OUTBACKS & OPALS

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to completely avoid a boring straight road on the way to Lightning Ridge, but the journey is rewarding in many other ways: huge expanses of uninterrupted views left, right, forward, backwards and up is just one of them.

Another is three drinking holes within a few kilometres, not because we wanted to drink a lot while visiting the opal fields that made Lightning Ridge so famous, but for the characters, the landscape, the machinery and even the art.

Stanley awaits as you approach The Ridge (as many of the locals call the town) if you come from the south. Stanley is a massive emu sculpture made from girders (legs), Volkswagen Beetles (body) and other bits and pieces for the neck and head. I especially like