Charleville to Gilgandra



The streets of Mitchell have lots of these bottle trees

After our Birdsville Safari ended at Charleville and we cleaned the worst of the dust out of our bus, we headed east stopping at Morven for the night. There were emus wandering across the highway in the little township and lots of kangaroos in the paddock next to the recreation ground camping area. From there it was on to Mitchell for a soak in the artesian baths before spending the night camped beside the weir on the river.







Amigo's Castle, Lightning Ridge




Astronomer's Folly



We did a bit of fossicking (no luck)



At Roma we turned south again and stopped each night at small towns or rest areas until we got to Lightning Ridge, famous for the beautiful black opal which is found in only a few other places on earth. Of course it’s not actually black but has all the fiery reds, rich greens,golds and blues which make it so desirable. We did a half day tour which took us down a mine and to many of the local attractions with a very entertaining tour driver who knew all the history and lots of stories about local identities. Some of the old time miners had very colourful backgrounds including one who had been convicted of murder. Many of the miners were loners from all parts of the world and some found interesting ways to pass their leisure time. One has built a castle, another has carved over 500 figures into the walls of the underground tunnels and another built an astronomers monument which covers a large area with hand mixed concrete pillars.



After Lightning Ridge we moved on south to Gilgandra to collect our trailer and Scruffy which had been in safe keeping there for the duration of the Birdsville trip.