Broken Hill To The QLD Border

Broken Hill To The Qld Border

Thursday 21^st march, Time to be on the road again. Could of spent another couple of nights at Broken Hill but Malanda is calling and we have to be home for Mum and Dads 60^th Wedding Anniversary on April 4^th.

We travelled 400kms east today on The Barrier Highway, a lot of it was as straight as the eyes could see. Went through Wilcannia where we were told not to stay due to the local indigenous people. All the shops were boarded up with mesh and a lot of the old buildings were now empty and derelict .

We stopped at a rest area out of Wilcannia and met a lovely couple, John and Tania O'Malley who are doing the same as us. We decided that we would spend a night parked on a freedom park and swap areas where it is best to stay etc. .This we took on board and travelled until we found a large freedom park suitable for large rigs and caravans. A great stop over 63kms west of Cobar. When we arrived, there was no one else there but by the time we had set up our vans another 5 rigs had arrived for the night. Out came the chippies and drinks and off we went to met the neighbours. We had a wonderful evening, even had a couple of truck drivers stopping for a break. They left Perth Wednesday lunchtime and arrive in Brisbane on Friday. They have a day off and then drive back to Perth. Each driver drives for 5 hours and 5 hours off so the truck only stops for fuel and driver changes.

                                                          

                                                                      

Overnight at Cobar

The road today through Cobar to Bourke on highway 87 is a very long straight stretch of road heading due north. We came across many Emu's grazing along the side of the road. These you have to be very careful when passing as they are liable to run out in front of your vehicle or take fright and go in the opposite direction. Plenty of wild goats also. John spotted a wild pig that was a road kill, also saw a fox run across in front of us. and don’t forget the kangaroo's many of them too. There was a thunder storm with a good showing of lightning, the rain sure came down for a good half hour .But it soon dried out once it passed over and the sun dried the road very quickly.

We are very pleased that we got a CB radio installed before we left. 3 times on this road, we had pilot vehicles ask us to pull over due to the wide loads they were carrying. Each one came on the CB and thanked us for pulling over and wished us a safe journey.

                                                                      

                                                                               

Lunchtime at Walgett

Grain storage at Walgett

 

 

Cotton fields

 

 

Tina and John, John and I decided to travel together until we get into Queensland border.

We found another freedom camp just outside Brewarrina beside the Barwon river for the night. Another thunder storm decided to go over. It is still very warm even with the rain and the thunder. We were hoping that the thunder may have cleared the air and cooled it down but it is still warm. We are going to make our way to Lightning Ridge where we will stay at a caravan park for the night and then have a look around Lightning Ridge which is a Opal town, Many books have been written about Lighting Ridge and the surrounding area. Looking forward to this.

23^rd March 2013,

Arrived in Lightning Ridge around midday . Stayed at Opal Caravan Park at Lightning Ride. A brand new park. Very nice. Even has a lovely swimming pool. Wonderful and refreshing. We were very luck to be able to join a tour guide down the Chambers of the Black Hand Opal Mine. This mine is over 100 years old. The mine goes 12 metres underground . Down here you can see how opal is mined and what to look for when doing it if you wish. A local artist Ron Canlin has carved 500 plus carvings in sandstone around the mine tunnels. Once a mine is open to the public it can no longer be mined. To get a mining permit cost $700. a year and you must mark out your area you wish to mine and hand this into the powers to be in the area to get your license. You have to renew your license every year at a cost of $280.00 to keep your claim.

Many thousands of beautiful opals have come out of this mine and each opal is different in colour and size . Tina and John were with us on this tour . Tina did her best to get the prices down on several lovely rings but without any success. A good try though Tina.

We looked at opals in the value of $15,000. and of course under. All very beautiful. If you every get to this area it is a must to go and visit Chambers of the Black Hand Opal Mine.

