A 65km drive northwest of Walgett, via the tiny town of Cumborah, will bring you to the unique opal fields of Grawin-Glengarry-Sheepyards.
Leaving the bitumen after Cumborah you will enter the fields via white opal-dirt roads (in various conditions depending on the timing of the grader), and after rain may see people noodling (fossicking) for opal along the roadside.
The fields hide three pubs! The Grawin Club in the Scrub was built from local cypress pine logs by opal miners, who also constructed the adjacent Royal Grawin Golf Club. Another golf club can be found near the Glengarry Hilton, open 8 days a week from 6am to 6am. The final pub is the Sheepyards with its collection of opal and military memorabilia. All pubs serve meals and the Sheepyards has a bakery operating several days a week.
There is a war memorial and dam near Sheepyards, which attracts a large ANZAC day crowd, a local craft shop near the Hilton and a small store and opal retail shop at Grawin.
As you travel though the opal fields beware of open shafts and mining machinery (you’ll see plenty of trucks, hoists and blowers) and say g’day to the miners you meet along the way – chances are they will have a kaleidoscopic piece of opal in their pocket!