Lightning Ridge is just like the opals it is famous for – vibrant and colourful and certainly full of character! It is the home of the much prized Black Opal

But let me assure you that the people who find these glorious stones live in a community that displays as much character as the gems they seek.

Here are some photos I took out on the Grawin opal fields of things that that brought a smile to my face.

The golf course is also the road into the Club in the Scrub, one of three pubs in this small area to slake the thirst of dusty miners and tourists.

A colourful border separates the Royal Grawin Golf Course from the Club.

As you can see, there’s a distinct lack of any green grass out here so the ‘greens’ look the same as the fairways except they are raked! 😳

Want to know what the weather is doing? Check out the local weather rock!

Then come on into the infamous Club in the Scrub.

Then it’s back on the road for another few kms to the next ‘watering hole’, the Sheepyard Inn.

It’s like driving through talcum powder, this fine white dust that covers everything. The trees look like they are covered in frost – it’s not! It’s dust!

Nothing much grows out here although the bra tree is flourishing!

It was lunchtime but the Sheepyard Inn had run out of food 😬 so we were sent another few kms further to the Glengarry Hilton. The burgers were worth the drive.

It’s a bit hard to tell who goes where at this toilet block 😄

What a fantastic day! It was dusty, it was quirky but most of all it was a lot of fun. I’m still smiling 😊