Newcastle - Broken Hill - Mildura

We had a good time visiting Nads and Charlie (Nads' housemate). We took the dogs for walks on the beach, went climbing, breakfasted at cafes and generally chilled out at home.

Sprocket Cafe - Newcastle

Newcastle Beach

No! I didn't digitise this.It's REAL!!!

We let Nads' on the 24th of February and began heading towards Broken Hill. We overnighted at a couple of rest areas along the way, drove through the "Bogan Shire" (a real place) and then got sidetracked by a trip to White Cliffs to check out opal mining. It was really interesting to see how it was mined and how the residents of White Cliffs lived in "dugouts" under ground to escape the summer heat. We were told that the dugouts maintain an average temperature of between 18-23 degrees all year round. We visited an Opal Shop to see what was on offer but 99% of their stuff was way out of our price range. We even saw emus wandering around in the town. The only downside was all the bindies and cat heads in the caravan park.

White Cliffs - Opal Mining Town

Mining area

Mining Area

Budget B&B???

Barrier Highway into Broken Hill

We arrived at Broken Hill on the 27th and met up with Barry and Judith at the Lakeview Caravan Park. It had a pleasant outlook and did indeed look out over the lake, however, it was expensive at $30 a night with no unpowered option. We spent a pleasant if rainy evening together and decided to head out to Silverton to have a look the next day.

A rainy drive

Bells Milk Bar

Well, the next day greeted us with pouring rain. Not to be put off, we headed off to Silverton. There was plenty of water on the road in town and also in places over the Silverton road. As we were heading out of town it got really heavy but we kept pushing on. We went through a few water crossings and Bess stalled a couple of times but we got her going again.We were about five kilometres out of Broken Hill when we came to a crossing and decided to get out and walk it before we tried driving across. The water was just below my knees and rising. We still had 18 km's to go to Silverton. How many more crossings were there? We had been told there were two creek crossings closer to Silverton. Were we going to get stuck between crossings and if so for how long? Our adventurous spirit quashed we decided to turn round and head back to town. We had to unhook Barry's caravan and turn it around by hand as the road was so narrow, there was no way he could have done it hooked up to the vehicle. While all this was happening a Hiace and a Landcruiser went by. As we were finishing up turning around they came back past. The Hiace had only gone about 500m further and the Landcruiser a couple of kilometers.

Line of Lode Visitors Centre

Palace Hotel

Palace Hotel

Palace Hotel

Argent Street Broken Hill

Palace Hotel

Barry & Judith

The Big Chai

We headed to the race course only to discover that they were preparing for an event and were not allowing campers for a couple of weeks. That was our cheapest option gone so we headed for the next best and stayed the night at the Silverland Caravan Park ($22.50). That afternoon the four of us went for a drive into town and got milkshakes at Bells Milk Bar, a fifties style cafe, visited the Line Of Load and then wandered through the Palace Hotel which has the longest balcony I've ever seen and has most of its walls painted into murals. Years ago a customer could not pay their bill and so they payed by painting most of the hotel, upstairs and down. By the end of the day 84mm had fallen and several roads in the area had been closed. All four of us were getting quite worried that maybe we were going to be stranded in Broken Hill. It wasn't an issued for Lib and I as we have no timetable but Barry and Judith needed to be home by Sunday.

Wednesday dawned and in three days approximately 200mm had fallen in the area. The road to Silverton was closed, the road to Menindee was open with caution (water over the road), the road to Wentworth was open with caution (water over the road) and the Barrier Highway to Adelaide had been closed because a bridge had collapsed and all traffic was being diverted through Wentworth. Also all dirt roads in the area were also closed. With another 50-100mm being forecast for the next three days Barry made the decision to leave early. He had commitments at home on Monday and was worried about being trapped, as well he should. Lib and I bade them farewell and made the decision to wait out the rest of that day in the caravan park playing cards and watching television.

On Thursday we left the caravan park late and after stocking up on supplies we headed up to the Line of Load Tourist Centre and Miners Memorial. The memorial was closed due to rain and the Tourist centre consisted of a tiny gift shop and cafe. We then went to the Silver City Art Gallery and Mint. It is the home of the worlds biggest canvas painting measuring 12m x 100m. As we couldn't get Bess in we didn't bother paying the entrance fee and got no photo, however, the rest of the gallery was really interesting and there  was quite alot of good work to see. Afterwards we went window shopping in the main street as much to take the dogs for a walk as to kill time before heading out to a rest area east of town to spend the night. It rained the whole day. Damn this rain. We had come to the area at exactly the wrong time.

Friday saw us head into the visitor centre to find out more about road closures as it had not rained at all the previous evening. We still couldn't go out to Menindee to camp as all dirt roads in the area were closed. The highway to Adelaide was still closed and was likely to remain so for at least a week or more but the Silverton Road was open. With more rain expected late that day the lady advised that if we were to go, to go now as she said it was likely with more rain on the way it would be cut off again.

Silverland Caravan Park Broken Hill

Silverland Caravan Park Broken Hill

As we headed out to Silverton we noted that the road to the mine tour was closed. Also, we saw places where water had ripped up the road and we crossed two creeks that were still flowing over the road, but they presented no difficulties. We stopped to take photos and then lobbed into the Silverton Hotel for a beer. It is an interesting pub as it has been the site for many movies and commercials over the years, most notably being Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice. We saw the Mad Max 2 museum and got a photo of Max's Interceptor. As far as 'ghost town's' go it is one of the more interesting ones.

Creek Crossing @ Silverton

Creek Crossing @ Silverton

Sandbagged House @ Silverton

Refuse halfway up the sign.

Silverton Hotel

Interceptor - Mad Max

How huge is this fly? On the base of an ordinary coffee mug

With more rain on the way and with the rest of the attractions we wanted to see in the area being "washed out" we decided to continue on our journey and headed toward Port Augusta via Mildura. We spent last night in a rest area 130km's south of Broken Hill and are staying tonight at the Sunraisya Caravan Park in Mildura. It still hasn't stopped raining but is supposed to by Sunday.