                                                                           

                                                               

Opal in the ceiling of mine

                                                    
                                         


Underground Opal Shop

                                                                          
                                                                           

                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

Maori Warrior

 

 

                   
                             Artist Ron Canlin the carver who did the sculptures


Carved emu eggs

                  

                  
                                        Camping ground at Lightning Ridge

                                                                     
                  
                                    John, Marg, with Tina and John O'Malley

                                                                                
                  
                                                   Sculpture of old mining things 

The evening of the 23^rd March there was a great lightning display over the valley which brought a lot of rain around St George. This area is now flood and will be for a few days. So we have had to change our travel plans and are now staying here a extra night. After contacting the local highway boys we have been told it would be safer to travel to Queensland back via Moree. This we will do.

John and I had a lovely soak in the Artesian Hot pools 200 meters from the camping ground. It was lovely . The pool temperature is around 40 deg all the time , the children’s one is around 37degs. This one we sat in for some time .
                                                                         

Hot Pools

Around 5.30pm we were invited to a hour or so of singing from a Australian country singer named Alan Luscombe. He sang many song written by his friends, Slim Dusty being one of them. He has also written quite a few. A very pleasant evening. Yes we brought a cd.

Alan Luscombe with Margaret

                               
          
                                                                     

After spending two nights at Lightning Ridge due to the roads being flooded on the way to St George. We decided to go the long way around to Moree and north. Arriving into Moree we heard a noise coming from the exhaust. Stopping and checking this out we found that tow bar under the Nissan had dropped and the exhaust was hitting the tow bar. Fortunately a Nissan agent was right across the road from when we stopped. They recommended a engineer, after a quick phone call by Nissans we had a appointment for 7.30am at a local engineer to get it repaired. Great service Nissan Moree.

John was at the engineers at 7.30am so we could get it repaired and get on the road to John and Kay Cummings' home at Rockhampton.

From Shepparton, Back to Qld, via Broken Hill.

From Shepparton, Back To NQ via Broken Hill.

Saturday 16^th March was my last day at Spc for the season. They had been putting people off for the last couple of weeks, with the winding down of the fruit season . A wonderful friendly group of people to work with. Once I was trained with the grading of peaches I worked on the cocktail lines, grading the fruit and doing the components of what was in the tins. Very interesting work. We are looking forward to going back next year for another season and visiting more of that region.

                                                                


Ulysses coffee meeting Saturday before we left.

We left Shepparton on Sunday morning after a lovely morning tea with Pete , Barb, Ray and Christine, and Phil. Time to make our way back to Malanda in Queensland. We are planning on it taking us around 2 ½ weeks to get there so we can relax and have a look around this vast land.

                                                                              


from left Ray, Christine, Barb, Marg, John, Phil, Peter

Chris & Ray and Scruffy by their 5th wheeler

 

 

We travelled through Echuca and swan Hill and our first night on the road we stayed at a stop over at Balranald. Then we made our way into Robinvale for lunch then onto Mildura where we parked at a wonderful caravan park named Buronga Riverside Caravan Park on the Murray River (NSW side) next door to the house boats. We went for a walk at night around the park. The management have put a lot of solar lights in the gardens of different animals beautiful to see hope the Iphone photos do it justice.

                                                                       

 

On the river edge here you can hire Houseboats for the weekend or week. Many different ones to choose from. (Photos below)

                                                                                

                                                                               

This one is for sale

 

 

                                                                              

Houseboats moored along the Murray river.

After packing up the van ready to go it was time to check the lights etc on the van and make sure they were working. We had a blinker that decided to not blink on the left hand side of the van. John spent some time trying to fix it with out any luck. This would be interesting we had to find an auto electrician that was not too busy to help us. Yes we found a very helpful person from Phil Scott electrical that was very helpful and managed to find that the wires were back to front on the light and had been that way for sometime . They did work but not very good the guy said.

                                                                              

A stop off at Orange world was interesting and refreshing. We were met with a lovely cold glass of orange juice. There are two basic type of oranges Navels and Valencias, however twenty different varieties of Navel and nine different varieties of Valencis are grown in the area around Mildura.

