May 26-28, 2017
After a week in Tibooburra it was time to head off and as the road to the North was reported to be in poor condition we headed back down the Silver City Highway and turned East to the Opal mining town of White Cliffs.
Along the way, just at the turn off, you arrive at the RFDS airstrip built as part of the highway for emergency landings in the area.
The 140km from here to White Cliffs is all gravel but mostly in very good condition allowing travel at about 80km/h; off to the right (South) you get a great view of the Barrier Ranges where we had stopped at the lookout on the way North from Broken Hill.
There was only a stretch of about 35km, from 50km to 15km out of White Cliffs that was in worse condition and slowed us to around 50 for a while.
Along the way we stopped just off the road for lunch and after setting off again encountered a couple of cattle road trains; an inevitable hazard on these outback roads necessitating pulling over to allow them to pass safely.
White Cliffs these days has a population of 103 and there are only 3 commercial opal Mines left in operation. During the (winter) season there are about 30 other “hobby” miners, a few of whom were obviously staying on the Caravan Park.
The Park is owned by the Council and very well equipped as well as well priced. The town supports a hotel and Store/Servo as well as a primary school, Police and Ambulance stallions.
While here we visited the Red Earth Opal Mine and went on their tour. This was one of the best value tours we have ever done, for the $20 fee you get about 2 1/2 hours of history, viewing of samples and a full underground experience.
Underground we saw every aspect of the operation which is extremely labour intensive but Graeme has introduced every possible mechanical aid he can and has progressively taken over adjoining leases to his original mine as each “claim” is only 50m x 50m at ground level (and below).
For the diehard “Home and Away” fans this mine was the setting for the murder and earlier scenes when Brax and Ash went looking for Billie.
Our host, Graeme Dowton, is a recognised expert in the opal mining community and this mine is the only known source of the “Opal Pineapple”
