Fun Things to do in Lightning Ridge

Lightning Ridge, home to the world’s largest deposits of black opals, is a unique outback mining town in northern NSW. The Ridge is quintessentially Australian – quirky, eccentric, and welcoming, with plenty of colorful local characters! We spent several days exploring its opal fields, artesian baths, and unusual attractions to bring you this complete guide.

Fully updated 12 April 2025

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Quick Reference 3-Day Itinerary

Day 1: Town Exploration

• Morning: Visit the Australian Opal Centre
• Afternoon: Walk Main Street, check out John Murray’s Art Gallery and street art
• Evening: Sunset dip in the Artesian Bore Baths

Day 2: Car Door Tours

• Morning: Red Car Door Tour (including Ridge Castle and Bottle House)
• Afternoon: Yellow Car Door Tour (Three Mile Opal Fields)
• Evening: Green Car Door Tour timed for sunset at Nettleton’s First Shaft Lookout

Day 3: Mining Heritage

• Morning: Visit the Historical Society Heritage Cottage
• Afternoon: Orange Car Door Tour to Grawin Opal Fields
• Optional: Try fossicking at the visitor centre dumps
• Evening: Final soak in the artesian baths

How to Spend 3 Days in Outback NSW

We think the Ridge really is one of the must see stops on a lap of Australia. Before we begin, let’s get some of the most common questions out of the way, these are the things we wondered when planning our trip and friends have asked us on return.

The Kamilaroi are the traditional owners of the land on which Lightning Ridge sits. Their dreaming stories tell them that a huge wheel of fire fell from the sky and deposited the earth with these bright stones.

Where is Lightning Ridge?

Located in Northern NSW, only 65km short of the southern Queensland border, Lightning Ridge is one of the most accessible of Australia’s mining towns.

It is only 64 km south to the Queensland border.

From Sydney, it is 730km north-west (via Dubbo) and from Brisbane 660km south-west.

The nearest town is Walgett, just under 80km away but there is not a lot there, the nearest city is Dubbo 273km south.

What is the population of Lightning Ridge?

There are about 1950 permanent residents according to the 2021 Australian census, although locals tell us there are probably a few hundred more who lay low. This is a spot you can easily escape and go about your business with virtual anonymity. Added to the population are the 80,000 or so visitors who drop by each year for an average stay of 2-3 days.

Is Lightning Ridge worth visiting?

In a word, yes, it’s best known as being the Australian home of the Black Opal and one of only a few places in the world where these unique and valuable gems are found. It’s also likely to be one of the most unusual places you will visit in Australia.

When is the best time to visit Lightning Ridge?

Head here between April and October if you can for the best weather. We were here in early October and the days were warm and dry. It was hot but not uncomfortably so. There is no way I could imagine visiting in summer, and we were told by locals that is when many of the mining license holders head underground or go on holiday to escape the heat.

For lower costs and mild weather, the sweet spots are in March-April and October.

Lightning Ridge Weather

Summer in the Ridge (December-February) gets pretty warm with daytime temperatures typically between 34-36°C (93-97°F). Nights are more comfortable, dropping to 20-23°C (68-73°F).

Winter brings milder conditions from June to August with pleasant days around 19-21°C (66-70°F) and chilly nights dipping to 5-6°C (41-43°F). The town receives about 464mm of rain annually, with the heaviest falls during summer months.

If you’re keen on clear skies for exploring the opal fields, aim for April through September when you’ll typically get 14-15 crystal clear days each month. Check the latest stats on the official Bureau of Meteorology website.

Do you need a 4-wheel drive to explore Lightning Ridge?

No, you don’t you can visit and explore in a two-wheel-drive. The road into town and the main streets are paved. The ‘roads” to the sites are often gravel and pothole-ridden however if you drive slowly and avoid wet weather, you should be OK. Ask for advice at the visitors centre before you head out.

Be very careful driving to Lightning Ridge after dark, the highway from Walgett sees lots of wildlife, and the risk of collision is high at dusk and into the night.

The Lay of the Land

The town itself is compact – just a few dozen paved streets before the landscape transforms into a moonlike mining terrain. While first impressions might be modest, there’s plenty to discover here. Take your time and chat with locals for insider tips on hidden treasures.
There are piles of dirt from dug up mine shafts and old rusty vehicles and sheds dotted across the town.

