This July we took a trip in the van (postponed from Easter due to COVID restrictions) to Lightning Ridge, an outback opal mining town in North-West New South Wales. In total we spent 8 chilly nights in the van. We explored the North-West part of NSW on two previous van trips but never made it as far as 'the Ridge'.
Here was our itinerary:
Katoomba - Mendooran - 277 km (1 night)
Mendooran - Walgett - 265 km (2 nights)
Walgett - Lightning Ridge - 75 km (1 night)
Lightning Ridge - Burren Junction - 156 km (1 night)
Burren Junction - Pilliga - 41 km (1 night)
Pillaga - Mendooran - 235 km (via Coonamble) (1 night)
Mendooran - Katoomba - 278 km (1 night)
Highlights
Ridge quirkiness
I'd heard a bit about Lightning Ridge. I was expecting it to be quirky. I was expecting there to be a lot of opal shops. I was expecting it to be in the middle of nowhere. And it was all of those things. I had high expectations and, in spite of the cold weather, mrshill and I really enjoyed ourselves there.
Stanley the emu - a huge roadside sculpture on the way to Lightning Ridge created by local artist John Murray, which features - of course - bonnet hoods and doors from an old VW Beetle!
More Murray creations! He's a local hero in town.
Iconic Ridge quirkiness - Amigo's castle, built by an Italian who came to the Ridge to strike it rich and built this castle by hand by himself!
A corrugated iron church surrounded by opal mines. This was never used as a real church - it was constructed specifically for the film 'The goddess of 1967'.
All creatures great and small travel to the Ridge. Check out this beast! Needless to say, when they rocked up, everyone else came for a look.
Opal mining paraphernalia
For a while now I've loved the idea of living in Lightning Ridge, taking out a mineral claim and chipping away in search of opals (crazy I know!). After our Ridge experience, mrshill started to fall for the idea of taking out a claim and living there temporarily in our retirement. I don't know why, but the Ridge and its opal story is so alluring!
The view from Lunatic Hill, looking out at the largest open-cut opal mine in NSW.
Old gear from the Walk in mine experience.
Water towers
I love the water towers in this part of the world. A lot of them have been decorated with murals to make them an attraction. Here a few we passed on our travels.
Gulargambone water tower. Toots got bogged here. Luckily we didn't have to wait long at all for someone to come along and lend us a hand!
Coonamble water tower - this mural was done by Lightning Ridge hero John Murray.
This one was in Walgett - shame about the fence!
Lowlights
Walgett Bore Baths
A section of North-West NSW has been branded the Great Artesian Drive for the 'Artesian' bore baths along the route. The towns on the Great Artesian Drive are - Burren Junction, Moree, Mungindi, Boomi, Lightning Ridge, Pilliga and Walgett*. We spent two nights in Walgett and planned to spend plenty of time in the bore bath. Sadly the pool was closed. On realising this we wished we'd chosen to spend just one night in Walgett to give us an extra night in the Ridge. To add insult to injury, we noticed that the pool had re-opened as we drove out of town towards the Ridge! The bore bath in Lightning Ridge was amazing though, and just across the road from where we were staying. We were also lucky to experience the bore baths of Burren Junction and Pilliga on this trip. It was no coincidence that several of our overnight stops were along this route!
Sign of the times - between Walgett and the Queensland border. COVID border restrictions were in place.
The cold
We were expecting it to be cold, but not this cold. We had new three season sleeping bags we'd bought for our trip to Tasmania in January. We also had lots of layers and thick socks. It was still freezing at night!
Previously
Here are some of Toots' previous adventures, posted on 
*I just learned today that a new bore bath was added to the Drive late last year - Goodooga Bore Baths. Read all about it on this hilarious blog!