Outback Roadtrip

Outback sunset at Mundi Mundi, Silverton.

In desperate need of a break, a jumped in my car and took off - far off! This is too much to put down into 1 blog entry, so this will be the first. My plan, if you would call it that, was to drive to Adelaide via Silverton (outback NSW) to see my friend Nick for his birthday, and to see a bit of the country - both new parts and re-visited.

Broken Hill from the hill.

Filled up?

A moon in the afternoon.

4,300kms, 7 days, 3 states and 2 time zones, 1 man. Yes, these are the numbers, but what's better is the story behind it. As I couldn't wait to get away from the daily hum-drum that is life, I hit the road on Thursday afternoon on the 17th  - along with half of Sydney. Being a long weekend, everyone gets Friday and the following Monday off, so it is the great exodus of the city. Well, I knew it would be bad getting out of the city, but it has to be done - and in the end wasn't too bad. I was heading West towards the mountain, and most people were either heading North or South along the coast.

Just keep driving...

I passed through a few places before my major stop. I won't mention them all, but a cool little place worth mentioning is Orange. About 3 hours out of Sydney, it is your typical country town. Wide streets, plenty of free parking, pubs, pubs and more pubs! There is always a pub called The Federal and The Commercial in Australian country towns. While driving through town on Thursday afternoon, all I saw were girls in boots driving utes! Well, so I didn't see the boots, but they were country girls and they were driving utes, and my imagination did the rest. Orange is always good for a night out - but leave the line dancing out please!

A whole lotta nothin'!

Broken Hill 'Living Sculptures.'

Broken Hill Miner's Memorial.

Broken Hill (also known as "The Silver City," "The Capital Of The Outback," and "Oasis Of The West") is 1200kms from Sydney, so I did get a head start on Thursday afternoon, but it took till midday to reach the town (after a 5:30am start on Friday). Yes, a lot of driving - but if you want to see things in this country, you have to. Not much along the way, but dead-straight roads, and a pancake-flat landscape pocked with only a few low shrubs. The longest stretch of straight road I cam across was 50kms - no curves, corners or deviations... where else but the Australian Outback! Broken Hill is in the far North West of New South Wales, and is basically a mining town; it was found in 1883 after the discovery of silver and lead - the largest and richest in the world. Australia's huge mining company (and the world's largest), BHP (Broken Hill Propriety Company) was founded in 1885, and has since grown and diversified and now produces Australia's steel. Although in the Outback, and surrounded by arid land, Broken Hill has a population of 18,000 people, as well as green parks and gardens. The Living Sculpture display are just 11kms out of town, and are quite interesting - artist from around the world came and carved the orange stone on a hill overlooking nothing. It was just me visiting at the time - no overly excited, but some interesting rocks, and lets face it, a great view from the top!

The 'Big Bench' in Broken Hill. Harder than it looks to get up there!!

Another attraction of Broken Hill is the Miner's Memorial, on top of the 'Broken Hill.' This shows the 800 odd miners that have lost their lives in mining accidents since the mine opened. Sadly, there are many deaths - the plaques show the miner's name, age and how he died. Although mining has always been a dangerous occupation, surely some of these deaths could have been prevented with some simple safety measures - for example, 16 year old Edmund Humphreys was run over by a truck in 1893; numerous 'fell down shaft,' and even more heart attacks. On the upside, in the last 50 years the number of deaths has been cut to what used to happen every year. In one year there were more than a dozen deaths. On a happier note, on the hill you can climb and sit on a large park bench, which is to mining scale - it has been roped off, but I ignored it as I had driven so far, and let's face it, I'm not a baby who's going to cry to the council if I fell off... although it was a big drop!

The famous Silverton Hotel.

The Silverton Municipal Chambers - one of the few remaining buildings.

Just 25kms outside of Broken Hill is Silverton. Although a few people passed through the area, including aboriginals, Major Thomas Mitchell (a NSW Surveyor), the explorer Charles Sturt (who named Broken Hill), and even the famous Burke and Wills (before they died on their momentous trip from Melbourne to The Gulf Of Carpentaria), it wasn't until the 1850s that people started settling here. In 1875 silver was found, and the population boomed to 3000 people in 20 years. By 1901 the population was only 300 people, and in 1915 a New Years Day train was robbed by an Afgani man in what is called the Battle of Broken Hill. Today, the town has about 50 people - a far cry from the 3000, 10 pubs and 5 churches 100 years ago. The Silverton Hotel is the only surviving pub, and is now famous for the movies and many beer ads that were filmed here, including the 2001 movie Dirty Deeds with Bryan Brown, Toni Collette and Sam Worthington, Prescilla Queen of the Desert, and of course Mad Max 2 was filmed here, and just around the corner at the Mundi Mundi lookout.

A relic from the Mad Max movie.

Not much to look at now, the town is full of old ruins and flies. It doesnt take much imagination though to see it like it must have been. The real Wild West of Australia - guys in beards walking around with loaded revolvers, drinking in 1 of the 10 wood and corrugated iron pubs. I'm sure there were shootings over money and silver, horses, and maybe a woman or two. Last time my friend Nick came up here, he saw a guy pull up on his horse, tie it up, and go straight into the pub. He came out a few hours later, wobbled back to his horse, and went home. Where else do you see that? Before camping for the night, we headed up to the Mundi Mundi lookout to watch the bush sunset. Up on a high hill, the same place Max crashed his car, we sat there with a few beers and the dog (and about a dozen tourists), and chilled out. Sunsets are great, and even better in outback where it is just the sun and the horizon line.

Bush sunset at Mundi Mundi, Silverton.

Now, before  end this post - can anyone answer a question for me? Why are country people so NICE!! It's a good thing, don't get me wrong, but it's true! While driving on the road, guys in utes and trucks with give me the, what I call, 'reverse two finger salute.' We all know what the 2 finger salute is, but this was a quick 'G'day' while driving. Drivers would do this as they passed you on the outback roads - not tourists mind, only real country folk - I tried to initiate it, never work, so stuck to just having my hand ready to reciprocate!