Day 9 - Lightning Ridge

 

Well today we left the lovely little pub in the bush and headed for a destination we have been trying for years to reach - Lightning Ridge.

So how many of you know how Lightning Ridge got its name.  Well we didn't.    

The name Lightning Ridge is said to have originated when in the 1870s, some passers-by found the bodies of a farmer, his dog, and 200 sheep, which had been struck by lightning.  Is this speculation?   Who knows.

So today we paid a visit to the Tourist Information Centre to find out what we should not miss whilst in Lightening Ridge.

This tourist information centre certainly knows their stuff.   We left with lots of self guided "coloured door" tours to do, the self guided pubs in the scrub tour and lots of arts, crafts, recommended restaurants and fee entry tours to do.

So we decided that a coffee and snack was in order and a walk around town to get ourselves climatised to the area.  

Our coffee stop just happened to be beside John Murray's art gallery which I have no words to described.  I am certainly not an art critic but his gallery was amazing even Georgie was impressed.

These are just some of the photos taken from outside

the Gallery

After strolling around town we decided to take the "Red Door Tour".  The "Red Door Tour" takes you to Sim's Hill Opal Field  which was the site of the first 1906 settlement.  The first Opal rush boomed here in 1905.

All these coloured door tours are set out on the information sheet given to us at the Tourist Information Centre and each door is numbered and you are given an explanation of what you are looking at.

                                                                    Amigo's Castle  is a private home single handedly                                                                       built of ironstone.   Its construction started in 1981,

                                                                            The Ridge Castle is built from stone and bottles

All the photos were taken just off one of the main roads and it is like a mouse maze of the most unusual structures you will ever find.    A couple of castles, a pole house and many many shafts to working mine sights.   Do not under any circumstances venture onto a mine site unless invited.

The afternoon was spent back at our van enjoying another beautiful sunset.