Day 10 – NSW road trip 2020
Well, we did say this would be an adventure… and adventure we did.
Today we set off on the Orange Car Door tour. The other tours are shorter and close into town but this one takes you to the middle of nowhere where you find two pubs, a club, a war memorial and an arts and craft shop – but more on that later.
We set off relatively early, with a stop to get photos with Stanley – the massive emu sculpture that sits at the entry to town. Another of John Murray’s creations.
From here it’s about a 40min drive to the start of the tour. It had rained the night before, so we knew the roads could be a little hairy..
Well… it started off pretty well. Garth slipped Sterlo (that’s the car) into 4WD ‘just to be safe’.
The roads were pretty rough but we navigated our way around most of the dips and puddles – until we came to a really big one. We sat, assessed and choose what we thought was the safest way.
‘Twas not!
As we inched in, we discovered there was quite a large hole, right where we were headed! We dropped in a little. Heart lurched, then we slipped further. Eeek!
I may have said “Shit” rather loudly and grabbed the handle above my window as my corner of the car started to sink.. the girls were not sure what was happening and behind us Mum and Dad were simultaneously thinking something along the lines of “crap they’re sinking,” “how are we going to get the kids out” and “damn I’m going to get wet digging them out of this”…
Thankfully Garth calmly popped Sterlo into reverse and drove us backwards out of the sinking feeling.
By the time we got to the Club in the Scrub, I needed a drink and Mum was starting to see the funny side.
By the time we reached the opal mine dumps, Mum found it positively hilarious and proceeded to call Amy, who had no idea what was happening as all she could hear on the other end of the phone was Mum doubled over laughing. We aim to entertain!
In all seriousness though, we were always safe It was just a little introduction into what the serious 4wd-ers do.
So we checked out the Club in the Scrub which was built by the locals over time and really is off in the scrub and the gold course next to it (Tristan and Tony the photos are for you!) we headed off towards the Opal Dumps.
Another sobering moment as two mountains of “spoil” loom ahead. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of fossicking in these dumps. But it’s worth reflecting on the amount of earth dumped here, and the equal amount of space created underground as a result. Again, all for relatively tiny, coloured rocks we like to look at.
Having said that we all had fun. The kids had a blast – with Matilda excitedly showing Nana and Grandad how the miner we met yesterday taught her to look for the “fresh piles”. They used their spray bottles to wash off the clay and look for ‘colour’ – although I think we may have brought more clay home with us than we washed off!
With another collection of “precious” things stashed in the car we headed off to find the first of two pubs hidden all the way out here. It really is the middle of nowhere.
We decided to stop for lunch at the Hilton it was a fun spot that of course had a fossicking area for the kids along with some good pub lunches.
The girls found a cows skull (well I’m assuming that’s what it was) out the back. The skull had lost a couple of teeth which were laying in the dirt – so we added them to the finds (Nana looooved that!).
Then it was across the road to the arts and craft shop – they had some lovely opals for sale plus a range of arts and crafts. Some hilarious and some straight genius! The girls came out with card holders made from pool noodles (genius) and “Opal Bugs” made from golf balls and opal scraps.
We then hit the road for the last part of the trail which included another pub and a war memorial. It was getting a little late and starting to rain so we didn’t really get a chance to stop and take these ones it.
It had after all been a big day!
It’s hard to explain the area we drove though today. It’s remote, full of people who don’t want to be found yet also a great little community.
There are mines everywhere you look. 50m x 50m plots owned by all sorts of people. Some with big fences and signs, others with little more than a fence around the shaft.
And lots of little white mounds everywhere.
The “houses”, if you see them, are often old caravans (and I mean old) with second-hand tin as a shelter around them. It’s simple living, really simple. There are old machines everywhere and it’s hard to tell which ones are scrap and which ones are in current use.
Many of the trucks that we see at the dumps, or along the way in the process of being filled had no rego, they may have even needed an arm on the door to keep it closed (yes, Ian and Chris this is your slice of heaven).
There’s something about the thrill of the chase, the chance to make thousands upon thousands from one tiny rock and makes this place a little electric. For all it’s barrenness, isolation and somewhat desolation there’s a little bit of electricity in the air as everyone secretly hopes they kick over the rock that’s got the big one hiding in it.
We would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the Kamilaroi lands we explored today and pay our respects to the elders past, present and emerging.
Knee Deep Travels 