Our trip over the Memorial Day weekend 1996 started on Thursday, May 23, when we headed out directly from work. Rita has Fridays off so I took a vacation day and we got away about 4:00 p.m. after working through lunch. Since it is winter in the southern hemisphere, sunset was about 5 o’clock. We drove north to Yass and on to Cowra where we arrived about 6 o’clock. We had been to Cowra before and seen their beautiful Japanese Garden and memorial to the Japanese prison break during World War II. This evening we just were directed to the Ilfracombe restaurant where we had a very good meal and local chardonnay. We were told that Cowra has one of the largest single grape plantings in Australia of over 600 acres.
Friday morning we had breakfast in our room then headed off about 8:30. We drove through pretty farm and cattle country that reminded us of Texas. We drove north to Canowindra, Cudal and Molong, where we stopped for gasoline. We took back roads through Cumnock and Yeoval to Dubbo. On the back roads we came across a jackaroo (cowboy) herding his white-faced herefords along the road. We had to slowly drive through them taking care not to hit one. At Dubbo we visited the Western Plains Zoo which is associated with the Sydney Zoo. They specialize in breeding endangered species. It was a nice zoo but we are not all that interested in zoos. Nevertheless, we spent nearly four hours there including lunch.
We checked into our motel and went into town to the Information Center. From there we walked along the main street - Dubbo is much bigger than we expected. We visited the Old Dubbo Gaol which is very well kept. The gallows in the center courtyard was eerie. Then we drove around the rest of the town before going back to our motel. That evening we went to Matildas restaurant for dinner which was okay. Back at the motel we watched the movie “American President”.
Saturday morning was clear and sunny. While Canberra is quite cold already, this far north is lower in altitude and warmer. We are on the edge of the “Outback”. We filled up at Shell gasoline and went to McDonalds for breakfast. After breakfast I was waiting for Rita in the parking lot when I saw a woman come out of McDonalds with a sweatshirt that said “Aspen, Colorado,” get into her Ford and drive away. At the same time I was listening to country and western music. I forgot where I was! It sure seemed like the USA.
We headed north through Gilgandra, Gulargambone, Coonamble, and Walgett where we stopped again for gasoline. Now we are in the outback which reminds us of West Texas except for kangaroos and emus roaming the range. From Walgett to our destination, Lightning Ridge, the sheep and cattle were unfenced and one had to watch for livestock on the road. Also, there had been flooding two weeks earlier so this area was greener than usual and rivers, which are usually dry, were overflowing their banks.
We arrived in Lightning Ridge about 12:30 and checked into our motel. There’s only one nice motel in town. This is a true mining town mostly unchanged over the years since black opals were discovered here in the 1920s. We drove on gravel roads past numerous mines, the Bush Mooseum, the Bottle House and the hot artesian baths. Anyone can stake two claims a year, each fifty feet square. Many people are said to have come here for a vacation trip and stayed for years looking for their fortune. The city limit sign says “Population ?”. They think there are between 5,000 to 6,000 people living in the surrounding area. Most people live in shacks of corrugated tin or in caravans which are similar to our trailer homes but much smaller. It’s a wild and woolly town.
We stopped at the Gemopal Pottery run by Graeme Anderson. He was very friendly and after we bought a small vase, he showed us what we would be looking for when we go fossicking. Fossicking is the Australian term for digging or rock hounding. We went back to the pub at our motel and had a hamburger and beer for lunch. Next we drove to the Drive-In mine but there was no one there. We were on Bald Hill so we went next to Bevans which was recommended to us. We looked at their beautiful polished opals from their mines and were tempted to buy one. We asked about fossicking and they showed us a pile of rocks open to the public. No charge either! We dug around for about 20 minutes and actually found some rocks with opal crystals in them. Rocks like these were sold here for about $2 and in Canberra for more. We drove to the Walk-In mine next and took the self-guided tour, with hard hats, which was interesting as it went underground. We could actually see the layer of earth where opals are found between two layers of limestone. We did a little more fossicking until dark but found nothing here.
Back at our motel we ate at Nobbies restaurant which turned out much better than expected. We ate barrimundi, a local fresh water fish, along with a bottle of riesling. A nobbie is a knob of rock that has opal crystals in it.
Sunday morning we took our time getting ready and out of the motel. We had intended to get away about mid morning. We arrived at the Big Opal mine about 9:00 a.m. to be told that their tour starts at 10 and lasts over 2 hours. We decided against it and did a little fossicking there with no luck. I suggested to Rita that we go back to Bevans, where we found something yesterday, just look for about 15 minutes, and then get on the road. Two and a half hours later we pulled ourselves away!
We actually found a large bag of opal rocks, some that had fire and color in them when exposed to the light. We were surprised at how many we found. The owner came out and asked if we were having any luck. We showed him our rocks and asked if these were opals. Yes, he assured us and he supposed that they had not gone through this pile of rocks very well. It was fun and relaxing. A retired couple from Tasmania joined us and were surprised when they found some, too. They fossick for a hobby and polish their rocks, selling them at gem shows.
We didn’t get on the road until after 1:00 p.m. and ate snack food in the car for lunch. We retraced our drive to Dubbo, arriving at sunset. We checked into a different motel and collapsed. We were tired after our day of fossicking. We ordered room service dinner and washed some of our rocks. They look best when in water and cleaned up.
Monday was Memorial Day and the weather had been great all weekend. We took our time getting away and had breakfast once more at McDonalds. We had intended to drive to Wellington, Orange and Bathurst but since there is much to see there, we thought we would save that for another trip. Instead we headed south towards Peak Hill which has a large open gold mine. At Parkes we stopped to tour the 180 foot radio telescope, the second or third largest in the world and largest in the southern hemisphere. It was here that pulsars were discovered and where the moon landing speech was first heard and transmitted to the USA. I mentioned that I was with the US Embassy and knew the NASA representative. We were given a VIP hard hat tour of the telescope which took us up on the rim and into the room where the computers are located and data comes in from outer space. It was a good tour and we were glad we stopped.
We stopped in town for lunch then headed home through Forbes, Grenfell, Young and Yass, arriving about 5:00 p.m. Canberra was much colder than the rest of our trip had been. We were tired and hungry. After scrambled eggs for dinner we had an early bedtime but not before putting all our opals into a bottle of water to wash off the dirt.
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