Things You Should Not Miss in Lightning Ridge

Opals are the lifeblood of this outback town, so it’s hardly surprising that many attractions center on finding these elusive gems. While the precious stones are everywhere, there’s plenty to enjoy even if you’re not an opal enthusiast.

You will meet one of the Ridge’s first “characters” before you even enter the town.

Introducing Stanley the Emu, One of Australia’s Big Things

You will find Stanley on the main road – at 18-metre high, it’s almost impossible to miss him. Created by resident artist John Murray, whose work we will cover later, Stanley was built entirely from donated, recycled products including VW Beetle bonnets and doors and a satellite dish for his head.

He was named after Police Area Commander Stan Single who donated materials from the old police station.

Stanley contains a time capsule “egg” that will be opened in 2063

Stanley has his own Facebook page if you want to know more.

Top tip: Directly opposite Stanley is a rest area with some pretty unique lighting – you face your vehicle headlights to a reflective panel that lights the loo!

Lightning Ridge Visitor Information Centre

Make the Visitor Information Centre your first stop to pick up the $1 self-guided Car Door Tour driving maps and get the latest details about tours and road conditions. The staff can provide valuable local insights about current activities and events.

Where: Lions Park, Morilla Street, Lightning Ridge NSW 2834
When: 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 9am-1pm Sunday

The Best Things to Do in Lightning Ridge

Our complete guide will fill 2-3 days, depending on your pace and the weather! Consider joining the Orange Car tour – you’ll learn fascinating local stories while someone else handles the driving, especially handy if you plan to enjoy a few drinks at the outback pubs along the way.

Lightning Ridge Artesian Bore Baths

At the other end of town and open almost 24 hours a day is one of the most popular places in the Ridge. With free entry, visiting the Artesian Baths is no brainer. Water temperatures of 41.5 degrees celsius take a little getting used to. Luckily we had three days of practice at the baths in Moree to get our bodies used to it.

If you are first-timers, we suggest you time your visit for early morning before the heat of the day or late evening, which is particularly fun with the locals all sitting around chatting.

The baths are closed for cleaning between 10am – 12noon Monday to Friday – guess what time we arrived? 10.05am! Thankfully the staff let us pop in for some photos to share with you.

Where: Pandora Street
When: Closed for cleaning Monday, Wednesday & Friday between 10am-12noon
Cost: Free

Take a Walk on Main Street

You can easily spend a couple of hours walking the two main streets and visiting some of the historic buildings, checking out the famous Lightning Ridge street art and of course browsing the jewellery shops.

Take a step back in time by visiting the Lightning Ridge Heritage Cottage Hospital Gallery where you will find a life-size sculpture of Charlie Nettleton, the man who sunk the first mine in the Ridge in 1903 and is considered the founder of the black opal mining industry.

On the site, you will find a Miner’s Cottage built in 1932 and 1915 Cottage Hospital. The complex was closed during our visit, although we could wander around outside and peer in the windows. If you are luckier and find it open there looked like there was lots to see inside.

One of the oldest buildings in town, Coopers Cottage (1916) is directly across the road.

Where: 7 Morilla Street Lightning RidgeTuesday, Wednesday, Friday
When: 10am to 4pm 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 10am-4pm),

Australian Opal Centre

The best place to begin your opal journey, the centre is not a shop (although they do sell some) but rather the world’s leading collection of opalised fossils. It may be small but the collection here is impressive and the staff were knowledgeable and happy to answer questions

We learnt during our visit to the New Australian Opal Centre being built near Lunatic Hill at the cost of 33 million dollars. The project was due to be completed in 2022 and then 2024, but it is now underway and perhaps late 2025 will be the year! Definitely, a reason to go back!

Where: 11 Morilla Street, Lightning Ridge
When: Regular opening hours (March – November) are 9am – 5pm Monday to Saturday. Summer opening hours (December – February) are 9am – 1pm Monday to Saturday.

Amigo’s Castle

While the castle still stands and is heritage listed whether it will remain a tourist attraction is up in the air. It’s owner was convicted of murder and received a sentence of 18 years. It’s cool to see from the outside but I would not pay for the tour.

