Australia: Road trip to Lightning Ridge NSW

The Australian winter season with its promise of cooler weather saw us hitch up our camper trailer and head west to Lightning Ridge and beyond. 

First stop on our month long trek was Queen Mary Falls, ten kilometres from the tiny town of Killarney. The caravan park here is opposite the Falls with ultra clean amenities and more bird life than is offered in a lifetime. Definitely worth a couple of nights.

Inglewood (population 1000) was our next stop. Some surprising infrastructure here for a small town: hospital, schools, several cafes, 2 pubs (try the newly revamped Imperial for drinks), and a very small (10 sites) caravan park with a most friendly manager.

Cotton, cattle and cactus sums up Goondiwindi where we next stayed. A population of 60 000 thrives in this buoyant town.

34 kms west and boasting a population of around 230 is small town Thallon, worth a stop for its uniquely painted grain silos, some remarkable sculptures and its rogue gallery.

Dirranbandi lies 65 kms west and is the home of the well known Cubbie Station. At 93,000 hectares, this massive cotton farm with its huge water storage dams can produce 330,000 bales of cotton in a good year. The bulk of this cotton is earmarked for China. Wheat and sorghum are also grown here.

Not far from Dirranbandi is the tiny town of Hebel.

The pub gets most of the attention and for good reason, but do stop at the cafe opposite for a simple, tasty homemade pie.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-08/frank-deshon-buys-the-town-of-hebel/100356256?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

Lightning Ridge turned out to be every bit as good as I’d imagined.

The town rides on its opal back, particularly the rare and highly coveted black opal which is found in one place in the world – right here in Lightning Ridge. Many shops sell opals and many miners are still striking it lucky.

The Information Centre manned by extremely helpful staff was our starting point for trips around the area. The most popular trip is to Grawin, 70 kms from the Ridge.

This trip takes you to the ‘Pubs in the Scrub’. And on this very interesting drive through a moonscape of active mines lie three of Australia’s quirkiest bush pubs. All three catered in the early years for thirsty miners, but it’s tourists driving the agenda today.

Sharing the limelight with the pubs is Lake Beard War Memorial.

Closer to Lightning Ridge is Chambers of the Black Hand.

Days are warm at 23 degrees, nights 12 degrees. We’ve elected to stay in caravan parks since our camper is not self contained, but free camping sites are dotted along the way.

Petrol and diesel are plentiful, roads are bouncy and travellers’ tales of woe are common. Our coupling hitch split, while a fellow traveller broke a caravan axle.

The life blood of the region – triple trailer side tippers, B triples and two trailer road trains carting cotton, grain, cattle and much needed supplies accompanied by rain, lots of rain stress the roads.

Along our travel way, we met a number of experienced hospitality workers (under 35) from Ireland, England, Italy and France. Their Working Holiday Visas seem to fill a gap that maybe can’t be filled by Australian workers. The upshot is, Australia is a country they’d like to live in for at least 3 years.

We’re now heading out to St George, Cunnamulla and Thargomindah for the next part of our road trip.