Lightning Ridge and Lunatic Hill

This was our second visit to Lightning Ridge, a quirky spot where characters lead a rough life.

We spotted a corrugated tin church built in 2000 for the 1967 film, The Green Goddess. At the back of the church, there was an eloquent order - Privet Pissof! scrawled on a boarded window - could that be the red army military in Lightning Ridge?

We continued to Lunatic Hill. The miners who chose to dig there were ridiculed, but had the last laugh when they struck it rich.

Overlooking the opencut mine, we met a wizened miner with his adopted, dingo ridgeback cross dog. He said another miner had raised two pure dingo pups, real beauties, but when the owner went to town, someone let the pups out and they went on a killing spree, so the dingoes were shot.

The town itself exhibits quirky cartoons by the local artist John Murray.

T