And we're off! While we didn't quite make my planned ETA of 8 am (to the surprise of nobody!) we did better than the last time, hitting the road just before 2 pm on Saturday. Which meant that my ambit claim of making it to Lightning Ridge on day one was dead in the water before we even left 😢.
We were determined to get as far as we could, so we pushed through late into the night, finally making it into Narrabri at 11:30 pm. We'd already decided to cheat by booking a hotel room, which we were very grateful for given the driving rain as we arrived. Plus we could hit the road early, reaching Lightning Ridge by lunchtime.
Despite the late departure time the day before, we were still basically shoving the last few boxes of stuff into the caravan before we left home, so we took a few hours to reorganise the van to a more satisfactory arrangement. There's still work to be done, and maybe a bit of culling as we go, but its definitely more workable for the moment!
After some pottering, we walked up the road to the famous Artesian Bore Baths. I had a general sense that they were hot and minerally, but didn't really know what to expect, or how to describe it to the kids. While they were disappointed that it wasn't really a pool as such (definitely no need for the goggles!) it was a pretty amazing experience. It was SO HOT! And SO relaxing! I did a few cycles between the hot water and cold showers, just to get the full experience, and left feeling very zen and centred as a result. Of course, the fact that Bob took the kids back to the caravan and left me to my own devices for half an hour could have also been a factor 😜
And then we got to see a gorgeous full moon with the exact right amount of clouds to create a moon bow 🌕🌈
Our first attempt at packing up the van wasn't the fastest, but we were only 15 mins late for the 10 am checkout 😂. Obviously there's lots of room for improvement, but we've got plenty of opportunities to practice!!
After dropping Bob off at a cafe to do a final bit of work, the kids and I did 2 of the 4 car door tours of the town to see as many of the sights we could see in a few hours. A big highlight was fossicking at the walk-in opal mine - I was reminded that all I need to do is give the kids a pile of rocks and tell them there's a chance that there might be an opal amongst it and they'd be captivated for hours!!
Another amazing discovery was Amigos Castle, a huge handmade building that was the passion project of an Italian migrant who broke all sorts of planning laws by building a non-moveable structure outside the town limits. The council tried to make an example of him by getting him to bulldoze it, but then realised it could be a tourist attraction and instead just moved the town boundary line to make it a complying development 😝
After lunch we struck out for Roma, Queensland. When we stopped for a bathroom break in the very small town of Surat, I was inspired to try for an arty shot of an old building lit by the full moon, when a road train drove by. I'm pretty happy with the result!
