On the Wednesday morning that we left Mildura, the weather had changed: wind and cloud had taken the place of the beautifully clear sunny weather that we had been enjoying, and we took this as a sign to leave. To get to Broken Hill we needed to cross the Murray river, turn left and drive 30km or so to Wentworth, then turn right and keep going for almost 300km. Simple.
We knew that there wouldn't be much on the road between Wentworth and Broken Hill, but we weren't quite mentally prepared for the fact that there would literally be nothing on this stretch of road (we did pass a herd of emus somewhere along this stretch. H) - although outstations and homesteads were marked on our maps, they were too far from the road to be seen; the only signs that they existed at all were occasional gates in fences and the owners' rudimentary mailboxes. The only place visible from the road, and indeed the only place to stop - was the lonely Coombah roadhouse (claiming to serve the best meals between Wentworth and Broken Hill) where we made the obligatory stop and changed drivers. Buying a cheese and ham toastie and a sandwich there for lunch seemed like the least we could do - it didn't look like the roadhouse made a lot of money.
Robin
Or get a lot of company - the daughter of one of the waitresses clearly wanted someone to play with and promptly had us making 'horsies' out of Plasticine with her!
So, fed and watered off we went. The wind had picked up to a roof rattling gale and the sand blew across the roadhouse forecourt as we pulled out onto the Silver City Highway. The sky was no longer dark with clouds, more orange and pink from the desert dust that was being whipped up. The following 125km seemed to take forever as the squalling wind buffeted us and the orange dust became heavier. It was a dust storm, not uncommon in the outback apparently, and at times visibility was incredibly poor. A thick orange fog is the best way to describe it, one that made seeing approaching vehicles difficult, even with their head lights on. This was not quite the 'outback adventure' we had envisioned, not least because we couldn't see any of the vast scenery associated with this aspect of Australia.
A note on car games: The mechanic in Mildura had warned us to watch out for kangaroos on the Silver City Highway, and after seeing a yellow sign (the first of several) that said "Kangaroos 240km", we had our eyes peeled. Before the dust storm we counted 17. Dead ones that is. And by the time we had reached Broken Hill the count had risen to twenty. The dust probably prevented us from seeing many more. The stipulation for including a carcass in the count was that it had to be recognisable as a 'roo, and not just a skeleton - of which there were far too many to count. A gruesome game, but there aren't many ways to make a 300km drive fun. And thankfully, given the dust storm, we didn't add any 'roos to the body count ourselves.
Hannah
The dust storm was still going when we got to Broken Hill, so rather than get out and enjoy the apparently spectacular views we went to the airport, which is also one of the bases for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Their tour was very worthy of course, because they do a lot of good work, and we got to go in the hangar and see a couple of the planes. AND we discovered that 'Coopers Crossing' from The Flying Doctors TV series doesn't exist: it was actually filmed in a place called Minyip, which we had driven through on the way to Mildura (In Minyip, signs for 'Coopers Crossing - home of the Flying Doctors' had caused both of us some confusion...)
The morning brought a beautifully clear yet chilly day, and we got even further out back by driving to Silverton, which is practically a ghost town, about 25km away. The Silverton Hotel (the only remaining pub) is famous as an archetypal aussie outback pub and has featured in lots of TV ads and films - Mad Max II was filmed nearby and there was a replica of Mel Gibson's Interceptor car parked out front.
We had to have a beer in the pub - this is pretty much the price for having a nose around. After that we wandered around the remaining stone buildings (including the gaol/town museum) scattered apparently randomly in the bush - the tin and timber shacks and houses that once stood in between having long since vanished. At the nearby Mundi Mundi lookout we looked out (obviously) over a dead-flat plain while dust devils swirled along in the distance. Driving back towards Broken Hill we even saw a herd of camels wandering along in the bush. (And a big lizard. H)
Back in town we drove up to the top of the enormous slag heap looming over the city centre and had a coffee - Broken Hill's raison d'etre is mining, and they've been extracting silver lead and zinc from the ground (the 'line of lode') for 125 years. The Broken Hill that the town is named after has long since disappeared, mined into oblivion, and replaced by the slag heap. Disused mines and equipment are dotted all over town, but a couple of modern operations carry on.
At sunset we again drove a short way out of town to a strange place known as Sculpture Hill, where in 1993 a group of sculptors were invited to camp out and create sculptures from extremely hard rock without power tools. Some of the sculptures are better than others, but the light and the setting made it feel pretty special. (And we saw some kangaroos on the way home- alive this time. H)
Tomorrow (Friday) we plan to start the long drive east. The next town, about 200km away, is Wilcannia. We had thought about staying there for a night, but Hannah has been warned against it by a lady she met here on the campsite who had just driven from that direction. 'Don't even stop there - there's roadhouses either side of town that you can use. The local aborigines have smashed up the town and everything's boarded up' was the advice. Looks like our Outback adventure is just beginning!
Robin
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