John Murray Art Gallery and Lightning Ridge Street Art

Murray’s style is very distinctive, and you will recognise it instantly, there are several murals around town, but it’s worth popping into his gallery for a quick look. We also enjoyed the photography of his partner Vicky.

Where: 8 Opal St, Lightning Ridge
Cost: Free

Bottle House and Mining Museum

We didn’t manage to go inside the impressive Bottle House to see its collection of artifacts, but we did have a look around the outside.

Free to poke about outside and there looks to be plenty to see indoors if they are open, sadly it was closed when we visited and looking at the reviews the opening hours are a bit hit and miss.

If you think this is cool you might want to check out the beer can house too.

Where: 60 Opal St, Lightning Ridge
Opening hours: 9am – 3.30pm daily- Closes over summer. Reopens 1 March 2025
Cost: $10

Car Door Tours

The self-drive car door tours are the most popular things to do in Lightning Ridge, and we almost missed out! Our motorhome hire conditions were sealed roads only – a pretty standard rule so keep this in mind if renting – we were not allowed to go off-road with ours.

We worked out which of the stops we could get to safety and were going to have to be happy with that we lady luck stepped in – no we didn’t find any gems – but we did meet two friendly travellers at our caravan park who offered to take us with them in their four-wheel drive, so we were off. This leads to the next question that we have been asked a bunch of times…

Can I take a two-wheel drive on the Car Door Tours?

The green and orange car door tours offer the most challenging conditions so perhaps try the red one first and if your car survives that keep going. Provided your car has not been modified, and you have decent clearance you should be fine. It also probably depends on how much you love your car ha-ha! 

Red Car Door Tour

We started with the Red Car Doors, and this was probably our favourite of the those on offer. If you only have the time or inclination for one this should be it. We feel it covers the most impressive sites.

We felt the key sites on this tour were:

• The Ridge Castle – a stone and bottle house
• Astronomers Monument
• Amigos Castle
• The Bottle House

Driving time on the Red Car Door Tour is only 20 minutes, but we spent a several hours on this one including the stops.

Yellow Car Door Tour

Driving the Yellow route takes about 45 minutes, but you will probably need two hours if you stop and explore a couple of places.

The big sites on this drive are the Three Mile Opal Fields, the Chambers of the Black Hand, Lunatic Hill and the corrugated iron church at the Four Mile Opal Field.

While it looks old, the church was purpose-built for an almost unheard-of film Goddess of 1967. Photographers will find plenty to keep their cameras busy.

Blue Car Door

We gave this one a miss so I can’t comment – driving time is only 10 minutes with 8 stops (doors). The main site on this route is Bevan’s Cactus Nursery.

Green Car Door Tour

Our tour guide suggested we do the green door route in the late afternoon to time our visit for sunset – perfect advice! It was spectacular – reminded me a lot of an Uluru sunset.

The last and main stop is Nettleton’s First Shaft Lookout with its view over the Coocoran Opal Fields.

Charlie Nettleton dug the first mine in Lightning Ridge in 1903.

There were probably about 20 cars out here the night we went. We kept taking photos for a about half hour after sunset and drove back to our accommodation in total darkness which was quite an experience.

This full drive takes about 30 minutes to complete and starts just outside town.

Orange Car Door Tour

You can drive out to Grawin Opal Fields and visit the key sites, the Glengarry ‘Hilton’, The Pub in the Scrub and the Sheepyard Hotel and Opal Fields on your own using the Orange Car map but again we were thwarted by the roads and so booked a tour.

Download the maps here

Outback Opal Tour

We signed up for Outback Opal Tours 8-hour trip that covered all the above sites and included morning tea and lunch. Our guide gave an excellent commentary on the drive. 

Where to eat in Lightning Ridge

We ate at Morillas Café, every day, usually for brunch/lunch, and enjoyed every meal. The coffee was excellent too!

We cooked dinners ourselves most nights, so we can’t give too much insight into the dining scene. The pub had lost their cook, and the Bowling Club was booked out!

Where: 2 Morilla St, Lightning Ridge
When: 7-2pm most days

IGA supermarket was a fantastic surprise – well stocked with plenty of ready meals and salads that tasted great – it was one of the better supermarkets we found in outback NSW and well priced too surprisingly. We were happy to make use of the fabulous camp kitchen at our caravan park.

