Lightning Ridge accommodation

We stayed at the opal as well. Great swimming pool. Very friendly people. Had an enclosed yard for dogs if you wanted to do a mine tour. The yard had 2 big dogs already in it so they let our daschund stay in the office in his bed. Loan of a battery drill and masonary bit to enable tent pegs to be put in. Will be going back on our next trip.

The drill is an absolute necessity, as the ground has been rolled solid. Lovely place to stay, though!

G`day Fellow travellers,

"The drill is an absolute necessity, as the ground has been rolled solid."

I was also offered the drill with a masonry bit. I thankfully declined the offer.
Every now and then I see/read where people have had trouble driving tent pegs into hard ground.
I have been camping for over 60 years and as long as I can remember, if the ground was hard you poured a bit of water around the peg, less than 1/4 cup is usually enough. BINGO, job done, end of story.
Of course decent pegs are a necessity, the type you sometimes get that are made from light gauge wire are no good for anything.
Got a hard area nearby ?. Go and try it.

Scrubby.

Hi Scrubby,

The problem at lightning ridge is that it is all rock from the mines and it has been packed down. You actually drill through rock to put your pegs in. They have built up the area of the caravan park with overburden so it is above the surface flood water and also to level it.
As we said though great place and had a good time.

G`day Chooky & Wobble,

Yeah I know it is tough stuff, mainly sedimentary sandstone and some other hard ironstone type rock.
While I was there in the C/park I seen others using the drill, it drilled the ground very easily unless they hit a hard rock, they then moved to another spot for the peg and tried again.
I did exactly the same without using the drill, just a drizzle of water around the peg, easy as.
My mate in another van uses 10" screwdrivers for annex pegs, he had difficulty driving them in until I put water at the bottom, again easy as.

I don`t have an issue with people using whatever method they like to do various tasks when camping, and maybe they don`t know it`s just so simple to use a bit of water on a tent peg.

Cheers mate,

Scrubby.

x 2 from us as well.

i have stayed at lorne station a couple of times,very basic facilities when i was there,hot showers,flushing toilets,common room,powered sites,town water supply,huge amount of room to camp just about anywhere,really bush camping with space away from other campers,not flash but suited me.

Also they put on film nights free for campers featuring historic films shown on a truly ancient projector..lots of fun.