Walk like an Egyptian!

Although we had read the Chambers of the Black Hand brochure and viewed other promotional material, walking through the upper level painting and sculpture galleries was still quite amazing!

There was just so much to see!

Seemingly the modest artist hadn't expected anyone to be interested in viewing his efforts, so we were glad he had been convinced otherwise.  (Some days tour groups get to see new works being created but the artist was taking a well-deserved break on the day we visited).

Happy Hamby Hard-hats!

I kept looking up - and losing my hat!

After a compulsory OH&S briefing on the surface, we donned hard-hats and went approximately 11 metres below.  The temperature cooled from 26 to 16 degrees as we descended.

Payment was taken at the underground shop, where we received a discount due to our Ridgee Didge card.  (We well and truly recouped the $10 outlay during our stay).  At the time of paying, one member of each party signed a register with details of their couple/family in case of accident - and ladies were issued with torches!

There was a call for the group to split into two and we were joined by another family trio (our neighbours at Lorne Station) and an older couple who presumably fit the  "grandparents who like children" description!

Our small party explored the lower, mining level first - and it was interesting to hear how the early miners tied a sheepskin around their neck and waist to form a pouch for carrying rock and debris up to the surface (using footholes in the shaft, rather than a ladder, to climb out)!

Canny construction!

Fortunately there was a rusty star picket for my tripod!

At first I thought this shack (near Nettleton's First Shaft) was under construction but closer inspection revealed it was falling apart. 

The concrete was crumbling away in sections revealing the 70s logos of (mainly) beer and soft drink cans used to strengthen its walls. The cans were the more solid steel variety that preceded the aluminium versions used today.  As an aside, did you know that there is an Australian Beer Can Collectors Association?!

Seemingly the shack was still being lived in as recently as 1996 when a town census was carried out.

The residents later moved on to a new claim, taking the shack's corrugated iron roof with them!

Chambers of the Black Hand

We arrived early for the tour, so enjoyed chatting on the surface with our guide (and one-time owner of the mine).

He wore a heavy gold necklace set with an opal "chip" and told the story of how he had sold the remainder of the opal piece for $50,000!

Nettleton's First Shaft

Admiring Nettleton's handiwork ...

The end destination of the Green Car Door tour was Nettleton's First Shaft Lookout.

Charles Waterhouse Nettleton is credited as being the founder of the black opal industry.  He was in his 40s when he sank his first shaft in 1902, backed by a syndicate of businessmen.  While that first effort didn't produce any opal, a second shaft was sunk the following year and he sold his first parcel of opal at that time.

(The tour notes clarify that it was common practice for early miners to sink a shaft and move to sinking another if they didn't immediately find opal; whereas today's miners tunnel and explore more thoroughly before abandoning a shaft).

I had wondered what happened to Nettleton after 1903 and have poked about a bit since returning home.  Information is scant but seemingly by the 1940s he was growing old and blind, living in a Salvation Army home in Sydney.  He was subsequently buried at  the Rookwood Cemetry in 1946.

Behind the green door

Lightning Ridge has four colour-coded "car door tours", each highlighting different points of interest in and near the town.

The tour notes are available from the Visitor Information Centre for $1.00, making the cost of each tour a 25 cent bargain - very cheap entertainment!

The notes for Green Door 7 state:- "The wild orange tree has an 80-foot root system. The Aboriginals made a paste of the fruit. Some miners also regard them (as well as box trees) as surface indicators of opal."

The Australian Opal Centre has produced several information brochures, including one about the various plant sites of Lightning Ridge. It states there is more than one species of wild orange in the area.

My Cronin's Key Guide to Australian Trees provides a little more detail on the fruit, commenting that it has a pleasant odour when ripe.  Given the one Nick cut open smelled "interesting", we assume it had a way to go before being edible!

Dragon's Beard!

Although the "alarm clock bird" woke us around 5:30am each day, we generally didn't head out till mid-morning. 

On this occasion we weren't far along the Lorne Station driveway, when Erin spotted a bearded dragon grazing beside the road.  We all leapt out, keen for a closer look!  The lizard wasn't greatly enthused to have its breakfast interrupted and had puffed up most impressively.  As we hadn't seen one so inflated previously (nor one eating), I was intent on taking a photographic record - and dropped my hat over him/her quite by accident!

Of course, it is an indication of my enthusiasm generally that I hadn't changed into boots prior to getting out of the car, so was very soon spiked by some loose Hudson Pear (because I was too busy taking photos to watch where I was walking). 

The lizard had been spiked also and though Nick removed the spine from my foot (suffering spiking in the process), unfortunately we couldn't see how to remove the spikes from the lizard without causing further damage.