BIG4 Opal Holiday Park

While this is a small outback town, you’ll still find some great places for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We started our morning at The Busy Bee Cafe on Opal Street, in the heart of town. The aroma of barista-made coffee greeted us as we walked in. Locals were chatting away as they got their morning coffee. The menu was full of tempting options. We ended up with a couple of flat whites, a stack of buttermilk pancakes and a breakfast roll.

Lunch at Opal Street Cafe felt like a homemade treat in a café setting. Also located on Opal Street, it’s a family-run spot with a fresh-city ambience in the outback. There’s a great range of focaccia, sandwiches and wraps to choose from, with seating outside to the town hum along around you. The coffee was excellent, too.

For dinner, we made our way to the Outback Hotel. The menu is standard pub fare,there’s cold beer on tap and a pool table. If you hang out long enough, you’re more than likely to have a local pull up a chair next to you and spin some local yarns. A true Aussie outback pub experience. 

Of course, if you feel like self-catering, the Park has no less than three camp kitchens as well as a well-maintained BBQ Area.

A soak in the Lightning Ridge Artesian Bore Baths is an absolute must while you’re here. Open 24 hours (except 10am-noon daily when closed for cleaning). Free to enter, these naturally heated pools sit at a soothing 40–50°C and are fed directly from the Great Artesian Basin. We stopped by just after sunset when the air cooled off — floating under a canopy of stars in the outback silence is something you won’t soon forget. The best thing is, they’re located just 200 metres from the Park. As an added bonus, there are showers, toilets and a change area on site.

For something you’ll only find in Lightning Ridge, make time for the Chambers of the Black Hand, an underground art gallery carved into an old opal mine. Walking through the cool tunnels, you’ll come across walls etched and sculpted with everything from ancient Egyptian figures to pop culture icons.

To get a feel for the town’s quirky character, follow the Car Door Tours — a self-guided drive that takes you past old mine sites, art installations, and local landmarks. Each different route is marked by painted car doors (red, green, blue or yellow) and feels like a treasure hunt through Lightning Ridge’s eccentric past and creative present.

And of course, you can’t come to Lightning Ridge without experiencing a real opal mine tour. Local operators like Black Opal Tours offer guided visits where you can learn how opals are formed, see the tools used underground, and even try your luck fossicking for your own gem. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the lifeblood of this iconic outback town.

If you’re travelling with a four legged companion then you’re in luck with this Park. There’s a dedicated off-lead play area and even a ‘doggy day-care’ so you can leave your pup behind for the day and explore the NSW outback.