Opal Hunters: Red Dirt Road Trip on Discovery, brand new spin-off series premiering on Discovery on Thursday 13th April at 8.30pm AEST. We follow an unlikely combo of a rookie and veteran on their mission road tripping mining and everything in between, full of heart and adventure.
Opal Hunters : Red Dirt Road Trip is a spin-off series of Outback Opal Hunters, one of Discovery Australia’s most successful, and highest rating local productions – the hugely popular series that airs in over 100 countries worldwide, has had record-breaking Opal finds and was Foxtel’s #3 Factual program** in 2021.
Opal greenhorn James “JC” Caruana and veteran miner Rod Manning team up on a cross country Aussie road trip like no other.
Their mission: to teach JC as much as possible about opal mining and living off the land before he becomes a father in just three months’ time. But time isn’t the only thing this unlikely pair will be up against – there’s risky bush jobs, navigating new types of mining, surviving the brutal Australian outback and bush, and keeping Rod’s temperamental transport, a Series III Land Rover, running over 9000 bone-jarring kilometres.
To top it all off, JC’s been promised 10 thousand dollars in his pocket by journey’s end – a tall order with a gem as elusive as opal. Let the adventure begin!
This new local show is very different to its parent show, we see how people can make a living working in outback and bushland Australia and it highlights the genuine sweet relationship of the veteran and rookie (mentor turned friendship). This is a unique series, because it follows just the two characters, there is a lot more emotion in the story to connect with.
This is also more than opal mining, it goes beyond the dirt, it’s a 9,000km road trip and mentorship, it’s a big and beautiful travelogue of the High Plains of NSW, Coober Pedy , Andamooka, Yowah – by road, plane, camel, ship, land rover, fishing boat, and along the way we learn many lessons that Rod Manning and his friends have to share about making a living as a miner, a bushman, a lobster fisherman, a labourer….on this tough land. We see so much of our great country along the way.
It’s about learning and earning – and staying alive.
The bond between these great men is genuine and they take you along on their journeys.
‘It’s BIG AND IT’S CHEESY’ – Rod Manning
‘They’ll think we are a pair of drongos ‘ – Rod Manning
‘Hotter than a shearer’s armpit down there’ – Rod Manning
Opal Hunters Red Dirt Trip is produced by Prospero Productions for Discovery.
Opal Hunters: Red Dirt Road Trip premieres Thursday, 13th April at 8.30pm AEST on Discovery.
Media Release – Discovery
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