BROKEN HILL

We decided to finally have a really good look at Broken Hill having been there twice and not getting much of a look around so from Gilgandra we headed north west again determined to see all the sights. This part of our trip was the worst for weather with some heavy rain and strong head winds which lasted for several days and affected our fuel usage calculations badly. Before leaving Melbourne in June we had the fuel gauge repaired but it only lasted about 300km so we had been dipping the tank and calculating mileages quite successfully for 10,000km or more without problems. However 3-4 days driving into the wind caught us out of diesel 60km short of our destination.  Quickly rolling Scruffy off the trailer Allen back tracked and got fuel but the hand pump to pull the fuel through to prime the system wasn’t working. Thank God for RACV Total Care! A mechanic came from Broken Hill with a 12volt fuel pump and managed to get us going. Towing would have cost around $1500!

Our camp at Broken Hill - even undercover parking!



We got into Broken Hill and spent a week parked at the Racecourse. We visited the Miners Memorial overlooking the town – it lists all the deaths since mining started in the area, the youngest was only 12 years old!

Replicas of cars from Mad Max II are dotted round the area 

A day was spent out at Silverton, a former silver mining town now a popular tourist spot as the movie Mad Max II was filmed in the area and many locals had minor roles. Over 100 movies and commercials have been made in the BH area. The old township has only a few well-spaced old sandstone buildings as less substantial houses were moved to Broken Hill or were only shacks and soon disappeared.

The rail museum is based at the old Silverton Tramway Station in Broken Hill. The tramway was a privately owned railway but could not be called a railway due to govt. regulations even though it ran huge W class locos right up into the 1970’s and carried passengers and freight from BH down to South Australian ports.



Another destination worth a mention was the Living Desert and the hill top sculptures created by visiting international artists from as far afield as Georgia, Mexico and the middle east.

From Broken Hill we took two days to get back into Victoria at Mildura. The most memorable thing about this drive was sharing my icecream with a cheeky grey miner bird who sat on my knee.

Charleville to Gilgandra



The streets of Mitchell have lots of these bottle trees

After our Birdsville Safari ended at Charleville and we cleaned the worst of the dust out of our bus, we headed east stopping at Morven for the night. There were emus wandering across the highway in the little township and lots of kangaroos in the paddock next to the recreation ground camping area. From there it was on to Mitchell for a soak in the artesian baths before spending the night camped beside the weir on the river.







Amigo's Castle, Lightning Ridge




Astronomer's Folly



We did a bit of fossicking (no luck)



At Roma we turned south again and stopped each night at small towns or rest areas until we got to Lightning Ridge, famous for the beautiful black opal which is found in only a few other places on earth. Of course it’s not actually black but has all the fiery reds, rich greens,golds and blues which make it so desirable. We did a half day tour which took us down a mine and to many of the local attractions with a very entertaining tour driver who knew all the history and lots of stories about local identities. Some of the old time miners had very colourful backgrounds including one who had been convicted of murder. Many of the miners were loners from all parts of the world and some found interesting ways to pass their leisure time. One has built a castle, another has carved over 500 figures into the walls of the underground tunnels and another built an astronomers monument which covers a large area with hand mixed concrete pillars.



After Lightning Ridge we moved on south to Gilgandra to collect our trailer and Scruffy which had been in safe keeping there for the duration of the Birdsville trip.





Birdsville Safari Pt 2

 

George felt quite at home at Calcory Ruins


From Birdsville we headed east and spent the first night at Calcory Ruins, an abandoned pastoral homestead. It sits overlooking a creek which during our visit had waterholes with plenty of birdlife but the property had too many drought years in the early days and the owners walked off it. It is now part of a much larger enterprise.

<>

Bedourie Races

From there we travelled through the channel country, also known as The Diamantina named after the river system which naturally irrigates the channel country when there are good rains to the north. The water flows and spreads through the flat areas between the ancient scrub covered sand dunes which run generally north-south. This is one of the best cattle raising areas in the country and after good rain and plant growth stock can gain 2 kilos per day.  We stayed several days in Bedourie where $15 got us into the local rodeo, The Bedourie Races, and a Saturday night meal with a band for entertainment. The races also included a Ute Muster and a travellers’ muster, and as there were so many motorhomes they had a special section for us. This really is the outback - Bedourie still does not have mobile phone coverage!



Stock on the road in the channel country



After Bedourie we continued east stopping at Windorah and Quilpie and by then we were back on narrow sealed roads. As we moved towards Charleville in the last days we got back into an area with more trees, mostly Mulga but still moving through unfenced cattle country so as well as watching for native and feral animals such as emus, kangaroos, goats and pigs, there was always the chance a large steer could appear out of the trees and decide to cross the road in front of the vehicle.

These outback towns are almost always beside a substantial river around which their stories of survival and triumph over hardship and disaster through flood and drought have shaped the character of the local people. The people you meet in this country are friendly, courteous and always ready to chat about their town. They are not politically correct and the language is sometimes colourful but they are the heart and soul of the bush. Perhaps not Crocodile Dundee but some of the characters would fit right in as support roles.

Our safari finished at Charleville with a camp oven dinner at the racecourse where we all said farewell to the friends we’d made on the trip with hopes to meet again somewhere in our travels.