Australia here we come!

Sunday, 11 November 2012

24/10/12

We left Broken Hill this morning but before we drove out of town we drove past Jack Absalom's house and Gallery for a last look and then onto Pro Harts Gallery. There the girls bought a large jigsaw puzzle for our 11 year old cousin, Michelle, who we will see when we get to Sydney. We stopped at Spring Hill rest area for lunch before racing through Wilcannia without stopping. Guess why? Our last stop for the day was at Baden Park Rest Area where we free camped for the night.

Lunch at the Spring Hill Rest Area

The first remote rest area we had encountered

that had a playground

Relaxing at the Baden Park Rest Area

23/10/12

Today we did some sightseeing at Broken Hill itself. We left at about 9.00am and drove to a caravan parts business hoping to buy some more LED lights but no luck. Then we drove to Sturt Park and found the Titanic Memorial situated in the middle of the park.

The Memorial was erected by members of Broken Hill's many bands in 1913 as a tribute to the band on the Titanic that continued to play music while the ship sank. They all died. The park has wonderful gardens with large rose bushes everywhere. Unfortunately the rose bushes attract vandals who like to pull the plants out.

From the park we walked one block to the Council Chambers. On the walkway to the building are the busts of the original 7 men who started BHP in 1885. BHP went on to become Australia's largest and richest company. Wouldn't we like to be related to them?

We walked around the CBD and looked at many grand old buildings. Then we went to Centro Westside to have a look at Broken Hill's largest shopping Centre. The girls said it was not that big.

The Titanic Memorial

Some of the lovely roses in Sturt Park. The roses on the

right of the archway were recently vandalised.

The Line of Lode in the background overlooking

Broken Hill CBD

Busts of The Syndicate of Seven

Founders of BHP

Trades Hall

Thursday, 8 November 2012

22/10/12

Today we decided to visit Menindee and the Menindee Lakes. The township of Menindee is sited among the lakes and was the last civilised place that Burke and Wills stopped at before entering the unknown and uncharted inland on their fateful epic journey in 1860. The lakes are expansive and when full they hold more than three and a half times the water in Sydney Harbour. At the moment they are 90% full.

Our first stop was at Menindee Lake itself. It is a large lake about 16 kilometres long and 14 kilometres wide. There was plenty of bird life and lots of fish for them to feed on. All the lakes have interconnecting channels that are regulated with small weirs. We called into Copi Hollow which is a caravan park and picnic area right on the interconnecting channel between Menindee Lake and Lake Pamamaroo. The grounds of the caravan park and the lakeside picnic area are beautifully green and the grass is kept well mowed.

From there we drove to the town of Menindee and found the Visitor Information Centre. Then we went to the Maidens Menindee Hotel and had lunch. They have the best steak sandwiches in the world. It was also the same hotel that Burke and Wills stayed at and they had a meal and a beer also.

After lunch we drove to Lake Pamamaroo. There are miles of free camping spots right on the lake shore. The road in was a bit corrugated and would be hard for the vans and cars. We found the site where Burke and Wills and their party camped on Pamamaroo Creek and they blazed a tree at the spot. There is the main weir situated at the mouth of Pamamaroo Creek and it separates the lake from the creek.

We took the Wilcannia Road back to Menindee and then followed the main road back to Broken Hill.

Menindee Lake

The Interconnecting Channel at Menindee Lake

Copi Hollow

Copi Hollow Caravan Park

The Maidens Menindee Hotel

Following in the tracks of Burke & Wills

We had lunch in the room normally

occupied by Burke & Wills

Pamamaroo Lake

There were some great camping spots

alongside Pamamaroo Lake

The Burke & Wills Expedition Campsite

on the banks of Pamamaro Creek

Pamamaroo Creek

The Main Weir at Pamamaroo Lake

21/10/12

After such a hot day yesterday (40 degrees) it was a surprise to wake to a cold and thundery morning. Lightning was flashing every few seconds and the roar of thunder was almost continuous. It must have been all for show as we got little or no rain in town but the light show and thunder lasted most of the morning. We rugged up and drove to the small town of Silverton, 25kms from Broken Hill.