As citrus prefer wet climates , Orange World needs to irrigate with Murray River water. Nearly 200 million litres are needed annually to supply the 10,000 trees. Irrigation leeches salt from the soil which contaminates the Murray, using an under tree drainage system removes the salt to an evaporation pan behind Orange World. They spray a cooper bordeaux to control Sooty Mould, however an introduced wasp parasites on citrus scale so no insecticides are used. The trees are planted in rows in a North/South direction at a distance of 20 feet and are trimmed at a hight of 12 feet to maximise sun exposure. All trees must be fed and watered in a band two feet from the trunk out to one foot past the leaf edge, As the roots near the surface , do not grow under the tree, mulch or bark chips under the trees can be detrimental

All the trees are harvested by 4 family members. The season runs from May to October. Also included in this are a few avocados trees.

We left here with our very own Murray Valley citrus peeler and a bag of oranges.

                                    

After leaving Mildura we made our way to Wentworth to have a look at the joining of the two rivers . The Darling and the Murray (photo's below). The river is quite wide where they join.

                                                                           

        

 

Darling River on left, Murray on right.

       

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1880's this river traded as Australia’s busiest inland port in the area. It still has the Colonial charm of yesterday with the old buildings and displays around the area.

The old Wentworth Goal is a very interesting place to visit . It was built during 1879 – 1881 and operated until 1927 .With the very large concrete walls that divide the cells and the small court yard that was for the prisoner’s to exercise. It would of been a very cold building especially in the winter. There were quite a few woman prisoner’s held here for distributing the peace. The were Sallies and were just singing songs in the street and some people took offence to it. They usually spent 7 to 14 days in jail for this. The slate for the roof was imported from Wales.

                                                                          

Exercise court yard around prison.

                                                                               

Leaving here we travelled north for 100kms and found a very quiet place to park up beside a river for the evening. Freedom camping is great.
                                                                            

How far can you see. This was our view for many ks

 Time to put up a clothes line and do some washing. Yes we cheated, we went out and brought ourselves a Sphere washing machine . It has a 2.5 kg capacity and a stainless steel bowl and works great. Half a hour to complete a wash. When the spin has stopped the washing is nearly dry so it quickly dries between to trees.

                                                                                    
                                                                                   

                                                                                    

Refreshment time

 

 

Washing machine in use.

                             

Broken Hill is an artists paradise we have been told. If you want to paint this is where you go for inspiration . We visited Pro Hart's studios and gallery. He painted the outback as a child and continued this way until he went down the mines then his art worked changed. He found school very boring and was put to the back of the class where he used to draw , when he should of been doing maths. As far as he was concerned maths did not interest him, drawing was more important. Pro Hart died in 2007, and completed around 100,000. pieces of work, many of which have gone overseas to different galleries. There are many lovely old building being used today that are from the 1850's onwards. Pro Hart paintings below.

                                                                                

                                                                              

                                                                                

Lookout over Broken Hill

 

 

Open mine in the distance at Broken Hill 

We visited the Silverton mining area. In this area many movie's were made i.e. Mad Max (They still have the truck and the car that was used in the movie there in a museum.) Prisclla Queen of the Desert was also another one made there and many TV advertisements. We had a glass of dark ale which was on tap at the Silverton Hotel.

                                                                                

 

                                    Movie making area for Mad Max & Priscilla of the Desert

                                                           
                            

                                                                               
                             

Mad Max Museum from the movie Mad Max

                                                                                  

Old cottage still in use

                                                                                

Donkey resting undercover

 

More residents of Silverton

 

 

A little information about the town

 

 

 

 

 

The Ghost Town Bar at the pub

John having a cool beer at Silverton Hotel
 

The Silverton cemetery was rather large, 42 acres of which is a small part has been put aside for the local people. The old buildings are worth going and visiting. It is only 25 k from Broken Hill.

                                                                    

The cemetery entrance at Silverton

 

 

Spent a night in Broken Hill at a lovely quiet caravan park. Only $25.00 for two. It is up for sale, had a think about it and decided no, we wanted to keep on looking around Aussie. $230.000. would of

brought it.

                                         SCULPTURES IN THE DESERT.

 

Below are some photo's taken by Tina O'Malley of the Sculptures in the Desert, 10 kms out of Broken Hill. These were done by  7 different artists from around the world. We did not make it to see them sad to say,  but thanks to Tina we did.

 

                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

   

                               

                                                                             

 

Our Friend Tina