Our Lightning Ridge Trip, Part Two

 Day Four.

This was the day we were supposed to go to Garwin and see the opal fields there, but Lightning Ridge was going to be without power on day five, so we swapped days. 

This was a fun morning as we got to go underground in two different mines. The first one was an easy entrance, down 30 steps and a loop once inside. The sandstone is pink and our guide explained the different processes to find and extract the opal.

Not my best photo but the hard hat kept falling onto my glasses.

Pretty in Pink.

One of the walls.

I didn't spend to long underground as it was warm and I had my cardigan on. Wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. 

We had a wander around the top and watched a video of the history of the area, while others did the tour.

Our next stop was the Chambers of the Black Hand, this was 40 feet underground and accessed by 84 steps or a small lift. I picked the lift and it was very interesting going down as it was a cage and you could see the wall.

This mine had over 80 intricate sandstone carvings in the tunnels. It was a big loop and was very interesting to see.

The Black Hand.

Here is the link to the Chambers of the Black Hand so you can read about it. (I still haven't worked out why it is called that.)

Lunch was at the Lightning Ridge and District Bowling Club, as our dinners. Lovely club, with friendly staff and the food was yum!

Our afternoon tour was to the Opal Miners Hall of Fame where we were shown how they cut and polish the stones. Then we watched several videos explaining how opals are formed, the first people to mine them and the legendary miners who put Lightning Ridge on the map, for black opals. All were very informative.

Once back at the hotel, afternoon drinks were again in the BBQ area, where we sat and chatted with others from our tour.

Day Five.

As the power was to go of at 8.00am (and it did) everything was pushed back half an hour, so we could have breakfast and get organised before hand. 

Today we went to the Garwin opal fields, about 40 km south-west of Lightning Ridge. The area is actually four different fields, Garwin, Glengarry, Sheep yard and Mulga Rush. We made several stops before reaching Glengarry, these being  Cumborah and the Sheepyard and Community War Memorial.

But before with got to those we had a group photo here 

And then Stanley, the Big Emu, made by John Murray from steel girders, from the old Dubbo Police Station and a VW Beetle.

Stanley.

At Cumborah we went into the church, 

then stopped at the Memorial for morning tea.

Glengarry Hilton was our next stop and the 'town' was fun to explore.

Onwards to our lunch stop at Garwin Club in the Scrub were we had delicious steak sandwiches. The club is the hub of the community.

This was the end of the Lightning Ridge tour, with us starting the homeward journey tomorrow and Parkes will be the overnight stop. 

The trip has been amazing with so much to see and learn. Paul and I have had a fantastic time.