The Quirkiest Town in Oz

 An eccentric and charming gem in the Outback

It seldom rains in Lightning Ridge, yet we arrived on that one day.  We made the most of the cool moment to head straight for the natural mineral-rich artisan bore pool, a balmy 40 degrees, with no entry fee.  We got chatting to a newcomer, just 4 weeks into his new life in Lighting Ridge.  Turns out, he was the local GP, the first permanent doctor they’ve had since before Covid.  With his quaint English accent, he appeared somewhat shell-shocked, clearly still adjusting to the unique quirkiness of Lighting Ridge, and its eclectic inhabitants!  He seemed like a duck out of water (even though he was in the water).  I mentioned that he reminded me of Doc Martin in an Australian setting, and he chuckled, and said I was dead right, that is exactly what he felt like, but this was no Cornwall.

The Artisan Bore Pool - always 40 degrees Celsius

The Car Doors Tours

Discovering the best activities in a new town is easy—just hit the tourist information centre. They're super friendly and offer excellent tips to enhance your trip. For a mere $1, we got self-guided tour maps marked by coloured car doors. You can start from one of 4 corners of the town and just follow these signs to uncover amazing sights in just 30 minutes.

Old car doors are used to signpost interesting locations around the town

The Yellow tour took us to Lunatic Hill, so named because "only a lunatic would attempt to mine opal in this location" Yet it turned out to be the most lucrative spot, with the miners now owning $20m mansions in Sydney – maybe not so crazy, after all.

The Green tour brought us to Lightning Ridge's highest point, offering a breathtaking view of Corcoran’s Opal Fields and a stunning sunset, with the moon rising behind us. 

View of the sunset above, and behind us, the moon shining on the car

On the Blue tour, we ventured into an open opal mine to fossick through the mullock heaps. I thought I'd struck it rich with my shiny finds, as did a lady nearby. When we proudly showed then to the landowner, my fellow fossicker had found a gem worth about $300.  Alas, whilst mine were technically opals, they were worthless ‘potch’.  Still pretty though, and I will treasure them.

Above, entrance to an open opal mine, and below, inside

My (worthless) opal treasure

The Red tour introduced us to "Amigo's Castle," the home of a once hopeful Italian immigrant who, instead of finding his fortune with opal, spent decades building a castle from local ironstone (without skills, help or machinery). Now 76, Amigo's unfinished castle is a heritage-listed site.

Above, Amigo's unfinished castle.  Below, the truck he used to collect his ironstone

So long Amigo

Curiosity piqued by Amigo's tale and his abrupt departure from his lifelong project, I asked the tour guide about Amigo's whereabouts (perhaps he was still in town, or in an old folk's home). When he replied “Dunno, I’m just a lowly-paid worker, I don't have that intel”, my HR lie-detector radar went into overdrive. Something here was really "suss". 

Back at camp, a quick Google search led me to the shocking truth.  Amigo had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the cold-blooded murder of a local woman a few years back. He had apparently reached his breaking point after being tormented by local drug addicts for years. It's a truly sad story all round.  ABC news report here: Amigo Castle Murder

We loved our short visit to the quirky outback town of Lighting Ridge and will definitely visit again.

If you’ve got this far, wishing everyone a safe, happy, chocolate-filled Easter.

Into the Outback

Grateful Gaylord

We set up camp in a stunning paddock bordering the Warrumbungles National Park, a 15-million-year-old volcanic range near Coonabarrabran, famed as Australia's Astronomy capital. Our sole companion was a backpacker named Gaylord—a common French name, but he took me straight to the scene from 'Meet the Fockers'. Unfortunately, his rooftop tent had become infested with ants and mosquitoes, so he was pretty stoked for our stash of Mortein and Bushmans.

Strife at the Breadknife

On our first morning, we set out to explore one of the trails encircling the ancient 15 million-year-old volcano. The "Breadknife" trail, touted as NSW's best bushwalking track and marked as a moderate 4-hour trek, seemed like an ideal choice for a cool day. Wrong! A recent rockfall forced us onto a longer, steeper detour. The 15 km journey ended up taking us nearly 6 hours. Halfway up we realised we'd forgotten our water. Too lazy (and stupid) to turn back, we pressed on. The higher we climbed, the hotter it got, but the breathtaking view from the summit made it all worthwhile.

View of the Breadknife, Warrumbungles

Halfway down, dumb realisation #2 hit me – I'd left my brand-new reading glasses at the top of the mountain. Too dehydrated and exhausted to go back, I pondered on how my Aussie adventure would go now ... sightless! A few days later, hoping for a small miracle, we checked with the Visitor Centre to see if anyone had turned in my glasses.  By good karma, turns out a young French backpacker had just dropped them off that morning.  Yay– what goes around, comes around.  Thanks Gaylord, you're a helluva fabulous Focker!

Everything has 2 or 3 purposes.  Sand-free beach towel triples up as picnic rug and tablecloth

Outback bush pubs rock

With vision fully restored, we headed for a tiny little outback town called Carinda, made famous in 1993 when David Bowie filmed the video for "Let’s Dance" there.  Of course, a new Spotify playlist was born and we belted out all our favourite Bowie tunes all the way there.

The tiles, decor and dust are exactly the same as they were 40 years later!

Thirsty for some more unique outback culture, we decided to rock up to the Glengarry Hilton, a bush pub in the middle of opal fields on the promise of free camping, great grub and friendly folk.   Yes, it was a far cry from any Hilton I stayed at in my corporate days, but what it lacked in luxury, it made up in oodles of character.  Whilst we tucked into our tucker, which was indeed, sensational, a local Opal Miner plonked himself down next to us and shared stories of his fascinating finds.   It was truly enlightening.

The facilities at the Glengarry Hilton

Important signage on the back of the loo door

Let the Adventure Begin

A tearful farewell

So, the big day finally rolled around. After all the dreaming, planning, and wrapping things up, not to mention the endless goodbyes with everyone, it was time to hit the road. Letting go of our three girls, Heidi the hound included, was a tearjerker for sure. It's like empty nest syndrome flipped on its head. We've done our bit raising two amazing, independent ladies, and I know they're going to be just fine, but gee, does my heart feel heavy.

Our home

For those unfamiliar with our set our up, we're travelling in our (still shiny) Land Rover Defender towing our 7-year-old Ultimate offroad camper trailer.  Here are some pics of the cozy micro space we now call home:

Rookie error

A few hours into the journey, while I smugly congratulated myself for having prepared and froze 40+ delicious meals, I realised we had nothing for dinner. As we stopped to retrieve a solid brick of chicken cacciatore from our freezer, I feared we’d be eating at midnight by the time this little gourmet delight defrosted. 

Inspired by my aching plantar fasciitis flare up from dancing in the mosh pit at Pink's concert the previous night, I had the genius idea of speeding up the thawing process by using tonight’s dinner as ice pack therapy to sooth my poor inflamed heal. Don’t worry, it was carefully vacuum sealed and double wrapped in a Woolies bag!

One of the many things I’ve learnt from my Big Lap research is that everything you take must have at least two purposes - so there we have it - dinner doubles up as first aid!

Our first camp

Having done the mid north NSW coast extensively over the years, we decided to head 5 hours west to a free camp at Ponto Falls Reserve near the town of Wellington.  Hailing from Wellington in the UK, it felt like a sign - the perfect kickoff point for our 'adventure before dementia'.

             

Wellington

Just like its namesake in Blighty, Wellington is a town steeped in history with a gorgeous park (plus seven pubs to boot). We totally played the part of tourists, taking on the self-guided walking tour before kicking back and relaxing at the camp.