Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

OUTBACK NEW SOUTH WALES 213
tourist activity in the opal fields is to pick over the old heaps of mine tailings.
Stories (perhaps tall tales) abound of tourists finding overlooked opals worth
thousands.
I strongly recommend you visit the Grawin and Glengarry opal fields ,
both about an hour or so from Lightning Ridge on a dirt track suitable for twowheel-drive
cars in dry weather only. (Check with the Tourist Information
Centre before you go.) These full-on frontier townships are bristling with drills
and hoists pulling out bucket-loads of dirt and buzzing with news of the latest
opal rush. If you can convince a local to take you there, all the better, as the
tracks can be misleading. Ando’s Outback Tours (see “Byron Bay: A Beach
Bohemia” earlier in this chapter) takes in Glengarry and Lightning Ridge on its
5-day trip.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE From Sydney it takes about 9 hours to drive to Lightning
Ridge, via Bathurst, Dubbo, and the fascinating town of Walgett. Airlink
(& 02/6884 2435) flies to Lightning Ridge from Sydney via Dubbo.
VISITOR INFORMATION The Lightning Ridge Tourist Information
Centre on Morilla Street, P.O. Box 1779, Lightning Ridge, NSW 2834 (& 02/
6829 0565; fax 02/6829 0565. On weekends call 02/6829 0429, or email lridge@
walgettshire.com), is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4pm.
SPECIAL EVENTS If you’re in Australia around Easter, make sure you come
to Lightning Ridge for the Great Goat Race and the rodeo. An okay website is
www.lightningridge.net.au.
SEEING THE TOWN
Any visit to Lightning Ridge should start with an orientation trip with Black
Opal Tours (& 02/6829 0368; fax 02/6829 1206). The company offers a 5-
hour tour of the opal fields for A$70 (US$46) per person. Three-hour morning
tours cost A$35 (US$23), and slightly shorter afternoon tours A$30 (US$20).
Among the many points of interest is the 15m (49-ft.) tall homemade
Amigo’s Castle, which dominates the worked-out opal fields surrounding the
modern township of Lightning Ridge. Complete with turrets, battlements, dungeons,
and a wishing well, the castle has been rising out of these arid lands for
the past 17 years, with every rock scavenged from the surrounding area and
lugged in a wheelbarrow or in a rucksack on Amigo’s back. The wonderful
Amigo hasn’t taken out insurance on the property, so there are no official tours,
though if he feels like a bit of company he’ll show you around.
The Artesian Bore Baths, 2km (1 1 ⁄4 mile) from the post office on Pandora
Street, are free, open 24 hours a day, and said to have therapeutic value. The
water temperature hovers between 104°F and 122°F (40°C–50°C). A visit at
night when the stars are out is amazing.
The Bevan’s Black Opal & Cactus Nursery (& 02/6829 0429) contains
more than 2,000 species of cactus and succulent plants, including rare specimens.
Betty Bevan cuts opals from the family’s mine, and many are on display.
Admission is A$4 (US$2.60) to the cactus nursery, but free to see her opals.
There are plenty of opal shops, galleries, walk-in opal mines, and other distinctly
unique things to see in Lightning Ridge. You might want to take a look
at Gemopal Pottery (& 02/6829 0375), on the road to the Bore Baths. The
resident potter makes some nice pots out of clay mine tailings and lives in one
of his five old Sydney railway carriages.