Humour And Stress Free,
opal-miners-lifestyle

The opal-miners-lifestyle does not include the people that work at shops, schools and businesses in Lightning Ridge. The opal-miners-lifestyle does not have any nine to five rush, or associated stress.

Most of the Lightning Ridge population here could be described as life stylers or miners, or a combination of both. Life stylers live here for the stress free life the opal fields offer, and of course miners are here to find opal. There is a blend of both.

In the outlying fields like Grawin and Glengarry, where we are currently mining and living, the world slows right down. Miners please themselves when they work. Some might work three days a week where as others do a full five days a week. Or, like ourselves, we try to work three weeks, seven days a week and then travel to Armidale to visit family for ten days of so.

Grawin and Glengarry both have golf-courses with a strong and committed membership. Golf is played every Sunday on both courses in the cooler months and hold a serious end of season competition. Of course the greens are not grass but just hard red earth.

Most people who live here have a field car and a town car. The field cars are unregistered and are used to travel around the fields. From their camp to their claim, to the pub, to the shop.

Although the Grawin, Glengarry, Sheepyard Miner's Association maintains the roads around the fields, strictly speaking they are still public roads. The police visit the area occasionally and issue infringement notices as a deterrent to the use of unregistered vehicles on these roads. Most mine trucks are also unregistered.

The opal fields are home to some very colourful characters with names like Smurf, Flooby and Lumby who are hard working miners. They all love a beer and a yarn. I have known these guys for about four years, but I wouldn't have a clue as to their real names.

There is a saying that alcohol is a social lubricant. This is an important part of the opal-miners-lifestyle. As with any small Australian community, there is a lot of gossip and rumours passed around. The only difference here is that most of the stories are about opal, and who is finding it. I have been told several times that someone said I had found a big patch of opal. Of course I would deny it, regardless of whether it's fact or fiction.

Some say the real locals here are the people who stay here right through the summer months when the day temperatures can consistently reach forty-eight degrees and the nights cooling to only thirty-three degrees for weeks at a time.

Trying to work in these conditions is almost impossible. Hot, sweaty, sleepless nights, with no real escape from the heat during the day causes everyone's patience to be very short.

All miners that live on the opal fields live in camps

This is the name given to their dwelling, regardless of how extensive it may be. Some camps are quite large, comfortable homes, with elaborate solar power systems, and run a generator twenty-four hours a day through summer to keep the air conditioner operating.

The winters are quite mild compared to most parts of the country. I have seen a morning temperature as low as minus four degrees, but the days that follow these cold mornings are quite comfortable. All camps on the field have a wood fire for winter heating.

There is no mains electricity on any of the opal fields except for a very thin power line that runs to the

Club In The Scrub , and The Hilton. These are small country pubs. A lot of camps now have a land-line phone, internet connection, and only quite recently, four television channels and mobile phone signal across most of the fields.

Some camps are on claims with old underground workings beneath them. A fan can be used to suck the cool air from underground to cool their camp in summer, and warm it in winter. Underground temperatures remain stable all year round.

Some camps are not much more then a tin shed or caravan, and use a twelve-volt fan and a hand held water spray to try to keep cool in the summer nights.

You may say a opal-miners-lifestyle sounds very hard, maybe it is. Most people that come here either love the opal-miners-lifestyle or they hate it.

Understandably, most miners try to leave the opal fields for at least January to avoid the peak of summer.

Miners and there families who live in the town of Lightning Ridge enjoy all the modern facilities Australian outback towns have.

There is one luxury that very few other towns have and that is the Lightning Ridge Bore Baths

These are council owned pools that use water from the water bore which is close by. The hot water comes from about 1000 meters underground.

These baths have purported therapeutic value for all types of arthritic ailments. I visit them every time I go to Lightning Ridge and certainly benefit from them. Most miners frequent these pools at least once a week. They are recognized as an important part of the opal-miners-lifestyle.

Lightning Ridge, the-name , has a unique origin. A man, his dog, and 600 sheep were killed in a storm, sometime around 1870.

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