Broken Hill (15th July)

Posted by John on Jul 17, 2014 in Blog, Featured | 7 comments

Hello again
its been great couple of weeks since leaving Coober Pedy and Lake Hart, our first stop was not too far down the road to Woomera a rocket research and testing facility which in its peak was firing many short and long range rockets from 1947 to about 1972 , the town of Woomera has a military feel to it with a very good outside display of the rockets they fired.
well worth a visit and we spent most of the day having a look around the base and in the museums.

From Woomera we drove straight through to Whyalla to catch up with some friends, Dave, Donna and Oscar the dog it was great to catch up as it had been 6 months since we were together, Dave and Donna were the two that helped us out when we had the trouble with the Pajero and it was good to get together and have a few drinks and some great meals (thanks again for the lamb roast 🙂 ) we spent 3 days with them and told some interesting stories from the past 6 months, Dave and Donna went the other way to us heading east and up to north Queensland before coming back to Whyalla thanks for the good times guy’s and we will see you next year for the desert trip we are going on.

from leaving whyalla it was up to Broken Hill where we will stay for a week to check out Silverton and some more Mad Max,

We decided to stay at the race course camping grounds just outside of Broken Hill for 25.00 per night, a nice quiet stop with grass and tidy amenities well worth the 25.00 and took in the sights of Broken hill it was a shame that most of the attractions and mine was closed due to safety concerns but we found enough to keep us interested and Robyn got to do some shopping for Jock, he needed a dog coat as he wasn’t used to the cold after spending the last 9 months of summer LOL.

the next couple of day’s was to get out into the desert and have a look at where mad max and a number of movies have been made, Silverton on the way out we took a detour to Day dream mine an old silver mine not working now but employed 140 miners in its hay day, it was a freezing cold day and the old mine café welcomed us too some oven baked scones, cream and jam with a tin mug of billy tea, then it was on a tour under ground into the old mine.

it was a good tour and gave real respect to the men and kids that worked under ground, they used to grow and smoke opium so as to stop the coughing caused by all the dust from mining.
from the old mine the next stop Silverton a small town now, but had 10 pubs and population of around 5,000 when the silver mines were operational.

We went for a couple of beers and wines in the iconic Silverton Hotel.

we didn’t fit all we wanted so came back the next day to look at all the art and old Gaol museum that in itself took 3 hours a real step back in time we thoroughly enjoyed the town.

after a pleasant and interesting stay at Broken Hill and surround’s we had arranged with Andrew and Julie (the couple we met at Uluru) they had offered to drive from Adelaide to Mildura and rent a Cabin for a couple of nights so our next stop was Mildura, we got there the same day and Andrew and Julie arrived about 7.30 that night, it was great to meet up again and we stayed up till 1.00am having drinks and story telling, the next day was spent with them driving around and showing us the sights of mildura even taking in a game of putt putt (yes team Congo did win) 🙂

 

 

it was a great day out we finished the day off with a BBQ and more drinks, the next day was a drive out to Mungo NP so we all jumped into the Ranger and headed off about 250klm round trip there’s an old shearing shed there and a 70klm loop drive around the NP, it was worth a look but I wouldn’t make a return visit I guess we have all been spoiled with the magic of the out back like Uluru, kings Canyon and McDonnell ranges.

it was a full day out, Andrew and Julie had to make the return trip back to Adelaide that afternoon so just before they left Julie and I shred a bottle of red off and we said our see ya later’s, they too are coming desert dwelling next year with Dave and Donna and the Congo’s.
the next day after nursing a sore head (yep too many wines) we went back to have a look at Wentworth Gaol and take some photo’s of the places Andrew and Julie showed us.

The next picture is where the Wentworth shire has cleverly lined up horticulture with existing buildings and poles.

So as you can see it has been a great couple of weeks and especially meeting up with Dave, Donna, Andrew and Julie again we are so looking forward to next years adventure to Innamincka and beyond, we will stay in touch Guy’s
until next post take care all and safe travel’s
The Congo’s…….