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Published: July 22nd 2011
We arrived today (yesterday now I am afraid!) in Byron Bay, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to be here! Quite a bit has happened in the last week so I will start from the beginning….
We left Lightning Ridge about four days ago. Lightning Ridge (yes, that is its real name, apparently so named because a shepherd and his sheep were struck by lightning!) is a remarkable, and surprising, town, deep in NSW’s outback. I must confess, I had never heard of Lightning Ridge before, and it only came to my attention a few months back when we had to appease our boys who were devastated that, with our change in travel plans, we would no longer be visiting Coober Pedy. Lightning Ridge is located on the world’s richest deposit of black opal, more than 700 kms inland from Sydney, and it got on to our itinerary purely to give the boys a chance to buy - and find - their own opals. It was a long detour, but I am really glad we went.
Home to an indeterminate population (the electoral role has 2,500 registered voters listed, there are 2,000 P.O boxes, but each
box is shared by about five people, the local bowling club has 4,200 members, but there are more than 7,500 patients registered with the local doctors) I really could not help but feel I had stepped back into another time, or even another country (say, a township in rural South Africa!). We learnt the town’s roads were bituminised only in the last 20 - 30 years (there are no traffic lights), that its only hospital was built just seven years ago, and that the pharmacy, post office and ATM arrived only a few years ago. Otherwise, the roads are dirt and sometimes gravel, and the houses are primarily ramshackle shacks cobbled together from old bits of corrugated iron, ancient caravans, stone and wood (a pondokkie for the South African reader) - really quite surreal! We visited a couple of great little bush pubs, very functional abodes, simple but warm.
But what makes Lightning Ridge remarkable is its people. Everybody was so friendly, warm, and for the most part, they were in Lightning Ridge living their passion, fulfilling their dreams. Pretty much everybody we spoke to had come for a couple of days, a couple of months, and then stayed.
Most surprising for me was that Lightning Ridge is home to realist artist John Murray, who came here to visit a friend, and stayed. If you have never seen his artwork, I would recommend a visit to his website www.johnmurrayart.com.au. Apparently his work is so in demand, that he once held an exhibition in a darkened room, and people had to feel their way around and purchase the first one they came across. His inspiration comes from Lightning Ridge and the town’s environs.
Then there is Athol Jenkins, a sprightly man aged 91 who came to Lightning Ridge 30 odd years ago, because his health was failing and he was not given long to live. Today, he runs his own tourist complex together with his wife Gwen, sharing with visitors their massive private collections of rocks, gems, sea shells and bottles. He loves to laugh, told us a number of jokes, and said he even managed a little jog this morning. Another couple we met were travelling around Australia, and Lightning Ridge was their first stop. Twenty years later they are still here, and have established the most amazing cactus nursery (their 40-year-old son John lives in Lightning Ridge,
and while he has never left the town, he is teased by his mates about not being a local as his mum had to be flown to Tamworth for an emergency caesarian, so he spent his first three days there).
Gale Collins and her husband Roger visited Lightning Ridge six years ago, a pitstop on their way for a three-month sabbatical in Queensland. They visited one of the heritage houses (the Black Queen), and promptly bought it, and moved here a few months later, both giving up lucrative businesses in Sydney. They have created a very unusual business; they restored the Black Queen (a home made out of cement, stone and bottles, built by hand by a 60-year-old woman recovering from breast cancer) and today they put on a performance about how they came to be at Lightning Ridge, and about the remarkable story of Joan (the builder). What I found most fascinating though was their antique lamp museum, which they have built up over the years. In a small room surrounded by lamps, Gale gave us a history of the world as it relates to lamps, and allowed the audience to hold a 4,500 year-old-lamp, and to admire
the lamp used by US President James Garfield. It was a beautiful evening. I’m a bit worried that these priceless and unique artefacts are being housed in a ramshackle, quite insecure house in Lightning Ridge, rather than being preserved in a museum, but there you go!
For the main part though, most people we met came to Lightning Ridge for health reasons. Rather than living out their more senior years confined within a city, a rather sedentary lifestyle, they chose a more active retirement: fossicking. We met many 70+, and even 80+ year olds who looked remarkably spritely, with a glint in their eyes, and enthusiasm in their voice. And it was most enjoyable chatting to them. Interestingly, everywhere were books, even the pubs had a couple of walls devoted to shelves full of books. However, we were told that it helps to be a bit crazy to live at Lightning Ridge; that half the population admitted they were crazy, and that the remainder were still in denial.
We intended to stay only four nights, to give the boys enough time to find opals and make us rich, before heading back to the coast, to Byron Bay. True
to form though, we arrived just in time for the first rains in six months. We were staying at Lorne Station, which can only be accessed by travelling down a dirt road for about 5kms. We did see a sign which said ‘dry weather road only’ but we did not comprehend the implications. Anyway, the rains came (as rain is wont to do when I am around!) and before we knew it, we were trapped. The roads had become a quagmire, and there was no way a caravan would make it out. It was difficult enough driving out with a 4x4! We ended up staying an extra three days! I don’t know how the people managed in their ramshackle homes! The day we chose to leave dawned bright and sunny (naturally) and the road had hardened a bit, so we decided to gap it. Two other caravanners were still a bit anxious, and opted to wait till the next day before chancing it. Our exit was uneventful - Paul says it was actually a bit of an anticlimax! (on the topic of muddy and eventful journeys, Paul has spent the last few weeks preparing the ebook version of his book,
Malachite, which he has now uploaded, ready to be downloaded by going to https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005D4K062. Should be on itunes soon as well. Compared to this African epic, our Australian sojourn is a bit too tame for him, I guess!)