Silverton was once a mining town, but when the ore ran out the town started to die. It received a bit of a boost in the late 1970's when the Mad Max movies were shot on location there. Other movies like ‘A Town like Alice’, ‘Razor Back’ and ‘Quigley Down Under’, to name a few, used Silverton and its buildings for location shots.

There are not many of the old buildings from the original town left, but those few that are left have been restored to differing degrees and now house cafes, art galleries and museums.

The original pub is still operating. At its height there were 11 hotels in town. Now there is only one and what a pub it is! The only other old hotel that matched Silverton's atmosphere and quirkiness in our travels so far, was the Daly Waters Hotel. I have had a beer in each. There are photographs all over the walls of actors and film crews from all the different movies that have used the Silverton Hotel at one time or another. In every film it has a different name.

Parked outside the hotel is the original black falcon hardtop, 'The Interceptor', driven by Mal Gibson in ‘Mad Max’. Scattered throughout town are other relics from ‘Mad Max’ and other movies. We visited a couple of art galleries, but the standard had been set yesterday and none of the art matched the quality of Jack Absalom's.

From Silverton we drove a few kilometres west to the Mundi Mundi lookout. The lookout is on top of the last ridge before the start of the vast Mundi Mundi Plains. The view is nothing other than spectacular! There is nothing but flat land stretching away to the far horizon and on a clear day the North Flinders Ranges are visible 148kms away. It is so flat that the elevation of the lookout allows the viewer to witness the curvature of the earth. The view extends past a person’s peripheral vision it is so vast. Has anyone got the impression we liked this spot?

From the lookout we drove a few more kilometres and visited the Umberumberka Water Reservoir. It is one of the water storage dams that supplies Broken Hill with its water. We had lunch there and enjoyed the views.

We drove back to Silverton and stopped at the Beyond 39 Dips Visitor Information Centre. It is named after the number of dips in the road from Broken Hill to Silverton. I only counted 35. I must have missed some small ones. On the way out of town we stopped at Penrose Park which is a caravan park/park and was a popular spot for weekend picnics around the early 1900's.

We drove back over the 39 dips to Broken Hill and then went to the Pro Hart Gallery where there is an extensive display of Pro Hart paintings. We had a look at the paintings and watched a DVD on Pro Hart’s life. Sadly, he passed away in 2006.

The Municipal Chambers

Some of Silverton's old buildings

The Silverton Hotel

The quirky stage in the Beer Garden of the

Silverton Hotel

Inside the Silverton Hotel

The Interceptor and other 'Mad Max' relics

The Interceptor's Love Child

Silverton is very spread out. Many of the original

buildings have been moved to Broken Hill

The Mad Max 2 Museum

Which one of these vehicles is the Mother of

The Interceptor Love Child?

A 130 Year Old Wagonette on display in one of

the Silverton Galleries

One of the restored Silverton buildings

now housing a gallery

The Mundi Mundi Plain

The Umberumberka Reservoir

The Beyond 39 Dips Information Centre

Penrose Park

The Pro Hart Gallery

Pro Hart's Bentley

20/10/12

We left our rest area at 9.00am and had a tail wind all the way to Broken Hill. We drove around looking for the Visitor Information Centre and ended up parking in a back street because we couldn't find it. We went for a walk up the main street and asked the first person we met where the Information Centre was. We were only about 3 blocks away so we walked to it. The girls got as much information on the caravan parks as they could and then rang each one. They choose the Silverland Caravan Park.

We walked back to the cars and vans and and then drove to the caravan park. We set up and had lunch before we took a drive around town. There are many old miners' cottages and large stone buildings and most are in good condition. There are mines next to the main street but the city is surprisingly clean.

In our travels we found Bells Milk Bar which is a 1950's style milk bar. Everything is old and authentic in the shop but in good condition. A time machine could have transported the shop straight from 1954 to the present, that's how original it is. Mary-Anne and I each had a chocolate malted milk in an authentic large metal cup. I even got a paper straw with mine. There is a retro museum attached to the shop where original shop equipment is on display.

