After leaving Dirrinbandi, we arrived at Lightning Ridge by lunchtime, and set up at the caravan park for 2 nights. It was time to look around the area.......Lightning Ridge is known for opal mining and tourism.
We went to the Information Centre and Barry found this sign at the door, saying "well behaved pets welcome", so he thought it was safe for him to enter!!
I took a lot of photos......it's a very interesting place, very "rustic"??? Probably a lot of other words I could use...the miner's dwellings were rather primitive and there were a lot of quirky places........just a few photos to follow...........
We did a tour of the Chambers of the Black Hand, and there were 82 steps leading down into the mine and we had to wear hard hats..............
All these amazing sculptures were carves with a butter knife!!
This was a bit of fun, so we took the opportunity for a photo!?
After 2 days looking around the Ridge we headed further south and got to Coonamble by lunchtime and booked into the park for 2 nights.
We had contacted Zoom friend Donna (aka Chooky) who lived out of the town, and following her directions headed to her farm. I had got to know Donna from a few years of blogging and zoom meetings and had met her once in 2023 when I attended Scrub stitching retreat at Barradine, with about 30 ladies from around Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and Germany.
While Chooky and I spent time in her sewing space (The Chookshed), Barry toured the farm with Brian.........
........and then we enjoyed an evening with them and were treated to this view at sunset.
Next day we met Chooky for lunch in town............which was followed by some shopping........
...................That evening Chooky called into the caravan park for a visit before she went home. Thankyou for your hospitality and sorry it's taken me so long to post about our visit!!
We had intended leaving after brekkie next morning, but this is what Barry found in the car. Donna knew of a good tyre repair shop and a few hours later we were all fixed and ready to move.
We headed to Nyngan from here and arrived back at Cobar, where we booked in and stayed hitched up ready for take off next morning.
Next day we turned west and thought about staying at Wilcannia??
On the way we stopped at a little cafe, fuel stop called Emmdale. Barry got into conversation with the work gang who are laying optic cable lines.
We stopped at Wilcannia for a look around. There are a lot of historical buildings and it has a lot of history. It was once the 3rd largest port on the Darling River.
We decided to keep moving.......the countryside is very different to what we had seen further north.
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We ended up at Broken Hill and booked into the Outback View Park for one night.
Broken Hill is also a mining town and we have toured here before.....
so had left by mid morning, heading for Menindee Lakes.
There is water coming down the river system from the Queensland floods and we wanted to see if it had reached Menindee yet. They were letting some water through the weir, to make room for what is still to come......
............and the pelicans were out in force to catch the fish.
A bit of history here by Burke and Wills.................
We free camped by the lake for the night, and enjoyed some sunshine and the sunset.
Next day we headed south and stopped for lunch at Pooncarie, at the Old Wharf Cafe..........
..............which is on the Darling River........ I jokingly said that I was having lunch with my darling, by the darling!!!
After lunch we ventured further south and ended up at Wentworth, which is where the Darling River meets the Murray River.
Wentworth also has some history as this sign says.................
We discovered the PS Melbourne which does 3 hour tours up the river, and I was very spoiled by Barry to enjoy this on my birthday.
It was a very relaxing 3 hour trip up the river and back...............
...............and Barry was very interested in the workings of the steam engine.
The return journey, late afternoon took us past the caravan park which gave us a different view of our van.
While we were camped at Wentworth, we drove into Mildura which was not far from Wentworth and visited with more friends, Jo and Tony.............(Jo is also a blogger, quilter and zoom participant)
We enjoyed lunch at the Werrimul Hotel, which is about 40 km from Mildura.
On our return to Mildura we detoured through Lake Cullulleraine, which is a lovely peaceful spot on the Murray River. (We decided it would be a good place to spend a weekend and consequently we decided to so, which will be in a future blog post).
Out time was coming to an end, and we departed Wentworth and travelled back along the river, through the quarantine station................
...............and to Renmark, Paruna, Berri and Loxton, before turning south.
The countryside was very dry heading south, and they had not had rain.................
We stopped for a snack at Pinnaroo,
This is a map of our trip, the purple line.............
A total of 4,262 km travelled, in 24 days, and we were home again. Back to reality, but very thankful of a great trip, seeing lots of this great country, with the added bonus a meeting up with good friends.
(This journey ended on 12th May, 2025, so you can see I've a lot to catch up on!)
I have decided it might take me awhile to catch up, but it has been good to relive and remember the journey.
Blessings, From Jude
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