All the road junctions surrounded by opal mullock heaps looked the same when we came to a dead end on the "Three Hotels Circuit" out the back of Lightning Ridge. No worries...a registered car pulled up opposite us to have a yarn. "We are looking for the Glengarry Hilton (ha ha) and we seem to have lost our way" I said imploringly. "No worries", said the thirteen year old or so driver, "just follow me". Sure enough he saw us to the correct junction before pulling up in full public view of the third pub on our car tour just outside this very unusual outback town.
We made sure WE stopped at the junction illustrated below.
A conversation with the manager of the "Club in the Bush" revealed that the old methods of protecting your opal leases still prevail at times. A stick of dynamite thrown down a shaft when a "ratter" is trying to find some colour in your lease is sure to scare him off if it doesn't kill him. It is more likely, however, that CCTV footage will be the modus operandi of protecting an active, promising lease. And OH and S requirements nowadays mean that the entrance to the shaft is likely surrounded by steel mesh. If the miner is not there in a run-down caravan to guard his old truck which provides digging power, there are other methods!
It is unusual for old diggers to reach into their pockets to show you the latest opal find for sale, for cash at a good price. Some larger companies have bought up many smaller leases and have used modern core sampling and even open cut methods to increase chances of success. Occasionally the small players have a windfall though. One person spoke of how her partner recently had a good find which netted $30 000 and "got them out of a looming financial crisis".
The old pub where Bronlyn and I chatted to miners when we taught at Moree 42 years ago has burnt down and in its place is a vibrant tourist town where, when you get off the main road onto the "car door tours", you can still find the patina of many broken dreams over many decades. Just wandering (carefully) among the mullock heaps is sufficient to start constructing many stories of absolutely hard work and many disappointments among the occasional bright moments.
On the Red Car Door Tour
Discarded opal mining infrastructure
A dead Bedford
Remnants of 1977 bottle house
Our VW Trakkadu among the mullock heaps Green Door Tour at Sunset
Anyway, armchair travellers, I hope you will enjoy the odd blogspots (how modern of us) as we head for Broome and the Western Australian wildflowers. We hope you enjoy some stories of the wildlife, characters and landscapes we meet along the way. The bird list has already started and I have got the big lens out to practice my skills. Special greeting to Kanon Kidders...see my Russian Fisheye lens snap above!
And for you birdos, here are a few below.
A buthcherbird interfering with reception at cabin at Lightning Ridge
Until the next blog in the heart of outback Queensland...Gary and Bronlyn
