The drive from Parkes to Lightning Ridge was long, but drama free. We encountered some roadwork which slowed us down a little, but it was good to see that the roads are being repaired after the damage created by rain and flooding over the past twelve months.
On any road trip no matter where you are travelling there is always one constant that every traveller will need to be aware of, and that is where do we stop for lunch! That, and how far can we go between fuel stops I suppose, but lunch is more important. On this trip we had pre prepared lunch items so our biggest requirements for a pit stop, toilets and somewhere to sit. In that order.
A park bench or picnic table preferably with some pretty surrounds is nice, but we have been known to sit in the tailgate or a convenient rock at times too. Lunches on this trip were burger patties wrapped in bread and fruit. Easy to pull out of the trailer fridge and quick no fuss clean up.
Today’s lunch destination Gilgandra NSW. I thought it was a very pretty town located along the river. One street back from the main highway there is a caravan parking area, there are picnics tables, a dump.point should you require it, and a walking path along the river so you can stretch the legs before jumping back in the car. I’d recommend taking the stroll, there are some pretty views of the river and some interesting history about the windmills that used to be in the area.
The only issue was there was some construction going on making it difficult to locate the toilets, and some of the laneways were blocked off to access the main street. I’m sure it will be much improved when the construction is complete.
Petrol was located thanks to our trusty app Petrol Spy. We use the app for all of our road trips, as well as travelling between the city and the coast to find the best fuel price. So far it has not let us down. Then fi ally in the middle of town by the playing fields and children’s playground we located the toilets. Happy to report they were clean and well stocked. Gilgandra scored an 8 out of 10 as a lunch stop, and has also been added to the list of towns to spend more time in on a future tour.
Back in the car, our next stop Lightning Ridge. The highway into Lightning Ridge is lined with grazing country, and as well as the usual livestock there are emus, kangaroos and the occasional feral pig. It pays to stay alert as not all of these animals stay behind the fence line.
First impressions as you enter town, flat, rocky, dusty, dry. The trees are not like we are used to in the south, they are much smaller and sparser. There are what looks like piles of rocks everywhere, most of them are in fact mines, surrounded by a couple of star pickets and some chicken wire. Some of them have some wood slats over the top to I’m guessing to stop people falling in. Not a place to let your kids roam unsupervised, but possibly a great place to hide, well, whatever you need to hide. Just so long as you remember which mine you hid it in.
“it’s not a mining town it’s a tourist town”
We were really interested in how much mining is done these days and how much opal is really found. Chatting with people running shops and other businesses we met one local, a miner, a volunteer, and a Lightning Ridge devotee who said in her opinion Lightning Ridge is now a “tourist town, not a mining town”. It was interesting to hear that as we had recently returned from one of the car door self drive tours Lightning Ridge is famous for, and we couldn’t help but feel there was a feeling of yesterday about the areas we had toured. No one could really tell us how much opal is being discovered these days, but it certainly doesn’t reflect success and wealth in the town.
Be that as it is, Lightning Ridge is still a town I am glad to have visited.
