Place of the hidden fire stick

Lightning Ridge seems a strange name for a town, but not when you know that some believe the ironstone ridges actually attract lightning bolts. The aboriginals, of course, knew it first and named it 'the place of the hidden fire stick'.

Or were they talking about the opals?

Ever since opals were first discovered in this place in the 1880s, people have been coming here in search of the gemstone with fire in its belly – the red and blue, purple and green flames that leap out as you turn them.

But the craze for discovery also shows in other ways: madcap architecture such as the house where the walls are made of discarded bottles, the car door tours, or the astronomer monument.

This is the sort of town that attracts visionaries, eccentrics and unique characters. More details.... and even more...