Broken Hill finally - then home!

Our final day in Broken Hill which we enjoyed at leisure.  Our morning was a relaxing one, reading and resting, probably the last opportunity before we return home.  Much to the amusement of my loving family - yes it had been some time since I've felt like reading a book.  It was something I used to do a lot of, but like many other things it became a thing of the past.  So yes I bought a book (two actually) and have enjoyed taking an hour or so here and there to immerse myself.

We had hoped to set up Miss Kitty's pens outside for her to have some time in the sun but alas this morning the wind was quite cold so we all just lounged in the van.

After lunch we set out to see what Broken Hill had to offer.  For a city of just under 18,000 people it is an interesting mix and seems to be much bigger than its 18k.  The houses are interesting as there is such a range of houses all mixed in together and we couldn't help wonder how it would be possible to keep cool in some of the old shacks that were virtually just made of corrugated iron.  The lack of water shows in the yards of the homes as there were very few actually had any garden to speak of and I don't think we saw one with any green grass on the naturestrip.  Lots of art galleries and obviously in its mining heydey a pub on almost every corner.  Many of those now re-purposed - I guess as homes.

The striking thing at the entrance to the city is the cemetery which has over 60,000 grave sites.  After our conversation yesterday with the guy at the mine, it's not hard to imagine that many of these older graves were miners killed while doing their treacherous jobs.

There are definitely a lot of reminders of the past.

There is so much more to see in this area and we'll definitely be back again sometime to wander around, but as the sun started to go down, so did the temperature so we headed back to camp to get the van hooked up ready for our departure the next morning.

Our original plan was to drive to Mildura, but we had got an early start and the weather was favourable so we decided to drive as far as we felt inclined for the day.  So much of this trip is an eye opening experience of the various arid and drought regions.  It's hard to believe that some of the farming land is able to sustain any animals at all.  This particular part was just sand for many kms and you wonder how the trees have survived much less how any farmer could make money from land that was virtually sand.  It isn't surprising that many of the animals we saw on this stretch were goats.

We spent a considerable time behind this escort vehicle for a linemarking truck before he pulled over to allow us to pass.  It's a good thing Mr Linemarker turned off his paint gun otherwise it may have been an interesting pattern - but just look at that sky!

And then the Victorian border happened..........

We wound up at a little caravan park in Ouyen for the night with a few hours of sunshine and warmth for Miss Kitty to have one last play in the pen outside and some quality Mr H Hog time.

On checking the weather forecast we noted a Severe Weather Warning!  Oh joy - more wind.  Concerned about what lay ahead we decided to head straight for home, albeit a little earlier than originally planned, but there was plenty of work waiting for us so the time wouldn't be wasted and there is no joy in towing a caravan in high winds anyway.

It was a stark contrast to see green fields after looking at the arid lands for the past 2.5 weeks.

The majestic Grampians.

Broken Hill - almost

Another large load of washing this morning so that we can just enjoy the rest of the week on our path home and probably the last warm days we'll get between now and then to get anything dry.  Our quick tour yesterday whet our appetite to explore the area a bit more and having a day up our sleeve we arranged to stay an extra night so we could also have a bit of down time and enjoy the sunshine forecast for tomorrow.

Our initial thought was to look around Broken Hill but that plan went out the window when we took a left turn and headed out to Silverton.  Our first stop was the Daydream Mine.  What an experience that was.  The road to the mine starts off pretty good, allbeit dirt with lots of corrugations and some narrow sections leading one to wonder what the hell you do if you meet something coming the other way.  After opening 2 gates you finally get to a sign saying that the mine is a mere 8km further down the road.  It was tempting at that point to pull the pin and turn back but we're glad we continued on down the road as it was certainly an experience.  While we had no interest in the tour that was headed down the mine on our arrival we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with the knowledgeable and very pleasant young chap manning the "shop".  The mine is definitely worth a visit even if only for this part of the trip in.

The wildlife was pretty laid back as well.....

The dry creek and river beds are amazing.

Finally getting back onto the main road again we headed for the township of Silverton.

The line-up to get into the iconic Silverton Hotel was impressive.  We decided to stop here for lunch and both ordered a hamburger.  I'd have to say it was probably the best burger I've had in years. The walls are adorned with everything from jokes to the photos of some of the movies and advertisements that have been filmed in the area over many years, including Mad Max II, Razorback and Last Cab to Darwin.

Heading back to Broken Hill we encountered this long load.

And who should we see again walking along the street!

With his wife this time....

Goodbye SA

Our next 3 days were a bit of a blur really.  It was bitterly cold as we hit Port Augusta on Friday and although we did a bit of shopping to top up fresh fruit & veggies, the light was too poor for photos, the weather too cold for standing out in and frankly PA has never been one of our favourite places for some reason.  We've both always found it quite a depressing place to be.  We booked in to a cheap caravan park that we had stayed in 2 years ago and spent part of the afternoon doing another load of washing.  Unfortunately it was so cold that nothing dried and so the next 24 hours the caravan resembled something like a chinese laundry as we tried to get everything dry enough to put in the cupboards.  The park had deteriorated vastly since our last stay with mold in the showers and a really dirty toilet block all round.  And then there was the overly friendly caretaker's dog which was keen to check out any visitor dogs that arrived and even went inside our caravan when we were trying to get ourselves initially set up. 

From Port Augusta we headed east towards Broken Hill but given the warnings about animal life on the roads from here on, I figured although it was only 412km it would probably be wise to break the trip in half.  So we aimed for Peterborough.  The caravan park at Peterborough is an absolute gem and we were at least able to finish drying off the wet washing on a line.  The showers were so good I told Shane we were moving in!  We only got about an hour of nice warm weather to enjoy though before the temperature started to plummet and once again we retreated to the warmth of the van.  It was an early night with heaters and electric blankets blazing as the wind came up with an arctic quality that belied nearby snow.  If it weren't for the freezing cold temperature I would definitely have got up, dressed, grabbed a large handful of pebbles and thrown them at a stupid magpie that decided 4.00am was time to announce the day had begun and continued to warble non stop for 2 hours in the tree next to us until the sun did actually make an appearance.

Obviously I wasn't the only one to have a hard night as I woke to see this above my pillow......  In case you can't quite figure out which end is which - the head is to the right with all four feet in the air.  It's a hard life for some really!

As it turned out I was extremely grateful to make the decision to halve the trip.  I have never seen so much road kill EVER.  There was at least one body of a kangaroo, wallaby or emu every 50 metres and if it wasn't a freshie, it was a carcass.  And those were just the ones on or beside the road.  There were also many bodies well off the road that had either lived long enough to drag themselves partially into the bush or had been dragged by something.  In the beginning it was shocking to see so many but it soon became quite distressing and often difficult to get by them, having to veer on to the wrong side of the road or off into the gravel to bypass their swelling bodies and the hundreds of large crows feeding off the meat.

You definitely know you are back in the outback again with the miles and miles of nothing.  It's harsh but also has a kind of raw beauty that you can't help but acknowledge.

We had taken our time doing this leg of the journey so arrived in Broken Hill mid afternoon.  The site was very narrow but easy to navigate.  Once we were set up we went for a quick drive to pick up some fresh salad veggies (there's always something you forget!) and take a quick look around Broken Hill.  On our travels we ran across this dude just casually wandering along the street, across the road, and then down the footpath on the other side on his way out of town.