Day 14: Broken Hill

After a welcome sleep-in in a real bed, Terry gave me a great personal tour of Broken Hill. As he has lived here since 1965, he knew his way round. He also worked in the mines in the year after we finished Teachers College, when the Dept of Education decided they had trained too many industrial arts teachers. We all started our first careers in mines, quarrys, blast furnaces or on the council. First tourist stop was the top of the skip dump, which overlooks the town. There we looked at the memorial to miners who died in accidents. There was also a lot of mining equipment , which Terry explained to me. This is where I sat on the big seat.

We saw the remnants of BHPs first building in 1885. It left Broken Hill in late 1920's.

Next stop was a tour of the Royal Flying Doctor Museum, operational centre and hanger, which was well worth the visit.

By now it was 37degs, so the cool car drive out to the old Silverton mining town for lunch at the iconic hotel, was welcome. The pub has lots of photos of all movies and advertisements it has been used in.

We drove out the road where Mad Max was filmed and also went to one of the 3 water supplies for BH, at Umberumberka Reservoir, built in 1915.

We then viewed the sculptures at the sculpture park, which were impressive. Finally, we went to the magnificent 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' hotel, which was being restored to its original early 1900s glory.

Tomorrow I head east, with an eye on the weather. Today has been extremely windy.