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Accreditation No. 42241

 

About Us

OUTBACK OPAL TOURS is an accredited tour business owned and operated by a second-generation opal mining family. We promise you the best way of seeing THE RIDGE and surrounding opal fields. Everyone at OUTBACK OPAL TOURS has extensive experience within the opal mining industry and a real love and passion for our unique outback opal mining town. 

HISTORY AND OUR STORY

OUTBACK OPAL TOURS started in 2004 and the concept was to capture the true outback spirit – combined with great history & information about our famous Lightning Ridge Black Opal. The founders felt they really wanted to share their love and passion for their home town with all of our visitors. This is still our aim today and we also are very proud to call Lightning Ridge home.

Petar Borkovic and Franka Friedrichs-Borkovic are the current owners and directors of OUTBACK OPAL TOURS. Petar was born and raised here in Lightning Ridge and is a second-generation opal miner. His parents immigrated from Serbia in the early sixties. Petar’s (most people call him Borko) wife Franka came as a backpacker from Germany in 2006. She fell in love with this multicultural place first, followed by falling in love with her opal mining husband.

All of our tour guides have a special connection to Lightning Ridge. They grew up here or lived in our multi-cultural town for a long time. All of us here at OUTBACK OPAL TOURS have been involved in the opal industry in one way or another.

We believe our tours are the best way to get the real Lightning Ridge experience  and to make unforgettable and unique holiday memory. We will show you the best there is to see of out outback opal mining town.

ACCREDITATION

OUTBACK OPAL TOURS is an accredited tour operator by Service NSW with Acc.No.43182. This provides assurance that our business is committed to quality and professionalism. As a family owned and operated business, OUTBACK OPAL TOURS is ensuring we are constantly improving the tours we offer.

OUR TEAM

We pride ourselves on the standard of our tours and we are very aware of our responsibility to provide well informed, environmentally conscious, and highly trained tour guides. All guides have a sound knowledge of our local area focusing on its history, Aboriginal culture, geology, and natural environment. By regularly evaluating our guide’s performance we ensure that a high standard is maintained. You can also help us by filling in our feedback form available on each of our buses. All our guides are trained by operators Petar Borkovic and Franka Friedrichs-Borkovic

OUTBCK OPAL TOURS is always on the lookout for passionate people to lead our tours. If you think you have what it takes, contact us and tell us why we would miss out if we don’t hire you. To work with us you will need a strong interest in the opal mining industry, culture, history and be fit and healthy. You need exceptional people skills, patience and above all, take your responsibility to ensure our guests safety seriously.

OUR MISSION

OUTBACK OPAL TOURS is aiming to deliver an authentic memorable and unforgettable experience for the visitors of Lightning Ridge, which they wouldn’t get on their own. Most of all we want to share our love and passion for our unique outback town and black opal mining industry with our guests.

OUR VISION

Every Lightning Ridge visitor will come on one of our tours to see and experience THE RIDGE with us. We are dedicated to create remarkable and long-lasting memories for you by providing real tours by locals for the real experience. We want to show you what we do and why we live in our unique town.

OUR BUSSES

We operate a TOYOTA Coaster 21-seater and TOYOTA Hiace 11-seater. Both buses are air-conditioned to provide comfortable traveling even during our warmer months. To ensure you can hear our guides commentary, we have an audio system on both vehicles.

For pick-ups from Lightning Ridge airport and for private tours we have a 2016 Ford Ranger 4WD available.

AWARDS AND TESTIMONIALS

OUTBACK OPAL TOURS was awarded TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence, for the past three years in a row 2017, 2018, 2019.

Please find our reviews on Facebook and Google. If you like to read what other travellers thought of our tours or please share your experience about our tours on Tripadvisor.

Testimonials

This is what our guests say about coming on tour with OUTBACK OPAL TOURS

  • Sunset and stars tour!

    My best friend, sister and I visited for the June long weekend, wanting to see something we couldn’t possible find in Sydney we attended the ‘Outback Opal Tour’s Sunset and stars tour’ We were picked up together in the tour bus by Natalie on time... got to The first shaft location with enough time to spare. We arrived to chairs, perfect position and drinks/nibblies waiting for us along with the exceedingly handsome and friendly “Borko”. He filled us in on how the area came to be and attended to our queries with accuracy, charm and a bucketload of humour! He treated us like friends from way back even though we had only just met. I am definitely recommending Outback Opal Tours and look forward to coming back to the Ridge. 5 STARS!!!!

