Going to Lightning Ridge

Am going to see Simon in Lightning Ridge at Easter. Booked it all online this morning and printed out the boarding pass. Going Easter Sat and coming back the following Sat a week later. It's only 3 days out of my annual leave at work (Wed-Fri) as Anzac Day falls on Easter Monday this year, so Tues is a public holiday. Taking the train, and then you have to get a bus from Dubbo to Lightning Ridge as there's no trains go out there. 

Is a long trip, leave Sydney at about 8am and get there at about 7pm. I'll get to see a bit of the countryside though. Last time I flew and it was all over in an hour. He did have to drive to where I was though to pick me up, it was 3 hours from the airport! Fuck he lives in the middle of nowhere man. 

Hope he has electricity this time! I was only there for a weekend last time, but OMG, the solar panels weren't working as the batteries had been drained too much when they were put where there wasn't enough sun. He has this diesel generator as a backup for electricity but it's incredibly noisy and really hard to start. Rainwater tanks for water. Gas bottles for the stove. No internet.