stanley. He is a relatively new piece of artwork on the highway. Made out of lots of old bits. You can work out his size if you can spot the VW car making up his body.

Made by local artist John Murray.

 

That evening we went to a show called the Black Queen.

 

I was expecting a bit of bush poetry or something. But this was wonderful and I would recommended it to anyone visiting the Ridge.

 

Legacy & Light… It all took place in the artists house, Gale Collins. The house was mostly made of bottles.

Gale acted her way through the story of the lady called Joan, who built the house  it. The hardships of living in such isolation and although it sounds strange it was very well done,  spellbinding, and really moving.

From the website:-

“Joan hand-built the Black Queen within 9 years (1979-1988), crafting 34 feature walls out of 14,000 colourful glass bottles. She decided to share her art with the world and was still conducting tours of the building at the ripe old age of 84.

Roger and Gale were visiting Lightning Ridge in 2004 when they fell passionately in love with the Black Queen and made Joan an offer she couldn’t refuse. Since then, the Black Queen has become a ‘theatre of light’ offering daily performances of a mesmerising 3–act play to spellbound audiences”.

Act 3 was all about Light. The artists have a museum of the most wonderful oil lamps, they even let you hold lamps that are 1000 years old.

(Some of below photos I borrowed… Mine are the ones with the watermark).

For more Information on The Black Queen click below  link.

Link to the Black Queen Website

 

 

 

It was absolutely beautiful, the glow from the lamps and this was my favourite thing we did at Lightening Ridge. Graham even bought me a little lamp in the gift shop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

day  five – lightning ridge to Narrabri

 

 

On our way towards home today.

Before leaving the ridge we stopped at the John Murray Art Gallery where I bought some prints.

Above: This  is one of the prints I bought. If you are interested in John Murrays work (which includes a very disturbing picture of Tony Abbott featuring budgies – I didn’t buy that one) CLICK HERE for his website.

 

Morning tea was at Walgett. Here we are being dwarfed by a cotton truck.

 

We stopped for lunch in Barwon Junction. Where we gave the poor proprietor of this shop more customers than he had had in a week. 

Overnight was in Narrabri.

last day – Day 6 – Narrabri to home

Morning tea was in Gunnedah where we said our goodbyes and all went our own way home.

Great trip – Thanks to Gary and Robyn for all the organising.

I’ll put a smile box on the blog with all the photos so others can pinch them.

 

Lightning ridge – part 1

Graham and I have just returned from a trip to Lighting Ridge with the car club.

We took the Cortina.

Now, the reason that there is a question mark for the population of the Ridge is that the population is constantly fluctuating. It can be anywhere from 2000 to 10000 residents depending on the time of year.

and below is the reason that Lightning Ridge is so named… believe what you like!

I have scanned our our program for each day which should enlarge if clicked on.

off we go - Day one – Armidale to Moree

Thursday morning we departed Armidale after dropping the dogs at the kennel.

7 cars on this trip and 13 people.

Lunch today was at Captain Cook park in Warialda

and we arrived at Moree mid afternoon.

Enough time for a wander around town before dinner at the RSL.

Go west - day two – Moree to lightning ridge

Second morning, we start from the caravan park in Moree.

A bit late getting going as some of the group had to wait for the office to open at 9am to pay their bill. So time for a second cup of tea!

 

Morning tea stop today ended up being on the road due to our late start.

But, THE Flies ! They nearly carried away the biscuits and food, so this turned into a very quick stop, and it was miles before we got all the flies out of the car.

We continued our journey turning onto the Castlereagh highway.

This is the furthest west that I have ever been in NSW and here are some of my observations!

• it got drier and more in drought for every mile we travelled.
• Who on earth thinks its a good idea to have sheep out west where there is no feed. They looked like poor pathetic skinny things.
• Dead kangaroos …. hundreds of them on the side of the road. no shortage of wildlife We saw lots of alive kangaroos and emus too.
• Littering – the roadsides where sparkly with brown glass and plastic bottles. It seems to be a tradition that you finish your drink/beer and then just lob the empty bottle out of the window!

We arrived in Lighnening Ridge at lunch time.

Met John our guide for the next few days and we started to explore the area.

Of course the Ridge is most well known for its opals. (I controlled myself and didn’t buy any). But our first stop was Bevans Cactus Garden.

Some of the plants have been there for years.

and my friend below was kind enough to pose while eating the fruit of the cactus..

Our next stop was the Walk in Mine – and here is Graham in the photo below kitted out for our tour.

The evening ended with a alfresco meal at Bruno's back in Lightning ridge.

don’t fall down a mine shaft! - day three- Lightning ridge

 

So day three starts with a bus trip around the ridge to look at some of the claims and wonder at the way some folks live.. and those that live in the Ridge seem to love it!

Its a very barren landscape… and the pull of the opal is as addictive as drugs or alcohol.

Yes – you don’t have to be mad , but it helps!

Our next stop was a visit to Amigos Castle. Which some fella has been building for years and now can’t finish because the building regulations have changed in the meantime.

Oh and there are car doors everywhere – they use them as signs so others can find the claims. Also, the residents of the Ridge are hard to locate, therefore they don’t have a normal mail delivery. Everyone in town has to have a PO box in town.

After our tour we took a drive north and crossed the Queensland border to visit Hebal.

We had a drink in the Hotel, but we had lunch across the road at the general store.

The exterior of the Hotel has been decorated by the local artist John Murray.

Above:- The interior of the Hotel. Peter can always find someone to talk to.

and below- of course old cars always have issues….

Our next stop was a mile off the highway at the small border town of Angledool.

Below- is the inside of the old theatre, now in ruins.

And while the others were dealing with another car issue (5 heads under a bonnet is better than one) – a few of us wandered through the abandoned church.

The Anglican Diocese apparently wants to sell this off , but the townsfolk are against it. However they don’t use it and it will just rot away if someone doesn’t save it.

Someone has left us a message in the church!

Tonight's meal was a buffet at the Bowling club with some of the local Rotarians.

END OF PART ONE!

TO BE CONTINUed