Day 20 - Lightning Ridge

First stop today was the Chambers of the Black Hand which is in an over 100 year old opal mine where a man Ron Canlin started to carve sculptures in 1998. He has now done over 800 sculptured out of the sandstone. He is now in his 80’s and retired to Batlow but still visits the mine regularly. One thing he does in retirement is to carve on emu eggs so Faye had to buy one! (Koala bears)

There were covid requirements to spread visitors out and we had to wear masks and of course hard hats. The following photos will give you some idea of his work…

A fantastic talent.

Next we did some of the “car door” tours around town and through the mining areas.

There was also some open cut opal mining.

Had lunch at the Bowling Club and took some photos in the main street…

A restful afternoon in this very unique town.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to Brewarrina for a couple of days. With all the rain on the east coast we think we should stay west for a little while!