Broken Hill began as a mining town and continues to operate as one today. Ore was discovered there in 1883 and that same ore body became the largest single source of silver, lead and zinc ore ever discovered on earth, generating over $100 billion! It now relies on mining and tourism as people visit there for an outback experience. Known for its mining, its artists, and its landscape, Broken Hill is a relatively easily accessible outback town... located only 8 1/2 hours west of Dubbo.
We booked into the Aussie Bacon and Eggs Cottages in Broken Hill for our 3 night stay. With the cottage rental (the cottage is a renovated miner's cottage from back in the day) came bacon, eggs, bread, and margarine for your breakfast while you stayed. It sounded so perfectly "outback" that I had to book it!!
Our whole reason for making this big southern loop of Australia and including Broken Hill in our travel plans was to get Dad to Lake Eyre. That was to take place on our second day in Broken Hill and so for our first day, we visited the sites!
Travelling out to nearby Silverton, it was again very flat, except for the many dips in the road from where the flood water would have gone through. With a hard rain, you could easily have flooding in these areas and water level markers and flood paths are all around. I was fascinated by the red dirt in particular, on this trip. It just seemed sooo red! I don't think the photos do it justice, but we tried. For me, I've never travelled to our east coast of Canada and so, it is unique for me and it is also iconic as part of the Australian landscape.
Silverton was once a booming mining town, but with the booms comes the lows and it is now not much more than a tourist stop and a ghost town. It is probably most famous as the location of the Mad Max movies (some of them) and Mission Impossible II (which I didn't actually know until now). It is also well known in Australia for its artists, in particular Peter Brown who is considered a true outback artist. He is well known for the humour in his artwork, the big eyed emus he depicts and the fact that he paints with a combination of paints and coffee to get just the right colors. He no longer has a studio there, but now is closer to Dubbo, in Molong. Memories of his artwork still remain in Silverton as you will see in the photos I will post. We also visited the Mundi Mundi Plains which is just north of Silverton... there was honestly nothing to see but land. Beyond the Mundi Mundi Plains lookout, we followed the Bitumen (that's like black top/pavement) to the Umberumberka Resevoir.
The day was a very hot and windy one, so while Dad and I were loving it because of the photos we were getting, Mom was not such a fan. Mom said that she's now seen enough of the outback and prefers little Dubbo and some of the other places we visited.
For sunset in Broken Hill, there is no other place to be but at the Living Desert Sanctuary and the Broken Hill Sculptures. The sunset photos through one of the sculptures is another iconic photo of this outback town. A group of artists from around the world, came together to create the sculptures that are now part of the Sanctuary. People flocked to here and it was hard to get a photo sometimes, but we were fortunate enough to meet a wonderful group of high school students who were on a massive 2 week trip of outback Australia and visiting with them, made the crowd a bit easier to bear.
This was the day, the big day...one of the main reasons for doing this particular 2 week journey.... to help Dad celebrate his 65th birthday in a pretty amazing way!
Dad and I had watched a couple of documentaries on Australia before I came over. One was on the deadly animals/insects/etc that live in Australia (Awesome, thanks for that!) and the other was on Lake Eyre. Neither of us had ever heard of Lake Eyre and the documentary was fascinating. It talked about how the lake had only been full a few times in the last 100 years and that when it was full, all of these birds, frogs, animals and so much more, flocked to the lake. One type of frog actually hibernates while the lake is dry and only comes to the surface when there is water. With so much rain since I arrived, I figured we would have a good opportunity to see Lake Eyre with water in it. So, I booked us a day trip/flight from Broken Hill.
We met the owner of Silver City Scenic Flights, Dave Hart, and were briefed on what our day would entail - an amazing outback adventure from Broken Hill to Marree, over Lake Eyre and back to Broken Hill. We then met our pilot, Drew, and were on our way in a 6 passenger (tiny) Cessna 206.
