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.