Where: 33 Opal St
When: 7am-7pm (9am-5pm Sunday)

All About Opals

Words like “doublet”, “triplet” and of course “Black Opal” will be thrown at you left right and centre, if you know nothing about opals, you will after your visit.

The Ridge is a great spot to pick up some unique artwork or jewellery. While the opals we have seen in souvenir shops across the country never really attracted my interest, there are some gorgeous designs.

So did I buy one? You bet I did – I fell in love with the work at Down to Earth Opals – sadly much of it was a little out of my budget, but I bought a lovely solid stone to have set when I decide what I would like to do with it!

Can You Really Find Opals in Lightning Ridge?

Sure can, if you find the opal bug takes hold while you are here, then you can try a little fossicking in the opal dumps where heaps of cast-off material is “dumped”. All you need is a small handheld metal rake and a bottle of water to wash the rocks.

There are a few official areas where tourists can dig through these offcasts looking for opals, and valuable finds do happen. The easiest site to find is right by the visitor’s centre, and there is another on the way to Grawin.

Our day out with Outback Opal tours included some time at one of the heaps and a lesson on finding valuable (albeit small) pieces.

Where to Stay in Lightning Ridge?

Accommodation options in this outback town are straightforward – choose from motels, caravan parks, or Airbnb properties.

Lightning Ridge Caravan Parks

We visited as part of our five-week Northern and Central NSW Road Trip. We were travelling in a motorhome and decided that we wanted power for this visit, so we booked into one of the town’s caravan parks. There are at least five caravan parks in the area. These are three we checked out.

Lightning Ridge Holiday Park

We chose Lightning Ridge Holiday Park for our stay based on recommendations from friends who had enjoyed their stay. We also liked the location. The supermarket, cafes and sites on Opal Street and Morilla Street with just a couple of minutes walk away. The community olympic pool and water theme park are next door but are only opened during summer.

The owners were great and work hard to create a friendly vibe, with thrice-weekly happy hours in the busy season. We were lucky enough to be there for two of these and enjoyed the chance to meet other travellers and taste the delicious complimentary pizza they cooked for us to share.

They offer tent sites, powered and unpowered sites and several cabins. While the facilities are old, everything is spotlessly clean. We highly recommend staying here and actually spending one day longer in the Ridge than we planned to because we loved the place.

Where: 44 Harlequin St, Lightning Ridge

Opal Caravan Park

Almost everyone else we met was staying at Opal Caravan Park. Part of the Top Parks chain is the closest caravan park to the Artesian Baths – you can walk over – and also has an onsite swimming pool.

There is a variety of cabins, including an accessible cabin. Prices are a bit higher – it was $12 a night more expensive for a powered site when we checked, but if you want the extra facilities, it might be worth it for you. It’s probably the best choice if you are travelling with kids.

Where: 142 Pandora Street, Lightning Ridge

Lightning Ridge Outback Resort & Caravan Park

If your idea of a caravan park includes a pub, this might be for you! Located close to the visitors’ centre on the main street, there is a range of accommodation options here.

Where: Onyx St, Lightning Ridge

Want to learn more about Lightning Ridge before you visit? Check out the series Outback Opal Hunters on Discovery Channel.

Do you ever ignore the must-see sites when you travel?

We missed a couple of places here – Chambers of the Black Hand, a mine that features hand-carved artwork instead of opals, is on every must-see list, but it just didn’t appeal to us at $40 per person. It was also a challenge to fit into our schedule so we left it out. 

We also missed The Big Opal at $20 each and the Opal Mine Adventure, also $20; it was busy season and we had not booked. However we felt our money and time were better spent on the Grawin Opal Fields’ full-day tour.

So there you have it, our travel tips for enjoying 4 days in Lightning Ridge, one of the most unique Aussie towns we have been to so far! If you have any questions, pop over to our FB group and we will try to help.

Planning a lap of Australia? Read our interviews with 5 full-time travellers and get their tips!

It’s a good idea to have travel insurance to cover any cancellation or unexpected problems that may arise in the outback. We use and recommend Cover-More for all our travel. They also offer an inbound plan for anyone visiting Australia.