We did however take full advantage of these extra days. The boys went out fossicking every day, and came up with some great little gems. The boys also went shopping, and William bought the most beautiful double ammonite fossil. He had seen something similar on the internet for over $100, yet this one cost him only $35 - a month’s hard-saved pocket money. He was ecstatic. Everyday we swam in the artesian baths, the 42 degree water having been piped from a sub artesian basin 900 metres below the surface. We even managed to have two potjiekos dinners, the second time we have been able to use our potjie in the six months of travelling. We had campfires, and roasted marshmallows, and even put out our awning and took out our tables and chairs which had been hibernating within Cazza for the past four months at least! And that was the first three days, after that we were once again confined
within the caravan, as outside we were seriously squishing around in mud, and could no longer be outside. I really do hope that we don’t have rain following us wherever we go, as I am desperately looking forward to evenings sitting outside with the boys, around a campfire, looking at the stars, and telling campfire stories while listening to our potjie bubble away.
While Lightning Ridge is primarily a mining town, it does not have the same feel as, say, Kalgoorlie. There is more of a pioneering feel to the town, perhaps because there is no multinational controlling the mining. Everybody here is his (or her) own boss. They are independent, and proudly so. Even though most just manage to eke out a living, the lure of finding The Black Opal, or a rock worth millions, keeps them going. There is more charisma here, I guess.
On the flip side, Lightning Ridge is also a very small, isolated community. The hospital caters primarily for dementia, while at the other end of the age spectrum, there is a decent sized population of hooligans (the skid marks attest to this). I did have some interesting chats with the check out
lads at the local IGA (South African equivalent would be Checkers, I guess). One of the guys thought I owned a brand new BMW that was parked outside, and informed me it was his dream to buy one. Currently though, he confided that he drove a Mazda, but he informed me that he had worked on the engine so that no Commodore or Holden could beat him in a race! Another guy, as I was buying wine, looked at the bottles with thinly disguised contempt, and said: “I see you are buying glorified grape juice. My sister also thought she was real posh drinking wine, and then one day I got her to drink a bundy (Bundaberg rum) with coke and she was passed out after only drinking three glasses! Now that is a proper drink.” This guy looked no older than 16.
After leaving Lightning Ridge we decided to take a slight detour inland as www.willyweather.com indicated that Byron Bay was wet for the next few days. We didn’t feel like any more rain, so went up into Queensland for a bit. We were going to visit a town called St George, which was supposed to be a
very pretty rural town, but we didn’t make it. After driving for more than ½ hour at dusk, worried about kangaroos and narrowly missing an echidna, we stopped at a small town (town is probably an exaggeration, more like a little cotton farming community) and stayed at a very expensive caravan park. The next day, on recommendation from Greg, whom Paul got to chatting with in the bathroom, we did not go on to St George, but headed back to the coast, but via a scenic Great Dividing Range route. After a long day’s driving, of which more than two hours were spent driving in the dark, we passed through a larger town, saw a community park with a decent looking ablution block, and parked on the road next to it (extreme caravanning, we like to call it!). On the way we had a number of detours due to flood damage (from Cyclone Yassi back in February - we were quite far from the epicentre, but it managed to destroy so many bridges! and the roads were full of potholes, though most had been filled in, thankfully!). The next day was meant to be a shorter day’s drive, but a
navigating mistake had us going through the Great Dividing Range the non-scenic route, so we turned back, and went along the correct one. Yes, it was scenic, but longer, and cold. We had initially thought to camp in the forest, but felt the cold too much. We headed to the coast, to this apparently amazing free camping spot in the national forest, right on the beach. After another 9-hour day driving, we reached the camping spot, only to be greeted by a sign saying the campsite was closed! Turning back (it is now very dark, being 7pm!) we found a caravan park, but the owner was very rude, informed us he did not like children, so we left. We did find another one, and set up camp for the night. We really felt we needed a break from driving, so this morning we drove straight to Byron Bay, and checked in for seven days - we are not moving! As this has been a rather lengthy blog, I will chat about Byron Bay in the next blog.
Tamworth - going home I nearly forgot to mention that, on the way to Lightning Ridge we drove through Tamworth, the
town I was born in. It is the country & western capital of Australia now, and is quite a large country town. Unfortunately, it seems to have heartily adopted some of the less pleasant aspects of city living; for example, a sign on entering Tamworth boasted it now had three McDonalds! and driving through the town, there was one fast food after the other. Hmmm. Check out the rather cruel photo I took of a Tamworth local! It was interesting though driving through, imagining what it would have been like 40 years ago, and imagining my parents there, coming to this remote and very bush town, straight from Germany. Must have been a bit of a shock to the system! We also drove though Narrabri, where my parents moved to after Tamworth, and where my sister was born. This was a much smaller town than Tamworth, but equally as obsessed with fast foods!
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Jeanette and Tom
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Bogged in Lightning Ridge
Hi All, What a Blog! I just loved the whole experience , taking us through parts of Aust that we would never imagine existed. I felt as if you were photographing one of our corrugated iron villages! It would be wonderful to settle in a non material world for the last days of ones life. Loved the photos of the boys. As always you all look so good. Lots of love