Day 3 and we leave Dubbo to drive through dusty country roads and single lane byways to find the eclectic Lightning Ridge. Following painted car doors to examine oddities dreamed up by bored miners.

The next morning we emerge from a foggy blanket over Dubbo. We wave in the direction of the animals at the zoo and promise to come back soon for a proper visit. Quickly farmland gives way to mulga scrub and back again dependant on the availability of irrigation sources, huge agricultural supply stores dot the road with monster tractors and unmanned automated fuel stops.

The towns take pride in their appearance with tall water tanks decorated with beautiful murals and colourful crafty signs. The ground turns a rusty red and we pull over for a much needed rest and recreation, the kids ride nin circles around the rest area and Sarah cooks up restorative pasta with leftover bolognese.

Lightning Ridge

At sun down we roll into Lightning Ridge and we immediately feel we have come upon the outback experience we hoped to find in Cooper Pedy. A rough cavernous pub, artesian baths and quirky oddities that only miners could imagine. Highly recommended is the self drive car door tour, these are through mine leases and homes marked by old painted car doors with all manner of experiences from functioning mines to crazy home-made medieval-kitch castles of beer bottles.

Out on the Farm Stay

10 kms out on a mud road from town is our haven for the night, an incredible farm-stay called Carinya where we enjoy the luxury of a private dam-side powered site. The sunset is breathtaking slowly giving way to an equally vivid moon rise over the dam. The kids tour the farm and the proprietor-host Jacinta explains the workings of the property with 8 years of droughts and floods. “We only name the animals we don’t intend to kill”, she says, hence a sheep called bloody dave, a grumpy breeding pig called Judge Judy and some cuddly some soft goats called Mocha and Pippa Jr after Jacinta’s daughter. This stay would have been worth a long weekend trip all by itself, incredible hospitality and beauty.