Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Silverton

The free hot baths at Lightning Ridge; 7.7.10
Matt in the 52C hot water baths; we were cooked when we left an hour later
Louise at Lunatic Hill open cut mine 7.7.10
matt outside old Bourke railway; now gone; 5.7.10
the rainbow appeared as Matt was changing our first flat tyre on way to White Cliffs
Louise fossiking for opal chips at White Cliffs; and she found some too...
Inside mine at Mad Jock's place, White Cliffs
Overlooking White Cliffs; it was 13c and cold
Matt at Day Dream mine, Silverton; we went down a shaft; it was great...
Lou at Silverton on old rail bike
matt with car used in Mad Max 5.7.10

Dear chums,

It's Matt here, thought I would have a go at an entry to our blog.

Since replacing our three tyres after grief at White Cliffs, we moved onto Bourke, then Lightning Ridge.

Some of the photos are a little out of order due to the Dr Who time we are on, so please bear with me.

There was not too much at Bourke to look at except to grab a counter meal at the Oxford hotel (we were the only ones in there the whole time apart from the staff), we then took a drive down to the river Darling to grab some water shots and take in the ambience of the area, where some lovely black cockatoos delighted us with their song.

We decided to head straight to Lightning Ridge, where it got its name from when a shepherd and his dog quite a few years ago were mustering 200 sheep and the shepherd was struck down by lightning, and the people of the area referred to it as Lightning Ridge.

The best thing about 'the Ridge' is the lunches at the local bowling club ($12.50 for chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy) then we headed down to the free hot artesian bore baths (57C), absolutely relaxing, I almost fell asleep when I got back into the campervan about 2 hrs later.

We are heading up north to God's country (Queensland) over the next few days to get a little warmer and to visit the Qantas museum in Longreach.

Will keep you all posted.

All the best.

Matt