Top Things to do in Lightning Ridge
Top Restaurants in Lightning Ridge
Countries
The 6 Best Sights & Landmarks in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales
Discover the best top things to do in Lightning Ridge, Australia including 3 mile Heritage opal mines, Lightning Ridge, Cooper's Cottage, Amigos Castle, Stanley the Emu, Astronomers Monument.
Restaurants in Lightning Ridge
1. 3 mile Heritage opal mines
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 6 reviews
2. Lightning Ridge
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 231 reviews
Reviewed By 524katies524 - Wollongong, Australia
Lightning Ridge is a truly unique and amazing place. I travelled with two young children to experience a different aspect of Australia, and we all had an amazing and enriching experience. I recommend taking a 4-wheel drive, as many of the sights are off-road. We stayed at the Opal Caravan Park in a small but well-equipped and comfortable cabin, which was perfect. Highlights include: driving off-road, seeing wild emu, taking the Black Opal Tour, visiting some wonderful art galleries (JW Murray and Mary Bird to name a couple), the artesian bore baths, sunset at Nettleton's first shaft ridge, fossicking (in designated areas), seeing remote mining camps and huts, getting a sense of the life of an opal miner, and much more. It is a long drive from most places but worth a visit. The locals are extremely friendly and helpful. The landscape and terrain outside the main town is quite breathtaking. A couple of things to be mindful of - check weather conditions and roads before you travel, as some roads can be closed if there has been a lot of rain, and, use the Telstra network for mobile, as other telcos don't seem to have network coverage here.
3. Cooper's Cottage
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
4. Amigos Castle
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 161 reviews
Reviewed By Lollyz91 - New South Wales, Australia
Greeted at the gate by Anita Paid our $5 each entry and she gave us a fantastic talk about the castle and how it came about What amazing structure highly recommend you can even climb up to the top Anita answered all questions and was very knowledgeable You can explore freely around the structure
5. Stanley the Emu
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 78 reviews
Reviewed By gummer99 - Sydney, Australia
Stop and read the back story behind this creation and marvel how it came about Truly amazing piece of work, it is visible miles away Stop at the rest stop across the road and get some nice pictures of Stanley
6. Astronomers Monument
Overall Ratings
3.0 based on 88 reviews
Reviewed By Connector616691
This is a most remarkable building because it literally tells its own story about the man who dreamed up this crazy, fascinating structure. What a story he lived - firstly winning not one lottery but two and then later being gaoled for murder and finally being reprieved so he could find a new home in Lightning Ridge where he could build this memorial to his heroes, the early astronomers who suffered for science. The current caretaker/owner of this amazing building has a bad reputation in Lightning Ridge and has been called crazy. Maybe she is a bit. Maybe you need to be to live and survive in a town like Lightning Ridge that’s built on dreams but we spent two hours with her as she showed us around and she was charming and proud of this place she calls home. It could do with a bit less clutter but definitely worth the $5 it cost us for entry. Whatever you do though don’t just walk by and take photos as you most likely will get shouted at as she feels that you are taking advantage of what is, after all, her income.
