Campfires and The Ridge….

We decided to free camp in the National Forest just outside of Armidale at Dangar Falls. When we arrived we did a 5km bushwalk from our campsite, only a few minutes from where we camped were the most amazing waterfalls. When we got back dad & I collected some firewood and we started a campfire, we had toasted marshmallows and made s’mores, do you know what S'mores are? If not you need to find out and make some they are so yummy! The next morning we used the campfire again and cooked pancakes for breakfast.

Our next stop was Glen Innes, the most Celtic town in Australia. While we were there we visited The Australian Standing Stones, created in 1991/1992 this is the National Memorial to the Celtic people past and present. The stones acknowledge the contribution to Australian Culture made by people from the Celtic nations of Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, Wales, The Isle of Man, Brittany, Asturias and Galicia. I also got the chance here to pull the sword “Excalibur “ from the rock like King Arthur did but guess what?? It wouldn’t come out for me!

I was hungry after this and I love strawberries so we visited the local strawberry farm which was great, we bought 2 big boxes of strawberries, they didn't last long and they were yummy! On the way back to camp we seen a sign for an Aboriginal Art Gallery and decided to have a look, the lady who met us and showed us around was very nice and told us all about the artwork and what it meant, she even gave me 2 real boomerangs (one for me and one for dad). She explained how you know when a boomerang is real and how to throw it properly so that it comes back to you, she also said I should decorate it, that way you know it's yours. While we were talking her husband came in and it turns out he’s actually the artist Lloyd Gawura Hornsby, whose paintings she was showing us and they built and owned the gallery. He was so nice and spent a lot of time chatting with us about his life and his paintings, he was a really interesting man. Before we left he gave me a blank canvas, some paint that he uses, and some brushes, he said I should try and do my own Aboriginal Painting. His wife also gave me some Aboriginal story templates and explained how the aboriginal way is to use these to create a story with your painting, she said I should use my travels to create my own story and I promised when I’m finished that I’d send them a photo of my painting, it will be so cool to do this.

We were staying in the Showgrounds at Glen Innes which was cool as we were able to have a campfire here too, this meant more toasted marshmallows for my tummy!!

The next morning in the Showgrounds we got to see a group training for a Cattle mustering competition they were attending in a few weeks time, the youngest person was only 12 years old. They have 40 seconds to get the cattle to a certain place but it has to move around the traffic cones in a figure of eight to get there and they can only use their horse to persuade it the way it has to go, I thought it was epic!!

We left the next morning & drove towards Inverell when we got there the river in the town had burst its banks & flooded a lot of the roads & parks, it was still raining so we decided to drive onto Moree instead. We arrived in Moree & the park we stayed at had a hot spa, even though it was raining I still jumped in, it was so warm! The next day we did the Art trail in Moree, there are 16 murals to see painted all over the town, you can see the pictures of my favorite ones below.

That night we visited a friend in Moree called Andrea, she has 2 boys called Finley & Felix who were a little bit younger than me. We had homemade pizza for dinner, it was yummy & I got to play with the boys after dinner it was heaps of fun.

The next stop was Lightning Ridge, which is famous for its Opal Mines, here you can find black opals which are really rare. When we arrived we went to the Information Centre, they were really helpful & gave us lots of ideas for things to do, while I was there the lady gave me a large piece of rock taken from a mine that she said I should clean up, it looked like it could have small pieces of opal in it. She also gave me a real piece of opal & told me the mines I could visit to find out more, she said maybe I could try some fossicking myself for opals. Lightning Ridge was really warm & the campsite had a nice pool so we had a swim & then went to the bowling club for dinner.

Next day we were up early, there are 4 tours you can do by yourself, they are called the red, blue, green & yellow car door tours, they don’t take long but they each take you to different parts of town, it’s a good way to decide the tours you then want to do that you need to pay for. We visited 2 mines, the 1st one wasn’t very successful as an opal mine and they didn't find many opals, it has now become a tourist attraction for the sandstone carvings that the owner has carved below ground, they were amazing. He's separated the mine out into different areas, with a different theme in each, like the Simpson’s and Star Wars, he even had a carving of the last supper. The owner also wanted to do something fun for kids and he’d painted some hidden Wally’s in the mine, I played Where’s Wally to see how many I could find. I found 24 in total and the man gave me a prize, a bag of stones from a local mine if I clean them maybe I might find an opal!

The next mine was smaller but really interesting to see as it had been a successful mine where lots of opals were found, today though they no longer mine here but have tours for people to see how it all happened. While I was there I also tried some fossicking, I didn’t find anything worth any money but I did find some interesting looking stones.

Afterwards we went to see Bevan’s Cactus Farm they have over 2300 species and have the largest collection of Cacti in the Southern Hemisphere.

On the way back to the campsite we had a look at the Opal Shops and I bought an opal with my savings, it had lots of beautiful colors in it. The lady in the shop said she’d never had someone my age so interested in opals before and she gave me a present to take home, a notebook to write about all the things I see on my travels, I was really happy!

Late afternoon we visited the Artesian Bore Baths across from our campsite, the water temperature is usually between 40 and 46 degrees, this is VERY HOT!! You are supposed to go into the hot bath for a bit, have a cold shower and then go back into the bath, it is very relaxing and I hope to sleep well tonight!

Hope you all have a great week, until next time.

Jaime xoxo

PS. hello to everyone at my school, St Kevin's Catholic School in Dee Why, especially Mrs B and Year 4, I miss you all.

#lightningridge, #stkevinsprimaryschool