EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

The Opalton track (130km) from Winton follows the Jundah road for a short way before bearing left. Ten kilometres past Bladensburg Station turn-off is a track on the left to Skull Waterhole , named after the "dispersal" of the Goa Aborigines by the Native Mounted Police. Despite this sad history it's an interesting spot, as the water attracts kangaroos, budgerigars and ring-necked parrots, and there are also some caves to poke around in.

OPALTON is a multicultural shanty town, with Yugoslav and Czech miners, as well as deserters from Coober Pedy in South Australia, reworking century-old diggings with Chinese and Korean finance. You need to be entirely self-sufficient here: the only modern feature is a solar-powered telephone and there isn't any drinking water. During the summer there won't be any miners either - hotels in Winton are easily preferable to Opalton's 40°C-plus temperatures. Fossicking zones have been established where you can pick over old tailings for scraps. There is a camping and caravan area , "washing water", and a small store that's open most days from 10am to 2pm - they don't sell fuel, however.

If you don't have your own transport, it's worth seeing the area on a day-tour from Winton to Carisbrooke Station , 85km southwest of Winton (by arrangement, minimum of four passengers; $105; tel 07/4657 3984), where you can also spend the night in renovated shearer's quarters (under $50). The trip includes visits to an opal mine and to caves covered in Aboriginal paintings - some abstract, others recognizable outlines of boomerangs and club-like nulla-nullas.