Pubs in the Scrub

Monday, 15 April 2019.

9am, out of the van park and the promise to stop at the John Murray Art gallery. The artwork by John and his wife Vicki is stunning, amusing, and beautiful. Of course we had to purchase a couple of "souvenirs" of our visit to the Ridge and will be taking home two beautiful pieces of art.

Leaving L.R. we drove to another area of the opal fields where there are three pubs in the scrub and an entire community of opal miners.

First stop, and our camp spot for two nights, was the Grawin Club in the Scrub and the Royal Grawin Golf Course.

Golf Course

Steve outside the 'Club'

Glass of wine beside the fire

Oh my goodness. What a fun spot this is with some wonderful local characters and great food at Rickshaws Bistro. Free camp here with plenty of firewood and access to toilets and shower. So much nicer than those expensive town van parks - give me bush camping any day!

Tuesday, 16th April 2019.
A day exploring the opal fields. Our self-drive tour took us over the route to the Hilton pub and Sweeney's craft shop.

Glengarry Hilton

The Loo

Fascinating story behind the establishment of the craft store here. Lovely to see an outlet for the ladies on the opal field when not mining.

The "bra" tree

From the Hilton we followed the 'road' through to the Sheepyard Inn - the 3rd pub in the scrub. Some interesting signage here! And a "bra" tree in the car park.

Sheepyard Inn

Road Sign

War Memorial

Not far from this pub is the War Memorial dedicated to the men who fought and lost their lives in the Vietnam War. A very peaceful and serene spot in the mining fields. Many of the miners in this area are ex-military and they have up to 5000 people attending the Anzac Day service held at this Memorial.

War Memorial

Diana at the War Memorial

 After a rather dusty morning driving around the fields we enjoyed a quiet drink at the Club, then spent the afternoon planning the next stage of our adventure.
We enjoyed a pleasant evening meal at Rickshaws with a couple from Woollongong - Graeme and Ann.
Tomorrow we move onto Brewarrina and Bourke with a planned one nighter in Bourke before heading out towards Camerons Corner.
Our stay in the opal fields has certainly been an adventure for me!

Lightning Ridge -- History and Culture

Saturday, 13th April - Sunday, 14th April 2019
Nindigully- Dirranbandi -- Hebel -- Lightning Ridge from God's country into Cockroach country!!

Hebel Hotel

Balonne Shire Info

As there are no "free camps" or cheap camping near the Ridge we booked into the Opal van park for two nights. The most expensive stopover ever at $98 for two nights -- and that was the discounted rate!!.  It was a nice van park but not worth that price!!

Mining Equipment

With only one full day here we had to make the most of our exploring time.
First stop, the information center to pick up some self drive maps. These self drives are called car door drives and each one is marked with a different colour car door. Five in total and unique to the Ridge and an excellent way to explore the area -- we still got lost!!

Mullock Hills

Old Mine

The best drive was the Yellow door which led us through the 3 Mile mining area and the main historical area. We took the time to explore Chums walking track,

Track Sign

 about 45 minutes walking time. It meanders through a variety of areas including opal mullocks,
old machinery, mines, a beautiful revegetated area, and finally up to Lunatic lookout that overlooks the first open cut mine in the Ridge.
Plenty of photographic opportunities here.

The lookout

Lunatic Hill Mine Info

On our way back to the van park we stopped by the community arts and craft center. Here we were cheerfully greeted by William who took the time to explain to us the story of the beautiful handcrafted wall hangings on permanent display. For a meagre gold coin donation it was well worth the stop and chat.

Sculptures

Sculptures

Around 2.30pm we boarded a courtesy bus out to the Chambers of the Black Hand. Our driver Dave provided some local knowledge and more than a few miners yarns. The Chambers is a fabulous underground sculpture gallery created by one man with a butter knife! Oh my! What talent lies beneath the earth. There are over 800 carvings ranging from angels, Disney characters, famous faces, wildlife, and historical beings.
Truly a unique attraction and certainly worth the $30 entrance fee. We added on a guided underground mine tour to add to the experience and our driver, Dave, was our guide. He shared many more yarns of his 49 years mining on the opal fields which added value to the experience.
When we returned to the van park around 5.30pm I was totally exhausted but had thoroughly enjoyed a day mixed with history, culture, and adventure.
This was my first experience of an opal mining area and it has been quite an awesome adventure.

Nindigully

Friday, 12th April 2019

Womalilla Creek
Free Camp area

We left Mitchell yesterday and made our way to Nindigully. Not far from Mitchell, along the Mitchell St George road we pulled into an area that said "Point of Interest". It is our intention on this mystery adventure to explore these places as we often just bypass them and they often provide some kind of historical information. So we did exactly that and drove into see what was of Interest. Surprisingly it was actually a beautiful free camp ground beside the river.

River View

Unfortunately, like the rest of the area surrounding Mitchell, the river was completely dry. But it was a beautiful and peaceful place and one to keep in mind when we travel this way again. Before leaving we observed a campfire which was still smouldering. 2 Lt of water later it was out. Fellow travellers, to reduce the chance of bushfires, please ensure your fire is completely out before leaving.

Travelling into St George we pulled up at the riverside park for lunch. One of the advantages of owning Ada is that it only takes 3 minutes to pop the roof and make a cuppa and lunch!
With groceries replenished we travelled through to Nindigully where we planned a one night stopover. We had called in here in 2017 and chose to move onto Thallon that year as it was rather crowded and very dry then. However, not so crowded this year and a bit more water in the river.

The Pub

Moonie River

Today we had planned to move onto Lightning Ridge for a couple of days. However, after a short walk beside the river we got chatting to two couples travelling to Bollon -- Frank and Lee, and Kev and Carol. They invited us to join them for morning tea and after quite a bit of banter between Kev and myself, time just hurried by and before we knew it we had stayed until after 11am!!. Because it was so peaceful here we decided to stay another night -- the beauty of having the flexibility to travel at our own pace!
Sadly our peaceful afternoon was shattered when another van pulled in right behind us and started up their generator around 2pm.. Thankfully they were kind enough to turn it off at 8pm and we were lulled to sleep with the sound of live music from the pub!