Day 5, Thursday 18/7/2019 Lightning Ridge 8 – 18

A lay day lie in, aah heaven. We potter about and do a few chores, like filling the water tanks as we’ve got two freedom camps ahead of us. We buy a new bucket in town as the holey one is of little use, unless we want to call it a basket that is.

Lightning Ridge is a funny town that you either love or hate and we love it, so much so that three years ago we spent a week here. It is best described as semi desert as little grows here other than tough scrubby plants. Most houses have rock gardens with a few succulents yet considering the dry dusty environment most are neat. The shopping area has grass nature strips* but they are littered or should I say peppered with roo poo. One can just imagine the sight at daybreak when it would be wall to wall kangaroos. We buy our bucket and marvel at the array of goods in the camping/hardware store. These guys stock everything under the sun but we must remember that they do service a diverse and remote community.

The Opal caravan park has been well thought out and all sites are drive through, large and with a surface of deep gravel of the type that doesn’t track into your van. The gravel is so deep that you must borrow a long drill from reception to put your guy ropes in.

We snooze in the sun and I try to identify the red faced green parrots in the trees above but the cheeky little devils stay just manage out of camera range.

Summary 0kms, Accom $35.10

• Nature strip – grass verge, a long stretch of grass between the footpath / sidewalk and the road. Has nothing to do with nudity.