Tours

Free entertaining professional tour guide for coaches.

Please note that we supply an experienced and entertaining tour guide for coach companies free of charge.

We provide full itineraries for tours lasting just a few hours, or several days. We can make all arrangements for you, book lunches, dinners, morning and afternoon teas, accommodation, etc.

We provide tours to the best locations in Lightning Ridge, these include:

Image of Amigo's Castle

Amigo's Castle

Amigo's famous Stone Castle - This incredible building truly expresses the eccentricity of the people in Lightning Ridge. Amigo has been building this larger than life Castle for over 25 years and is not even close to finishing it. When one part is completed, he always seems to feel that the complex requires another section or watchtower to be added on.

 

Image of Astronomer's Monument

Astronomer's Monument

Astronomer's Monument - It is difficult to describe the character of this hand built concrete monster. The owner filled used paint buckets with concrete and what you see are hundreds of these paint bucket shape segment which make up this bizarre monument. It is an observatory, but the dome on top of the building never could open up to make room for the telescope. The owner never did own a telescope.

Bottle House - A unique building showcasing outback architecture. It was a miner's camp, with a lot of the usual empty beer bottles lying around. It was a simple step to use these bottles as creative walls of the building. The Bottle House now houses a great collection of bottles, artefacts and many other interesting items.

Coopers Cottage - An authentic miner's camp, built in 1916. It is located in the main street in the centre of town, opposite the Bowling Club. It is a genuine historical display of early pioneer living.

Chambers of The Black Hand - Located on the old, famous 3-Mile opal mining field, near town, this amazing attraction will be world famous in the very near future. It is already generating national publicity because of the brilliant concept of this operation. The owner, Ron Canlin turned his underground opal mining drives into a replica of an Egyptian tomb. The Egyptian chamber boasts many hieroglyphics, while Atlas holds the whole world and Adam supports the roof of the entrance to the working mine. The Last Supper took six months of painstaking work to complete. The grim looking Nostradamus, same as all the other large, life sized carvings, is depicted in magnificent detail.

Lightning Ridge Opal and Fossil Centre - On display is a lifelike dinosaur and many unique opalised fossils at this interesting centre. The Centre is in the main street, conveniently located halfway between the Lightning Ridge Hotel/Motel and the Bowling Club.

We also recommend a fully guided tour of the GRAWIN, GLENGARRY and SHEEPYARDS OPAL FIELDS.

Your passengers will experience the rarely seen old style Opal Fields, where hundreds of miners and their families struggle through life without electricity or running water, but seem to enjoy the original, basic life style.

Even though they have no air conditioning or movie theatres, nor restaurants to go to, life seems to have wonderful compensation out on these fields, such as close friendships with your fellow miners, and the opportunity to quickly find a fortune in valuable Opals.

There are three Pubs to choose from, with hot lunch available for a mere $10 each.

There is the opportunity for your passengers to noodle for their opals on the recognised opal fossicking area where large amounts of opal is being found daily.

They can also see some large opal clay washing machines on site, perhaps even in action at the time of the visit.

A brief visit to the hand crafted, extensive WAR MEMORIAL is also part of the tour.

On returning to town we will assist with advise as to the potential of the opal they have discovered, and perhaps cut and polish the stones if worthwhile.

We can also arrange for jewellery to be created professionally around any of these opals.

Please enquire about the cost of the professional guide for this section of the trip.

There is a whole range of things to do in Lightning Ridge! So call or email us now to enjoy the best of Holidays.

For any inquiries or bookings please contact us here, or on the information given on the 'contact us' page.

Local all day $10 Tours and Shuttle service.

To accommodate all visitors to Lightning Ridge who arrive by bus, train or RV / Camper vans, we have just established our full $10 Tour and all day shuttle service.

Any visitors can use the shuttle service for the day and be dropped, picked up at any of these attractions.

For bookings and further information about this service please email us at:

opalcave@lightningridge.net.au