We travelled Northwest out of Broken Hill, which took us over Silverton and Umberumberka Reservoir, which we had seen from the ground the day before. This took us from New South Wales into South Australia. We then crossed over the "Dog Fence" which is a "pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 km..." (Wikipedia).
Drew told us about some sheep stations which have up to 3 million acres and we even flew over one that had their own landing strip for the Flying Doctors to land in case of emergency, and for the owners to check over their land and sheep. He also commented how lush and green the land was. You don't usually think of outback Australia and lush or green, and didn't seem overly green to us, but there was a tinge of a green mixed in with the very red dirt.
Continuing Northwest, we flew over Lake Frome which is a large salt lake, 100km by 40km, lying mostly below sea level. We then crossed the Flinders Ranges, which boasts one of the most well known national parks in Australia. Matthew Flinders is a significant name in Australia, with many streets and buildings named after him wherever we went, as he was one of the original explorers to many parts of Australia.
It was morning tea time, an Aussie institution that I absolutely love, so we landed in the outback town of Marree. Marree sits at the junction of the Birdsville track and Oodnadatta track and is an important outback junction. In the late 1800s, Marree was a staging post for Afghan traders whose camel trains carried supplies to isolated settlements of the outback. As motorized vehicles became more popular, the camels were set lose creating a major feral animal problem and many were killed as a result. The prescence of camels can still be seen in Central Australia, and there are even camel races that take place in Marree and other outback towns.
Our morning tea location was the "airport" which was a small mobile work trailer with a molding ceiling falling down and a crooked toilet. It was quite a site but the tea and biscuits were a nice treat.
Up in the air we went again bound for Lake Eyre, and by this time, I was not feeling well in the back of the plane and was doing my best to not throw up in front of the cute pilot :) Dad was much more alert in the front and so now, he adds his bits to the blog..
Lake Eyre was named after the first white man to explore the area. It is the largest salt lake in Australia and the largest salt pan in the world. When the North and South lakes are full, they cover almost 10,000 km2. It lies 16 meters below sea level and is the catchment from Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and parts of Western New South Wales, making it one of the largest internally draining systems in the world.
Lake Eyre was 85% full when Stephanie booked this trip for us, 3 months ago. We had hoped to see it as this same water level when we flew, but as we discovered, the water had evaporated to leave the lake only 5% full (and that's being generous).
It was absolutely incredible to see something that size and to appreciate the fact that it changes so quickly, from a paradise for bird and fish to a salt pan. At times, when you were looking at the salt pan of the lake, you couldn't tell sky from land. It reminded me of a white out in Alberta in January!
Dad is a man of few words, and he's not a blogger... so I'll continue for him :)
It was a really incredible sight to see, although I was in and out of consciousness, trying to make my stomach settled. At one point, I looked down, and like Dad said, there was nothing but white all around. The only thing that stood out was the pink algae that you could see in what was the lake bottom. Honestly and truly, one of the most amazing things I am sure we will ever see. It was disappointing that there wasn't water in the lake, but it was still spectacular in a different way.
Flying back from Lake Eyre, we once again landed in Marree, but this time for lunch. The "airport" was a little bit out of town, so the owner of the local roadhouse had left us a car to drive into town for lunch. The car was better than walking of course, but only 1 window went down, the rest were covered in cobwebs and it was 42C!! There wasn't much in the actual town besides a pub, a roadhouse and a gas station, but the food was good and again, it was part of our outback experience.
The rest of the flight back to Broken Hill was as interesting as the trip up. We saw more outback and more incredible sights, but honestly, Dad and I could go on and on and on...
It was an awesome way to celebrate Dad's birthday and an amazing way to end our 2 week Aussie adventure! Sharing this with Mom and Dad meant so much and I feel truly blessed that we were able to share it together.
So, 4600km, 1 territory and 3 states, we returned back to my Aussie home of Dubbo and settled back into the routine of school and exploring the places I've come to know and love.
