Jolts and Jars

Sunday, 10 June 2012


Another brisk morning with clear skies; it is amazing how much longer the days are as we head north. And today, we definitely headed north – to Lightning Ridge. We were also in for a surprise as we quickly discovered the horror road of yesterday was just a doddle compared to what we faced today. It was almost 300 kms of constant pitching and rolling. By the time we had covered 100 kms, seasick pills were starting to look very attractive! Les even commented that Bass Strait was smoother.

We have come across some unusual names for shires in our travel but believe Bogan Shire would have to be the best. We were very intrigued with the sign which stated “Bogan Catchment Area” and imagined bogans being rounded up and taken to Bogan shire.

We had originally intended stopping at Coonamble but were discouraged about doing so. The town did seem quite nice but there was a rodeo happening in the town this weekend, so it was probably just as well we stopped at Gilgandra.

We are staying at the Opal Caravan Park in Lightning Ridge – the park is only a couple of years old, has large gravel sites and one of the best amenities blocks we have come across. The staff is very friendly and happy to provide tourist information and make any bookings required. Cat decided to put his head out the door after we arrived and noticed the next door neighbours had a small dog. Not being very diplomatic, he said it looked like a rat!

Best of all, there are some artesian pools just 200 metres down the road and after the jolting our spines received this morning (and the stress of last night’s football match), it wasn’t a hard decision to find the bathers and head for the hot water!

We have entertainment in the caravan park this afternoon, around the camp fire.