Broken Hill Day 2 & 3

Mad Max Mobiles

"School of the Tent"

Sunrise over the Barrier range, Broken Hill

Daydream Mine

Had a fine time in Broken Hill. The architecture here is fairly unique, with houses made out of tin and what ever else could be found. Gardens are obviously designed to withstand the dry salty soil. Not alot of lawn. Some of the historic buildings in town are impressive, especially the old pubs with their wide verandahs. The streets are wide and to walk around the block is a half day event...well almost. Russ took us on a "quick walk" just three or four blocks from the caravan park to discover the oldest Mosque in Australia, built in 1891! It's a simple rustic building with date palms and edible fig trees in the yard. It was built by the Afghani cameleers. The walk took us over an hour and we all got a little sunburnt. Lesson learnt! The next day we went to the School of the Air, and watched the teacher interact with 5 kindergarten children from around the  North West area. Then it was on to the historic Daydream Silver mine for an underground tour. The mine is about 35 kms outside Broken Hill, off the Silverton road. It was fun to be underground and amazing to see this historic mine. The Cornish miners started the mine in 1882 and it stopped working in 1983. They followed the seams of Galena, which contained high quantities of silver. Going through it you were left with the impression of how difficult life must have been for the miners and how ingenious they were, given the lack of technology. The timber braces in the mine were made from Mulga, which has to be one of the most dense and beautiful timbers. It is resistant to termites and thus is still holding the mine in place after 100 years. We had lunch at the Silverton Hotel, made famous as the backdrop for the Mad Max films. We have had to deal with a colony of sugar ants that decided to make our home, theirs. We are talking hundreds of ants! They joined us in Wilcannia and we are still trying to dissuade them! Hopefully they have got the message. The nights are much cooler, down to 8/9 degrees, but the days are sunny and warm Unfortunately the rain has hampered out plans to stop at Mutawingi National park, but the road to Tiboobura is open, so we are heading there today, hopefully to meet up with Naomi, Phil and Clancy who are on their way to the Northern Territory.

Broken Hill

Swollen Darling River at Wilcannia

Flooded Caravan park

The 'Desert' driving into Broken Hill

We had a couple of lovely days at Wellington caves, time to recoup and gather our thoughts. The days were lovely and warm, with cooler nights. The girls enjoyed the caves, especially the fossils and the story of the Diprotodon bones. They played in the pool and we even had a moment to read. A family of mice attempted to take up residence with us, but we chased them off. We had a big drive to Wilcannia on the Monday. Coming in to the town was beautiful, with lots of emus and water in the billabongs. The country is incredibly green. We were assailed by swarms of crickets and dragon flies as we drove. Wilcannia caravan park was flooded and the Darling River very swollen, so there was no where legal to camp. Russ managed to find a picturesque spot next to the river, on the opposite side of the river to the caravan park. We were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes, but it was worth it for the view. Wilcannia is a very sad remnant of a town. It has descended into a version of Heart of Darkness, with boarded up shops, children roaming the streets instead of attending school and nightly violence in the streets from adults affected by grog and years of unemployment. Leaving town, we headed for Broken Hill. The flat landscape was a carpet of green, a sight rare to behold, with water in the 'lakes', fatted sheep and emus roaming  peacefully in the lush country. We will stay in Broken Hill for a few days to catch up on washing and school work, wait for some roads to dry out and hope that they reopen the road to Mutwintji National Park

Yay!!!

The rig!

Here we go

Guess what? We've left! After a mammoth effort of packing, giving blood, dentist appointments and birthday drinks for Barbara, we left Woonona at 11am. Fond farewells from Grandma & the family, last pats for the dog & cats and off we ventured. A drive up to Hazelbrook for lunch with Nana and then traffic jams until after Katoomba. We arrived here at Wellington Caves at 6.45pm, and were eating chicken curry by 7.45. Wow. The temperature is mild, no breeze, stars and millions of moths and an assortment of bugs.Finally we can relax and read todays paper... I'm guessing it's still "too early to call?" Changes in government me thinks? It's earth hour...and we intend to continue it  every night for 8 months. Thank you to everyone who has wished us safe journeys on our odyssey, we feel humbled. :) We are tired but happy.

Coledale beach

Did she say tent wetting? Well Gaia, Buddha, God and /or the weather patterns must have read our invitation, and decided to help out. Our tent is now officially wet and dripping...but we have survived. Thank you to all those intrepid guests who have braved the elements to visit us.Birthday cake ala Camilla...yummy. Dinner at the Coledale RSL. Quick trip home to pick up the forgotten pillows. The girls asleep, we sat outside in very light drizzle to admire the view. The beautiful moon peeped out from the clouds, as the NSW Uni students, who are sharing the campground, did nudie runs along the beach.The thundering surf and the pobblebonk frogs sang us a lullaby. And so the journey begins.

Still packing

OK, custard powder? check. Aeroguard? check. spare tyres? check. anything else? probably! Can't wait for our first loaf of bread cooked in our camp oven. Looks like it may be a bit wet at Coledale, but plenty of room in the Trakshak for friends and family to drop by.

Just practicing

Hello and welcome to our blog! We are starting to get very excited about our big trip. The TrakShak is here and the packing has begun. Countdown is 3weeks and counting. Two more weeks of work for Russ and Jenny, two more plus 2 days of school for the girls. Woohoo. Just to get the hang of things we are going all the way to Coledale Beach for our premiere