Things to do in Lightning Ridge, NSW

The best things to do in Lightning Ridge include swimming at the Artesian Bore Baths and taking an opal mine tour. Other Lightning Ridge attractions include the John Murray Art Gallery, the Bottle House Museum and the Australian Opal Centre.

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining town in outback New South Wales. It’s a long way off the usual east coast tourist route, but for anyone wanting to see a different side to Australia, Lightning Ridge has a surprisingly strong appeal.

Where is Lightning Ridge, NSW?

Lightning Ridge is in the far north of New South Wales, about 65km south of the Queensland border. This outback opal town is a 265km drive west of Moree, and a 348km drive north of Dubbo.

The nearest town over the Queensland border, also on the Castlereagh Highway, is Hebel.

Lightning Ridge attractions: Artesian bore baths

The best things to do in Lightning Ridge, NSW, include the artesian Bore Baths, the Chambers of the Black Hand and the opal mine tours.

The water in the Lightning Ridge Bore Baths is thought to be around two million years old. It comes from the Great Artesian Basin, which lies underneath a huge chunk of outback Australia. Water is naturally heated to between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius, and entry to this Lightning Ridge pool is free.

Best things to do in Lightning Ridge, NSW: Underground art gallery

The Chambers of the Black Hand is perhaps the most unusual of these Lightning Ridge attractions. It is an opal mine that has been turned into an extraordinary underground art gallery.

Carvings at Chambers of the Black Hand in Lightning Ridge, NSW. Photo courtesy of Destination NSW.

Tours take in the opal mining section, but concentrate on the hand-carved artworks. These include an Egyptian room, dinosaurs and a sandstone recreation of the Last Supper.

What to do in Lightning Ridge: John Murray Art Gallery

For more art in Lightning Ridge, visit the John Murray Art Gallery. Murray paints photo-realistic landscapes, but they’re often sprinkled with humerous, almost cartoonish elements. It’s a very distinctive style, and feels like genuine Australiana without slipping into the realms of tackiness.

The John Murray art trail continues with the statue of Stanley the Emu. This six metre-high roadside attraction has much more character and class about it than most of Australia’s notorious Big Things.

Things to do in Lightning Ridge, NSW: Opal Mine Adventure

Opal Mine Adventure is arguably the best of the Lightning Ridge opal mine tours without an art gimmick. Formerly known as the Walk-In Mine, Opal Mine Adventure looks at the history of mining in Lightning Ridge on guided visits through the tunnels. There’s also an on-site opal field, where visitors can try their luck fossicking for opals.

If you just want to buy opals, the tourist mines will happily sell them to you. However, the Opal Bin offers an impressive opal jewellery collection. The Australian Opal Centre, meanwhile also runs dinosaur fossil digs.

Bottle House Museum and Amigo’s Castle

Lightning Ridge might have bizarre mines, but it also has some pretty strange houses. The Bottle House Museum at 60 Opal Street was built entirely from old bottles.

Amigo’s Castle, meanwhile, is an absurd, gaudy and incomplete attempt by an Italian miner to build himself a European-style castle in the heart of the Australian outback.

Lightning Ridge tours

There are so many things to do in Lightning Ridge that the way to get the best out of a visit may well be to go on a tour. Black Opal Tours runs a trip that takes in mines, fossick, opal cutting demonstrations and the Bore Baths. Full and half day packages are available.

It’s also possible to do a series of self-drive tours around Lightning Bridge, with highlights marked by different-coloured car doors. Pick up a leaflet at the Lightning Ridge Visitor Information Centre for more information on the car door tours.