Until next time...
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Spring Holidays Week 2 in Photos
 |
| The McLaren Vale Wine Region |
 |
| Glenelg Beach |
 |
| Glenelg Beach Sunset |
 |
| Mom and Dad at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide |
 |
| Another windmill photo - look at that canola! |
 |
| And another windmill... |
 |
| Annie's Lane est 1863 |
 |
| The Jesuit Winery - Sevenhill est 1851 |
 |
| Madonna of the Vines |
Spring Holidays Week 2
Mom, Dad and I have been back in Dubbo for a few weeks now and have been enjoying the slower pace of Dubbo. Well, let's face it, I'm still keeping them busy but there's less driving!
We arrived back in Dubbo after a very long last stretch of driving, 760km and 8.5 hours, from Broken Hill. Thank God we could share the driving between Dad and I, as we took turns every couple of hours.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.... let me go back to where the last blog post ended - arriving in Adelaide.
Leaving the ferry at Victor Harbor, we cruised our way through windy roads up to the McLaren Vale wine region. Poor Mom ended up being sick (from the ferry, the windy roads and my driving - oops!) and spent most of the day in the car. We did mange to pop into the Almond Train and make a stop at the Black Sheep winery of Hugh Hamilton. I was driving so couldn't enjoy too much, but Dad quite enjoyed their reds and we got some great photos of what is a beautiful winery.
The drive into Adelaide was quite easy and I grew to quickly love the ease of navigating Adelaide. Sydney is much bigger of course and Melbourne too, but driving in both cause me a fair amount of stress. Adelaide was a breeze! The townhouse we had rented was in a great location and allowed us to easily navigate into the city and out to the beach!
Adelaide is a beautiful city... slow paced, teaming with cool shops, great shopping and wonderful food. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven while in the central market - dolmades, samosas!!! Both were homemade and are a treat I haven't had in a long time. We only had 1 full day in Adelaide, which is really unfortunate, but with such a huge trip planned and so many miles to cover, we had to sacrifice in some areas. I will definitely put Adelaide on my list of places to visit on my next visit to Australia though, for sure!
We were able to make it out to one of the nearby beaches, to a place called Glenelg. The sunsets here were recommended as one of the most amazing places in all of South Australia. So, we made our way down to the beach and enjoyed a spectacular sunset! We also then went to enjoy a sangria on a nearby patio and then some tacos at a much cheaper fast food restaurant.
The cost of eating out in Australia is really something unbelievable. I know people say that we tip in Canada and so it would work out to the same cost. This is so not true! Eating out is at least double what we pay in Canada. Now, drinking with your meal is more expensive in Canada as places here have BYO (Bring Your Own Bottle and then just pay a corkage fee), but overall, the eating out costs are just too much for most people to afford. Mom and Dad and I did our best to plan the trip so we would have a fridge and a BBQ or a kitchen at every place we stayed. If we wouldn't have done this, and we would have had to eat out, there is no way we could have afforded to do the same kind of trip. I'm not whinging, I'm just expressing our opinion on it :)
Anyways, back to the grand adventure....
We left Adelaide the following morning, bound for the Clare Valley wine region (see a theme?) and beyond to Broken Hill. South Australia is known as one of the famous wine regions in Australia, especially the Barossa Valley. However, the Clare Valley, is becoming much better known and is producing some incredible, award winning wines... and it's less busy than the Barossa :) We chose Annie's Lane winery as this has become one of my favorite wines while I've been over here. Their red wines are incredible and I'm grateful to Bridget for telling me about it. Annie's Lane is one of the oldest wineries in the Clare Valley, second only to the Jesuit winery, Sevenhill, which we also visited for a historic walk but not the wine. The valley, the wine... everything, was spectacular and beautiful.
