Well, I’ve clocked up a few miles in the past week with a trip to Lightning Ridge. Being winter, the weather was gorgeous with sunny warm days but beware when the sun goes down though as the temps drop to freezing. The town was pretty full, with most accommodation places showing no vacancy – a perfect sign! I caught up with a few old faces and met some new ones – including a few people who recognized me from my video’s – good to see people are watching!
Mining is in full swing, with many professional and hobby miners working hard to find opal before the summer season heats up. There are a few new fields that have been opened up between Lightning Ridge and Grawin. The land has always looked promising, and there are quite a few drilling rings prospecting. During this trip, I have seen some amazing material and brought it home quite a bit. Much of it will go up on the website over the next week or two, so make sure you head over and take a look.
Being school holidays, my wife Ruth and son Saxon tagged along. We decided to start making a new video on Lightning Ridge, so they helped do some filming around town and the fields. I hope to bring you this new vid in the next few months. Saxon and I also did some fishing to make a dent in the local feral population of carp. You can see all the pics if you head over to the Facebook page.
All in all, it was a successful trip, and the town is humming along. It is so nice to see people once again being optimistic about the future and a renewed energy now that the floodwaters are gone – hopefully, we will also see some new big finds on the opal fields.
For those of you considering coming out to Lightning Ridge at some stage – do it – but book your accommodation first.
Next month I am heading back for the Opal Festival, so if you are going to be in town – please drop in to say hi!
