Author: Scott
Most Australians have heard of Lightning Ridge though most have never been there. It is one of the few true frontiers left in the world, making a home for would be miners, dreamers, loners, drifters, outcasts, and purported criminals. Many of the people who inhabit Lightning Ridge don’t have a bank account, address, or outside contact with others. It is only just recently that cell phone technology has reached this area, which was once serviced with only a rudimentary radio telephone network. Over the past week we have heard many stories about Lightning Ridge ranging from claims that everyone lives underground to warnings that the area is run by the Russian Mafia. However, absolutely everyone agrees that we were heading to the bush, the Outback, the real deal Australian adventure. Today we would leave our little maritime life behind, tie up our hiking boots, and step off into a land of mining for the precious black opal.
Today was the second day of engine installation. With all the rain over the past week we have been unable to move forward with the engine replacement, keeping our boat in a state of perpetual demolition zone mode. Our cockpit has been inhabited with snakelike greasy hoses, various fittings and gadgetry that would make any Transformer jealous. The end result was keeping Starship from feeling like home and after this next bout of installation we should be able to reclaim the boat and return her to a normal inhabited condition.
We were extremely busy all day, or as my current favorite Aussie saying would appropriately term it, “we were flat out as a lizard drinking”. Today we would be departing with Bob to spend the night before leaving first thing in the morning for Lightning Ridge. Long before the Bob and Rob electromechanical team showed themselves we had already made the coffee run, gone to the bank, had a bit of “brekki” (breakfast), and carried all of our laundry over to the local dry cleaner. Although Donna Marshall had kindly offered her laundry machine we did not have time to fit it in before departing to Lightning Ridge, so we found we could have our laundry done for $11.00 per load (only $3 more than the coin operated Laundromat’s cost of $8). By the time we returned from our errands Bob and Rob were busily heaving, bolting, and working away on the new beast. Bob’s plan was to work straight through until around 14:30 and then we would all head out to get organized for the next day’s travels. Pam and I filled the remainder of the day packing, retrieving the laundry, and making a second coffee run for the boys. When the appointed time came we locked up the boat, stowed our gear in the Land Cruiser and set out for our Lightning Ridge experience.
As we headed northwest to drop off Rob, Bob informed us we would be staying at his mine partner David’s house for the night as Bob’s dad is now living with Bob and his wife and he suffers from insomnia. Now we don’t know David from a bar of soap, but we were in adventure mode and we were just going with the flow. Part of our drive took us through Galston Gorge in the rain. Galston George is a deep gorge dropping from 1600 meters to sea level with numerous hairpin turns, waterfalls that can cross the road and crazy drivers riding right on your bumper to push the speed limit. Bob drove like a master through the terrain, managing to keep up a running commentary with interesting tidbits of information.
Once we dropped off Rob, we made a quick trip over to Bob’s. We met Bob’s charming wife Shan, ninety-three year old father Jim, and cat Jemma (who is a little antisocial). We had a cup of coffee, learned a little about maritime history from Jim and within minutes David arrived to scoop us up for the night. Our luggage was transferred from Bob’s more utilitarian Land Cruiser to David’s shiny red Land Cruiser and it was quite the vehicle, “flash as a rat with a gold tooth”, Bob told us.
Our first few minutes with David encapsulates the kind of comfortable nature of many of the Aussies we have met, one minute we were shaking hands and greeting each other and the next we were accepted mates “wagging the chin” on our way home for some “tucker”.
David lives in a charming home with a mountain cabin feel to it. There was a warm fire burning in the stove and an instantaneous comfy feeling of home. David’s wife Vicky, who is a psycho therapist, buzzed in for a quick hello and then was off to her home office to meet a client. We settled in by the fire with a drink and got to know our host a little better while he started to work some culinary magic in the kitchen. Shortly after our arrival we were joined by Vicky’s daughter (from a previous marriage) Ronnie and her partner Scot who were joining us for dinner, and after warm greetings conversations exploded covering travel, politics, and just about everything imaginable. What wonderful people we are fortunate to meet! Dinner was superb consisting of something David “just threw together”. Well, David’s creation was lamb neck stewed with capsicum, perfectly roasted potatoes, mushrooms sautéed in sour cream, and some kind of wonderful tart for dessert. We topped off our meal with coffees from David’s flash coffee maker and a nip of a delicious liqueur from Israel. The dinner conversations were lively, including Vicky’s account of her recent gas oven explosion, leaving her eyelashless, and thank goodness, mostly unharmed. It was as if Pam and I had lived our lives in Australia and were just part of the family over for a “feed”. After dinner we settled into a warm land bed, and fell asleep listening to the rain fall on the tin roof.
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