From there to Broken Hill, I honestly can't tell you a whole lot as I was sleeping in the back seat for a lot of the time. I woke up in a place called Mannahill and seriously felt like I was on another planet. The dust was blowing, it was HOT and the flies were swarming. There was hardly anything around - an old train station, a corner shop, and the public toilets was about the extent of it. Dad told me about all of the emus he had seen and I couldn't believe it, so from that point on, I stayed awake and was on wildlife lookout :)
The drive was very interesting for a totally different reason than what you would think. It was flat, really flat, like Saskatchewan flat (ha ha - that one is for the rellies!), but with lots of bush/scrum. Emus and wild goats were everywhere you looked but there was truly nothing else to see - no houses, no buildings, nothing. From Adelaide to Broken Hill, it's about 520km, but that's about 6 hours of driving. It was one of our bigger stretches of driving, but we couldn't get over all of the animals. This was just the start of our Outback adventure!
We arrived back in Dubbo after a very long last stretch of driving, 760km and 8.5 hours, from Broken Hill. Thank God we could share the driving between Dad and I, as we took turns every couple of hours.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.... let me go back to where the last blog post ended - arriving in Adelaide.
Leaving the ferry at Victor Harbor, we cruised our way through windy roads up to the McLaren Vale wine region. Poor Mom ended up being sick (from the ferry, the windy roads and my driving - oops!) and spent most of the day in the car. We did mange to pop into the Almond Train and make a stop at the Black Sheep winery of Hugh Hamilton. I was driving so couldn't enjoy too much, but Dad quite enjoyed their reds and we got some great photos of what is a beautiful winery.
The drive into Adelaide was quite easy and I grew to quickly love the ease of navigating Adelaide. Sydney is much bigger of course and Melbourne too, but driving in both cause me a fair amount of stress. Adelaide was a breeze! The townhouse we had rented was in a great location and allowed us to easily navigate into the city and out to the beach!
Adelaide is a beautiful city... slow paced, teaming with cool shops, great shopping and wonderful food. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven while in the central market - dolmades, samosas!!! Both were homemade and are a treat I haven't had in a long time. We only had 1 full day in Adelaide, which is really unfortunate, but with such a huge trip planned and so many miles to cover, we had to sacrifice in some areas. I will definitely put Adelaide on my list of places to visit on my next visit to Australia though, for sure!
We were able to make it out to one of the nearby beaches, to a place called Glenelg. The sunsets here were recommended as one of the most amazing places in all of South Australia. So, we made our way down to the beach and enjoyed a spectacular sunset! We also then went to enjoy a sangria on a nearby patio and then some tacos at a much cheaper fast food restaurant.
The cost of eating out in Australia is really something unbelievable. I know people say that we tip in Canada and so it would work out to the same cost. This is so not true! Eating out is at least double what we pay in Canada. Now, drinking with your meal is more expensive in Canada as places here have BYO (Bring Your Own Bottle and then just pay a corkage fee), but overall, the eating out costs are just too much for most people to afford. Mom and Dad and I did our best to plan the trip so we would have a fridge and a BBQ or a kitchen at every place we stayed. If we wouldn't have done this, and we would have had to eat out, there is no way we could have afforded to do the same kind of trip. I'm not whinging, I'm just expressing our opinion on it :)
Anyways, back to the grand adventure....
We left Adelaide the following morning, bound for the Clare Valley wine region (see a theme?) and beyond to Broken Hill. South Australia is known as one of the famous wine regions in Australia, especially the Barossa Valley. However, the Clare Valley, is becoming much better known and is producing some incredible, award winning wines... and it's less busy than the Barossa :) We chose Annie's Lane winery as this has become one of my favorite wines while I've been over here. Their red wines are incredible and I'm grateful to Bridget for telling me about it. Annie's Lane is one of the oldest wineries in the Clare Valley, second only to the Jesuit winery, Sevenhill, which we also visited for a historic walk but not the wine. The valley, the wine... everything, was spectacular and beautiful.
