apr

Broken Hill

Broken Hill, New South Wales
Monday, April 2, 2012

I woke early - again before sunrise... what is it with this outback air?

I had brekkie eating out of a plastic container coz there were no bowls in the camp kitchen. I packed the tent up and moved to the other side of Broken Hill to the 4 star caravan park. It was then that I realised that Daylight Savings finished yesterday and everyone is an hour behind me. Then just to add insult to injury, Broken Hill operates on South Australia time so instead of it being 8am - it is actually 6.30am!!!

The new campsite is much better - and more expensive! $28 for a non-powered tent site. Out of curiosity I asked the price of the bunk cabin (a prefab unit about 3m x 2m containing two bunk beds and nothing else) Stunned to learn they were charging $80 for it. Seriously?

At least the camp kitchen has plates! And free wifi so there's another bonus.

Broken Hill has stacks of stuff for the tourists to do and I'd planned out my day with a list of museums and galleries to see. First stop the War Memorial and Titanic memorial then the Silver Mint where my credit card remained in the bike. After that was the lookout cafe on top of the slag heap and the Miner's Memorial - both very interesting. Then the Royal Flying Doctor Service where my credit card took a battering. I had to get them to post the parcel back to Sydney coz I couldn't fit it on the bike. The BOSS is gonna have a fit but I have a soft spot for the RFDS.

I went back into town and had a picnic lunch undercover in Sturt Park. The heat was incredible but then a thunderstorm rolled in rapidly, cooled everything off then rolled out just as quickly. The white cockatoos went completely ballistic, squawking their heads off, hanging upside down in the trees, breaking off bits of gum trees and then littering the whole park with twigs and leaves... very strange indeed.

Broken Hill is laid out in a grid pattern so it's really easy to find your way around - and all the streets are named after minerals they mine - Oxide, Chloride, Bromide, Sulphide etc. The state of the roads however is atrocious. The local council ought to be sacked. These are some of the worst roads I have every ridden on and that includes the 3km of gravel to see the Utes. If the poor little scooter gets shaken to pieces, I'll know which town to blame.

I had 4 art galleries lined up but unfortunately two of them were closed. I did get in to the Pro Hart Gallery tho... then nearly fell asleep watching the Tribute movie... well the lounges were just too comfortable.

Decided I needed a sugar hit so I headed south to Bells Cafe. What a blast! Straight out of the 50s a traditional Milk Bar where all of the fixtures are older than me. I ordered a Lime Spider and apple pie with icecream. I'm not a huge fan of icecream but this meal was manna from heaven.