Our attempts of opal fossicking in Lightning Ridge were disappointing! We only found 2 small rocks with tiny opal speckles, hardly visible to the naked eye. So we decided to cut our losses and move on.
About an hour from Lightning Ridge we crossed the border to Queensland and drove into Hebel. Almost instantly we felt the warming Queensland sun and changed for the first time into shorts and short sleeves. It was just the right climate to join a group of travellers in front of the old Hebels Hotel for one of the famous Queensland XXXX beers. The hotel originates from 1880 and used to be a changing station for Cobb & Co horse drawn coaches. Some colourful paintings of emus, flowers and sheep decorate the front of the hotel, some painted by Lightning Ridge artist John Murray, who some Aussies may know from his painting of Tony Abbott in “Budgy smugglers”.
As the temperature hit 25℃, we just sat back enjoying the sun and watching the passing traffic - a truck or car about every 2 minutes. A busy day on the road in the outback! The truck drivers were looking longingly at our beers and relaxed state.
We contemplated the history of this 1 street-, 1 pub-, 1 general store- town. Having once housed 2 members of the infamous Kelly Gang (horse thieving bushrangers), Dan Kelly and Steve Hart, it used to be called “Kelly’s Point”.
And then it was lunchtime and we thought 'we might as well stay for the good Hebel's pub-lunch’.
Our stop for the night was St. George, a nice little township on the Balonne River. The air was filled with the twitter of birds of all kind: parrots, galahs, honey eaters etc. plus flocks of cockatoos. The scene of the tree-lined river, quacking ducks and the setting sun reflected in the water reminded us of boating in France and Bastille Day, which most of our boating friends would celebrate on one or the other canal on this day. So after a walk along the river we had our own little celebration with a glass of red (at least in my case), some camembert and French fig jam (thanks to our friend, Jane). Hope all you boat friends had a good one! We miss you!
The following morning the long awaited rain came and the people of St. George were smiling. A good time for us to visit the “Unique Egg”. It was a truely amazing experience seeing those delicately carved Emu eggs by Stavros Margaritis and hearing his story. He taught himself wood carving in Greece and then discovered the layers of natural colour in an Emu egg here in Australia.
He even met Barrack Obama and gifted one of his creations to him. Apart from decorative patterns, eggs feature major sporting and world events, Australian fauna and flora. Just very special!