An
absolutely brilliant morning, clear and crisp. Had brekky sitting with our
backs to the sun like a couple of lizards. There was a sneaky breeze that was
trying to prevent us from warming up though. Our huge site gave us so much
privacy and because we were on the end of a row it seemed like we were alone in
the outback.
When our bones were warmed up we mounted the bikes and off we went to do a mine tour. There are many to choose from but we ended up at the Chambers of the Black Hand, which looked to be nothing from the surface but underground it was amazing. The first level was taken up by a gallery of over 700 carvings; (into the walls and ceiling) of every conceivable subject. Some tiny things and others huge, over 3m high. All done by one man, Ron Canlin, over a period of about 20 years. He was working on Adam & Eve during our tour. Ron has not received any training in carving or art, he just looks at pictures and starts work.
They also took us down another level where the opals are found. It's all fairly basic stuff, dig out and place props to hold the roof up. Not our cuppa.
It was then into the town Centre where we enjoyed a nice coffee and muffin at a very modern and well run cafe. Yes, an opal shop adjoined the cafe but the prices were very much OTT for our budget so they didn't benefit from our visit. Besides, Wendy is not that fond of opals, thank goodness for that!
The John Murray Gallery (famous for his painting
of Tony Abbot in his budgie smugglers complete with a budgie in the right spot)
was next. We'd seen his work at the Moonie Crossroads Hotel two days ago, the
style is very outback and should I say quirky. Home for lunch followed by
more cycling and exploring. We saw some pretty strange "houses"
typical of outback mining towns. One, a stone castle was gigantic.
We
finished the day relaxing in the hot mineral baths, which vary in temperature
from 40 to 60 deg. Just the shot after a day's cycling. Dinner was roast
veggies (done in a gas powered pizza oven in one of the camp kitchens) with
salmon (Greg) and pork chop (Wendy). A really nice day.
