When I enter into Lightning Ridge, a small outback opal-mining town in Australia, I had a high expectation. And my expectations were ultimately met, when I (initially) saw the faded advertisement board and weather-beaten appearance of a town doing much effort to be attractive to tourists.
So after driving a certain distance from my way to get there, I was ready to drive away the next morning.
I am lucky to have one evening; one opportunities for Lightning Ridge to do remedy. And so it did. Actually, I see such a ardent and friendly group of people at a Rotary meeting that night, who introduce more fabulous people to me during the next few days, that I stayed a week in this place I had only planed to passing through. I now have friends there who will surely be so for many years to come.
Sometimes looking beyond the facade of a place and allowing its true colors to seep in can result in the most beautiful of experience.
