WE'RE ON OUR WAY!

We left home a bit later than planned (it wouldn't be us if we didn't) . Phill put the car in for a computer analysis & tune up cos he had to make sure it wasn't going to break down on us. He's now told me 'she'll be right' so of course I'm feeling very reassured!

We spent a very pleasant first night at Katrina & Chris's in Groomsville to get us on our way, cos we left too late to head through the city then we headed to Phill's Mum's in Gunnedah for a few nights. She's an amazing woman, she's 91 & she tells stories of when she was a girl as if it were yesterday; her memory is incredible. She has a 1/4 acre block full of award winning gardens which she mows & tends all by herself. She puts many younger people to shame - including us. We had a lovely few days with her.

Anyway, we're finally on our way back up north. We left Gunnedah yesterday & spent last night outside Lightning Ridge. We headed into town this morning & went straight to the Tourist Info centre to find out what we should see while we were there. I was amazed when the girl said they recommend people stay 3 or 4 days. I couldn't see how anyone could spend that long in Lightning Ridge so I told her we're only passing through on our way north so what could we see in 1 day? She suggested the 'Car Door Tours'; there are 4 of them; red, blue, yellow & green (almost like the Wiggles!) We paid for our information sheet & set off to see the incredible sights of Lightning Ridge!

As you can probably imagine, the red car door tour starts on a corner where there's a red car door & there are red car doors at each attraction along the way. Same goes for the yellow one etc. etc.  Pretty easy to follow. So Phill was the driver & I was the navigator, telling him where to turn & reading out the information about each attraction. We began with the red car door tour & immediately missed a turnoff!  It was an awful, slippery dirt road (it was raining) & if you got out to see anything, your feet got caked in sticky mud. There was an Astronomers Monument; a very curious concrete structure &  somebody's home which is called 'Amigo's Castle'; the only decent structure in the whole town.

The shanties people live in are awful, they reminded me of Rubyvale out near Emerald. You can come out here, pay $200 to stake a claim & put down a shaft & look for opals & that's what 90% of the town look like they've done.  They live in crappy tin sheds & some may have the luxury of an old caravan. Apparently you used to be able to come out & find opals in the old mullock heaps but they reckon there's nothing left anymore so no good looking.

Next we started on the yellow tour; I started giving instructions & reading the info, then about 1 1/2 kms up the road we realised none of it was lining up, I'd started too soon. Durrr.  It was probably worse than the red tour, not much to see but old mullock heaps & shanties, a few old tools & an old open cut mine hole.  Like the toilet? The seat would be a bit sharp on the bum!

                                             
This church was built up there for a movie  'Goddess of 1967'; a weird art house film which wasn't very successful apparently. After the excitement of the yellow & red tours, we didn't think we could handle anymore so we didn't find out what was 'behind the green door', or the blue one for that matter! We were going to go to the Artesian Baths but they were closed for cleaning so we headed off. Three or four days in this town might be a bit much! Time to get a bit further north.

We were going to head out through Quilpie, Windorah but with the rain & how bad the roads were after the floods last summer we thought it safer to head up through St. George. The roads are pretty cut up & there's still a bit of a mess in the town, mud over streets & that. It's a pretty big river, the Balonne.  I hate to imagine it overflowing!  They reckon flood level starts at 4 meters & it went to 13!

So, tonight we're in Mitchell; only about a day's drive from home. But, we've seen Phill's Mum & we've seen some sights we wouldn't have otherwise so it was worth it. We're camped at the weir just outside of town, a lovely camp spot. Tomorrow we'll head further north towards Longreach.