Greased Lightning

Another great brekky, this time in Lightning Ridge. The Rotary club of Lightning Ridge were the providers, and eager esCarpadians scoffed the offerings before heading to the Lightning Ridge school. The puppets were on fire again, delivering more action, pathos and comedy before we once again hit the road.

Today was our longest drive clocking in approximately 480 km. Our journey took us to Glengarry's opal fields and the World Famous Glengarry Hilton. The esCarpadians packed the alfresco bar space and locals turned up in droves. To our joy and surprise the locals had organised a raffle and auction of goods to help raise funds for Camp Quality. Locals known as Smurf, Ozzie Dave and the-guy-who-usually-has-a-galah-on-his-hat were all winners of prizes.

The Glengarry Hilton is one of Australia's remotest pubs and our circuit had us skirting the Queensland border today. We were driving in true outback locations, stations dotting the landscape and minute towns spaced at huge distances between it all. Part of our route had us driving through the private land holding, Golden Plains, owned by wonderful hosts David and Nicole Currey who greeted all the cars that passed through. That's David and Nicole's shed below.
Lunch was at 'The Hilton', and we arrived at the remarkable pub via a series of remote, broad, dusty roadways. The town itself supports between 200 and 500 people depending on the season with most building homes on opal claims. A unique sight with various styles of housing with discarded dirt mounds punctuating the landscape. Peter, proprietor of the Glengarry Hilton was a generous host, as were the ladies who served us our delicious lunch. Many thanks again to the good people of Glengarry for their hospitality.

Today was hot hot hot. Temperatures have been pushing 40 degrees so it's time to get on with it, hit the road, get to Bourke.

Day Off!

Today was our official day of rest. The mechanics were ballistically busy, fixing cars, cleaning engine components, repairing wear and tear. One team even managed to do an entire engine removal and installation as the road challenges our elderly steeds. Big round of applause to the tireless efforts of the three mechanic teams, they work constantly, behind the scenes and are incredible for on road service. Just about every car that has had issues is in fine working order. They are super guys.

Today was stinking hot, it was steady on 34 for most of the day so indoor venues were a sought after retreat. Many people explored the town and took tours of the surrounding mines and opal fields.

The evening culminated in a 'mini Olympics' hosted by Josh and Candice, our esCarpade directors. It was a night of high spirits, lively banter, cross dressing Karaoke and wig wearing dance floor action

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Lorne Station

We had a great experience at Lorne Station, a gathering place on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge, where we were able to enjoy an open air dinner amongst the mines and scrub of the areaBelow is a touch of the Gold Coast in Lightning Ridge. They also have a nice, big, green car. I'm not sure what the correlation is between Gold Coast and green cars, but I'm ok with it all anyway.
Highlight of the evening was perhaps when one of our entertainer's donned an American Indian headdress and sang Apache.
Some more esCarpadians...
The crew amongst the trees...

Our hosts were amazing putting on a lavish spread and then following this up with our own personal music concert complemented by open pit fires.

It sure was convivial!