25TH - 31ST MARCH 2010

Wentworth To Broken Hill

Before leaving Wentworth, which is a lovely clean country town, we visited the Old Wentworth Gaol (that is how it was spelt back then) which was built in 1881 to house law breakers. Their local Wentworth Club is well appointed where we had an evening meal. Only walking distance from the caravan park, which is on the banks of the Darling River. Because we arrived early in the day it was possible to go sightseeing. It was great to witness the flowing of the waters from the Darling River and Murray Rivers. The area has not seen such vast amounts of water for years due to the recent rains coming down from Queensland and they say there is more to come. Wentworth is the junction of the Darling & Murray Rivers.
We then continued north on the Silver City Highway to Broken Hill, 265klms. Aprox. Half way is a roadhouse at Coombah where we stopped for fuel and decided to break the trip and stay for the night. June who runs the roadhouse cooked us a very good meal and we enjoyed her company for the evening.
Only a short run of 125klms to Broken Hill where we stayed in the Broken Hill City Caravan Park. Because of the recent rains the country side is lush and green. A vast difference from our tripping last year throughout Queensland because of drought. We were quite surprised at the size of Broken Hill known as The Silver City. I could go on and on about the history and sights of Broken Hill and it surrounds, but just to make it short we drove 23klms north to Silverton, where it all began for the mining of silver. Now just for tourism and the making of many movies over the years including Mad Max, where the original car still sits outside the Silverton Hotel. Lots of memorabilia on the inside walls. A great place for artists to display their works in a couple of museums. At the back of the hotel we spotted 6 helicoptors which had dropped in. Apparently a little unusual. Maybe a gettogether for the local station owners.
Broken Hill was the home of famous Australian artist, Pro Hart, where is widow still now lives. We took a guided tour of the city to start with to get the feel of it, which was very good and informative. Had the pleasure of sighting the native flower Sturt Pea which is just beautiful.
Also 110klms to the SE of the city is the Menindee Lakes. We took a picnic lunch and went to sight the lakes where there are 7 in all. Menindee being the largest all fed by the Darling River. All but the Menindee Lake were full and they say that it will not be long before it is full also. They haven’t seen them with water in for 9 years. Unfortunately our picnic lunch was eaten in the truck, due to the flies. We now have nets on our hats. A must for the outback.
Broken Hill is a mecca for art galleries and local artists. The Silver City Mint & Art Centre is home to the “Big Picture”. the largest painting on canvas, 100 metres long and over 12 metres high and painted with 9 tonne of paint. It is held in place by hydraulics, pulleys and counter weights. Unfortunately we couldn’t take photos of it. It took over 2yrs to paint and features natural and manmade landmarks within 300klms of Broken Hill.
Of course we always are meeting lovely people and one such couple, Robyn & Tony, who were from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, decided to have dinner at the Musicians Club. The courtesy bus delivered us back to the park after an enjoyable night.
A memorial stands on top of an old mine for all the miners killed in the area since the early 1900’s. It is quite easy to spend a week in Broken Hill. There were still sights we didn’t get to see as it was time to move on.