After three nights of below zero temperatures we were sufficiently climatised to try the free camping in Coonamble on our way to Lightning Ridge.
We stayed in the Coonamble show ground, the site for agricultural shows, rodeos, greyhound and horse races. The camping area was close to the horse cages and a whole lot of horse manure. Nothing like fresh country air!
As going to bed was the only way to keep warm, we had an early night.
The next morning we walked through town, taking us all but 5 minutes, and discovered the Nickname Hall of Fame, a series of caricatures of local characters.
Heading north along the inland road things looked more and more like “the Outback”. The paddocks were parched and due to drought there hasn’t been any crop planting this year. Cattle was grazing on the dried out growth at the side of the road. Occasionally they carelessly crossed to the other side undeterred by approaching cars. Everywhere along the roadside lay the grotesque bodies of dead kangaroos. Quite a few emus looked at us google eyed from within fenced cattle ranges. 
After a couple of hours drive Stanley, the Emu, made out of VW parts, welcomed us to Lightning Ridge. This is the town of the black opal, as a matter of fact, it is the only area of the world where the black opal is found!
The name, Lightning Ridge, apparently originated from severe lightning strikes which killed a shepherd, his dog and 600 sheep in 1870.
Luckily during our stay, there was no cloud in the sky and we were only struck by the strange surroundings of turned up gravel mounds interspersed with mineshaft, hoists, tin sheds and rusty, old truck chassis. 
On the first evening we watched the spectacular outback sunset from "Nettleston’s First Shaft”, an old mine on top of a hill.
Someone, maybe Nettleston, had used rocks from the mine to build a maze. Nearby stands a house built totally from discarded beer cans and bottles, an ongoing project, it seems, as a sign asks for donations of bottles and cans (full or empty!)
Here are more impressions of this weird and wonderful town “The Ridge”, as locals call it:
A mine shaft. The chambers of the Black Hand Mine with a couple of the 700 carvings from a miner turned artist...
and a BS-artist turned miner…
There are 5 different self-guided tours around town, all designated by coloured car doors. There is a yellow car door tour, a green, a blue and a red one. We did them all, but gave the orange one being an outback pub crawl spanning almost a 100km a miss!
“Amigo’s Castle”.
Amigo is the nickname given to an Italian miner who built this stone castle single handedly without machinery. Part of the castle is 2 stories high for which he used scaffolding made out off oil drums and timber slats. In 2001 the Greens took Amigo to the supreme court for disturbing the natural habitat by removing rocks from the surrounding area. The court decided, that he only “repositioned" the stones and threw the case out.
Then a little later the shire council decided that Amigo had only a mining, but not a residential lease and wanted the castle demolished. There was such an uproar in the community, including media interest, that the council had to bow to local pressure and instead heritage listed the castle. We met charming Amigo who loves boot scooting wearing a Mexican hat. Therefore the name “Amigo”.
Red-winged parrot.
A dip in the Artesian Bore Water Pool is a must in Lightning Ridge. It is quite a challenge to get in! The water temperature is 42℃! But once in it is very relaxing.
Great for a good night’s sleep.