Day 3 St George - Dirranbandi - Hebel -Lightning Ridge

St George - and we met the most amazing "hands on" Greek characters of St George.

Stavros Margaritis - came to Australia in 1953, aged 16. He  had filled his life with so many adventures, and so many different careers.  Now he runs a sports store on one side, and the Emu Eggs on the other.

That is where we met him at 8.00am this morning.  And we were quite stunned at the work, his stories, and his approach to life.  Uneducated, and self taught, he started wood carvings in Greece, while fleeing the village which had been razed by war.  He lived in a cave for 2 years, with his family, a small boy, who had to invent his own fun.  We carved wood with a broken bottle.

On coming to Australia he eventually applied that same technique to carving emu eggs. And the result is stunning.

In the drought times the emu egg consists of two colours in its layers, brown and beige.
Otherwise there are so many different layers and each a different colour.

Intriguing to say the least.

The emu is endemic to Australia, similar to an Ostrich, and the female lays the egg, and the male sits on the eggs, and raises the chicks.

Women's Lib he thought!

Anzac Tribute, the displays are all individually illuminated

 Back on the road again, bumpy roads and then to Dirranbandi.  A cafe, and a bakery took our eye, mind you there was not much else in Dirranbandi.  Imagine it 100 years ago, thriving with settlers, sheep and workers.

The town

Road trains

And the Green Frog Cafe.

Can you imagine why a Russian lady would open a bakery in such an isolated place?  Well thank goodness Natalie and her husband ventured from Darwin to Dirranbandi.  Inside the shop was an enormous display of different cakes, all European based, and she bakes them all for a Christmas Fair.

Natalie is half way through making a huge gingerbread house, and surrounds herself with all sorts of interesting food.  She told us that in winter she is run off her feet, with caravans everywhere.  We could believe it given her dedication to producing great food, but unfortunately no pirozhkies.

After some marketing discussions, I was given a genuine Russian Gingerbread round, and it is delicious.   So if you live in Dirranbandi, how about supporting Natalie and ask her to bake some delicious traditional food.  The best description is a pastie, or a chinese bun!

Pirozhki - Wikipedia

Along the road, and onto Hebel.  We had viewed some travel DVD's and were looking forward to 

spending some time there, but gave it a miss.  The bushranger Kelly gave it some notoriety.  

The accommodation in cabins 

Everywhere are the flies, but it gets worse so we are told.  Another rough road, and we arrived at Lightening Ridge.  The Opal Caravan Park is large, dry, ochre coloured, but our cabin is not as spacious as St George, but with more appointments enough for the 4 of us to have a meal cooked here.

We then decided to visit the Tourist Office, and collected information for a Car door tour.

Initially it was a bit of a laugh, but by the end there was just nothing you could describe it as.

They're a Wierd Mob sprung to mind.  Not sure how the system works, but they must have mining leases, obviously not governed by the same laws that apply to major mining companies, and one wonders why.  You be the judge.

And the best church in Australia!   

Stanley - The Emu and a time capsule to be opened in 2063

As you can see the building code is a bit unusual.  Castles half built, houses built out of any piece of junk or rubbish you can find.  No animals, no birds, and about all we have seen today was two emus!

A rather different cultural experience.

More tomorrow!