    Garth B

  • Nothing like local knowledge

    In April 2018 visited Lightning Ridge for a few days, as I had always been interested in this unique way of life. Went on full day tour with Outback Opal Tours and it was excellent. Small group tour only 11 people; duration was from 9am - 5pm - visited three different opal fields and iconic places such as 'Pub in the Scrub', the 'Glengarry Hilton; the Sheep Yard Community War Memorial; visited claims and met local miners. Tour guide Borko is not only a local but a miner as well and has a fantastic way of sharing stories - he is knowledgeable and humorous. Well worth it!

    catherine04413Wingham, Australia

  • Full day Tour – Pubs in the Scrub

    Nat was an amazing driver/guide and our group of 8 had a fantastic day out in the scrub. She is a local and her knowledge made it much more enjoyable. Not a trip to do on your own share it with people who from being strangers became new friends. We even managed to find some stones and with Nat’s help we all came home having had a great day. The pubs and the eclectic people you meet make it a must when visiting the area

    Jane C Camden

  • Opal fields and Pub tour

    We had a full day tour with A most experienced guide NAT. Toured the outback fields in the Grawin area saving our car from the rough roads and from getting lost. Well worth the money and recommended. Found some opals but did not make a fortune.

    ames20102014 Richmond

  • Great overview of Lightening Ridge with quality local knowledge

    My partner and I did the half day tour with Nat. We were lucky enough to have Nat all to ourselves on our Sunday afternoon tour and we loved her commentary, stories and local knowledge. We visited 3 Mile, an underground walk-in mine and saw an opal cutting and polishing demo. Black opals are so divine and hearing how they are found is so very interesting. Nat pointed out all lots of other sites along the way and made recommendations of what else to see and do whilst in town. Would definitely like to do the full-day tour next time - but glad we started with this half-day Town Tour. Oh loved Amigo's Castle ... fascinating place to visit and hear stories of this character! Highly recommend this Tour

    LeeLahLah Sydney, Australia

  • Tour de Force – Outback Opal Tours – Lightning Ridge

    Lightning Ridge is one of those places that you are always "Gunna" visit. Put this place on your Bucket list. Excellent roads to get there (travelled from Brisbane), plenty of accommodation, but book in advance as during the cooler months it can easily be booked out. Call into the Tourist Information Centre and they will set you up with all the information and mud maps that you need. Bring your camera, put on those comfy walking shoes and let’s go and check out Lightning Ridge. There is so much to do and see. You can self-drive or leave the car as I did and jump on the Outback Opal Tours bus. Peter, what an outback character, was our driver and tour guide. His local knowledge and knock about style just added to a very professionally operated half day Tour. The tour covered most of the Car Door tour routes as well as a town tour and a stop at an Opal Shop with a behind the scenes look at selecting, cutting and polishing of these valuable stones. I would recommend a tour of Lightning Ridge and surrounds, you can self-drive but be aware that some of the roads out of town are very rough and not maintained. By going on a tour, some of the attractions that you might just pass by can come alive with all the area’s history and tales of the quirky people that have lived and still live in the area. Note: Mine Tours The mine tours are a must do. Some are guided and some you can do at your own pace. These mines can be deep underground and accessed by stairs. If you have any concerns in accessing sometimes very steep staircases, I would check with the Tour Operator before heading off on you adventure.

    brockc761 Brisbane, Australia

  • Fun and informative

    Great tour by Pete! Lots of interesting sights and facts. The focus is on opal mining, but there are other interesting sights in Lightning Ridge Pete shared with us. Comprehensive and entertaining

    csk_sea San Diego, California

Brochures

Download a copy of our current brochure(s) and pricelist packed full of information about the range of tours we offer You’ll find information about the places we visit, the types of tours we offer and prices for our current season

Questions about our tours? Don’t hesitate to reach out to friendly Reservations Team today email [email protected] or Phone 02 6829 4110 

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