Lightning Ridge is an opal mining town in New South Wales, population according to the sign coming into town is ?. I love towns like this because the so called locals are sometimes very entertaining.
This is the second time I have visited Lightning Ridge, but last time was for just overnight. Even though we are on a mission to get up north I really wanted to have one day here to see a few things. We have chosen to stay at the Opal Caravan Park which is very nice and has the cleanest amenities I have ever seen. Each night there is lady "Mel", a very funny Bush Poet entertaining to park guests.
Another advantage of this park is it's location, it's only a 200 metre walk to the Artesian Bore Bath. The Artesian Bath is a pool of really hot water - 40c - coming from the Great Artesian Basin, one Kilometre below the surface. Being a mining town everywhere you drive there are mounds of dirt and rock with a mine shaft next to it. It certainly would be a very hard life. I cannot even imaging how the miners managed in the good old days.
Tomorrow we will continue heading north and cross the border into Queensland to a town called Roma.
