Greetings Core Fans - this post is devoted to the crusty, hard-working, tough-as-guts miners of Lightning Ridge. I drove here from Brewarrina via Walgett, a journey of 213km, flat but with trees and scrub spread apart in a semi-arid hot and humid environment. Lightning Ridge has been hit very hard by COVID since it relies more on tourism than it does on opals. It is the only place on earth where BLACK OPALS are found. There are approx 200 miners left from the thousands that flocked here in the 1980s to make a quick buck. Yet there is nothing quick about opals as you will find out in my next film CUTTING CORNERS. There are heaps to see and do in this town organised around four self-drive tours coloured YELLOW, RED, BLUE and GREEN - very cleaver and very easy to follow. The most AMAZING site to visit is the “Chambers of the Black Hand” - it is an old underground opal mind converted into a gallery of hundreds of relief sculptures carved into the soft sandstone by nothing other than a PEN KNIFE by the key owner miner - he has redefined the saying - that "the pen is mightier than the sword” !!! He has truly amazing talent !!! Enjoy the sights of Lightning Ridge - definitely worth a visit…
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