Our next stop after the milk bar was at Jack Absalom's Outback Art Gallery. I have all his DVD's and was excited, but not looking forward to, entering the gallery and possibly meeting him in person. I found his 30 year old Viscount caravan, featured in 'Journey to Lilyput', parked in an open shed up the side of the gallery building and walked to the end of the verandah to get a better look at it after pressing the doorbell. The girls followed me and when Mrs Alsalom opened the door there was no-one there to greet her. She must have thought we were up to no good when she found where we all were and wanted to know what we were doing up the end of the verandah. We explained, and she invited us in.

The gallery takes up half a house with paintings on all the walls. In a central position in the room is a circular wooden and glass display case containing opals of all descriptions and colours. While we were engrossed with the art work and opals the man himself sauntered into the room and walked straight up to us. He introduced himself and I shook his hand as did Karen and Mary-Anne. He really didn't have to introduce himself to us because we recognised him. But he explained that he enjoys personally greeting visitors to his gallery if he is home. We chatted for a while then he took his leave so we could view the display.

There are many wonderful original oil paintings on display but the price tags on them frightened us. We settled for a couple of smaller sized prints and the girls bought some opal jewellery each. We were served personally by Jack after he had finished greeting another couple who came to the gallery. He even consented, and I think the showman in him enjoyed it, to having his photograph taken with each of us. It was with much regret when it came time to leave and Jack wished us well for the rest of our trip.

After leaving Jack behind, we travelled a short way out of town to the Living Desert Park where there are 12 massive sandstone sculptures that were carved by artists who came from around the world to take part in the Broken Hill Sculpture Symposium that was held from 2 April 1993 to 23 May 1993. The sculptures are set atop a hill, about 9kms from town, and have 360 degree views of Broken Hill and the surrounding area.

We left the sculptures and found a picnic area where there is also a flora and fauna sanctuary. We had a quick look at the Living Desert Information Centre but we didn’t walk too far into the sanctuary as it was getting late and it was quite hot in the sun.

On the drive back to the caravan park we came across Pro Hart’s Gallery. We had a quick look at the entrance where there are 3 Rolls Royces and a Bentley parked. One of the Rolls Royces has been hand painted by Pro Hart! It was too late to go inside as they were closing the doors soon, so we decided to come back another day.

We all returned to the caravan park, still with a sense of elation after having finally met with one of our favourite outback personalities, Jack Absalom. Unfortunately my other ‘most wanted to meet outback personality’, Malcolm Douglas, passed away before I got the chance to go to his crocodile park in Broome.

Bell's Milk Bar

Enjoying Malted Milks

The Jack Absalom Gallery

Meeting 'The Man' Himself!

Broken Hill in the distance from the Living Desert Park

One of the Broken Hill Sculptures in the Living Desert Park

The Living Desert Flora & Fauna Sanctuary

and Information Centre

The Living Desert Park Picnic Area

Pro Hart's hand painted Rolls Royce

18/10/12

We left Mildura (Buronga) at 9.32am and drove to Wentworth. We went to the Visitor Information Centre and collected as much information as we could on Wentworth and places we would go through on our way to Broken Hill. We had a quick stop at the old Wentworth Gaol and museum and then we drove to the point where the Murray and the Darling Rivers join. There was a lovely park there and a viewing tower to see where the two mighty rivers meet.

We then drove to the Perry Sand Hills a short distance out of town. We had lunch before venturing into the sand hills. This area is about 400 hectares of shifting sand hills. The sand is a reddish colour and is on the fringe of desert country. We made our way over the sand hills to a 500 year old River Red Gum tree that was massive. About 6 metres of the trunk has been covered by sand and we were up close and personal with the upper huge branches.

With shoes full of red sand we continued up the Silver City Highway to a rest area called Popiltah Rest Area. It is a great spot on the banks of Lake Popiltah. There are many types of birds in the lake and on the foreshore. There are even goats walking around everywhere. We picked a very solar panel friendly site and set up for the night. It was so lovely and relaxing that we decided to spend 2 nights here.

19/10/12

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning with a slight breeze. The slight breeze increased to a strong wind as the morning went on. It was also very hot. I had to update 18 days of computer diary today before I could start to enjoy the surroundings. The girls spent their day cooking, reading and washing. Once again it's a hard life on the road.