Lightning Ridge Opal Field 2014
As with many of our trips to the opal fields we did not really intend to go there. We set off to escape Melbourne's winter with our destination as Wooli, near Grafton, on the New South Wales coast. We took the kayaks and the fishing equipment and actually settled in for three weeks of active recreation. Unfortunately the weather turned and we were faced with heavy rain and strong winds which affected the fishing and restricted the kayaking to some extent. We stoically sat it out for the three weeks during which we had a few day trips to Ballina and Coffs Harbour. At Coffs Harbour we visited the Opal Shop located about 500 metres north of the Big Banana on the Pacific Highway. We only dropped in for a visit because the weather was bad and we had to fill in a bit of time. There was a lovely display of opal there and we had a chance to talk to the owner about opal. She and her husband had a mine at Lightning Ridge some time back and had spent many years mining for opal. There were photographs of their mine in the shop and she was very informative. It is well worth a visit.