From there to Broken Hill, I honestly can't tell you a whole lot as I was sleeping in the back seat for a lot of the time. I woke up in a place called Mannahill and seriously felt like I was on another planet. The dust was blowing, it was HOT and the flies were swarming. There was hardly anything around - an old train station, a corner shop, and the public toilets was about the extent of it. Dad told me about all of the emus he had seen and I couldn't believe it, so from that point on, I stayed awake and was on wildlife lookout :)
The drive was very interesting for a totally different reason than what you would think. It was flat, really flat, like Saskatchewan flat (ha ha - that one is for the rellies!), but with lots of bush/scrum. Emus and wild goats were everywhere you looked but there was truly nothing else to see - no houses, no buildings, nothing. From Adelaide to Broken Hill, it's about 520km, but that's about 6 hours of driving. It was one of our bigger stretches of driving, but we couldn't get over all of the animals. This was just the start of our Outback adventure!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Spring Holidays Photos - Great Ocean Road to Kangaroo Island
 |
| The home of Rip Curl - Torquay, Victoria |
 |
| Mom and Dad at Bell's Beach - home of the Australia Pro Surf Competition |
 |
| The Memorial Arch |
 |
| Echidna Crossing!! One of my favorite Aussie animals! |
 |
| At the Twelve Apostles |
 |
| The Twelve Apostles (actually there's not even 12) at sunset |
 |
| The view from our cabin at Port Campbell |
 |
| The Twelve Apostles at sunrise |
 |
| SHEEP!! |
.JPG) |
| Loch Ard Gorge |
.JPG) |
| Selfie at London Bridge |
 |
| Looking back over Victor Harbor on a sunny day, after much wind and rain. |
 |
| Dad spotted this fox. |
 |
| Lots and lots of SHEEP! |
 |
| I had to back the car onto the ferry, get out and get out of the way, while the other cars manouevered their way in and the ferry guys got as close as possible. |
 |
| Windmill! I've become obsessed with them and I think we stopped for almost every single one. |
 |
| The beach that was a short walk from our cabin on Kangaroo Island. |
 |
| Mom and Dad at Seal Bay |
 |
| Sea Lions |
 |
| Penguin Crossing |
Spring Holidays Photos - Dubbo to Melbourne
 |
| Mom and Dad at the National Museum in Canberra |
 |
| Phar Lap's Heart - one of the popular exhibits at the National Museum. Phar Lap was one of the greatest racing horses of all time and Aussies love their horse racing! |
 |
| At the War Memorial in Canberra |
 |
| Simpson's Donkey - he and his donkey are a story of heroic measures, taking wounded soldiers to safety in the war. |
 |
| Mom and Dad in front of the War Memorial, looking down the boulevard to the Parliament Buildings. |
 |
| The drive from Canberra to Merimbula reminded me of home. |
 |
| Merimbula Beach |
 |
| Our Whale Watching tour |
 |
| Dad on the lookout for birds and sea life. |
 |
| Dolphins |
 |
| Humpback Whale |
 |
| Mom and Dad at the Koala Conservation Centre |
 |
| Dad and I were fascinated with the trees shedding their bark. |
 |
| I love the Aussie signs that give instructions as to how you should behave. |
 |
| We were freezing! At the Nobbies, at the far end of Phillip Island... felt like we were in the Arctic. |
 |
| Again with the Aussie signs - rug up, it's cold out! |
 |
| Can you see the joey in the mommy's pouch? So cute! |
 |
| Cape Baron Geese |
 |
| The Penguin Parade Amphitheatre |
 |
| Penguin Burrows |
 |
| Don't forget to check for the Little Penguins. |
 |
| In front of Luna Park, St. Kilda, Melbourne |
 |
| Enjoying a delicious, cheap lunch at Sushi Monger. This is a tiny shop in one of the many laneways in Melbourne. The line up is out the door and down the lane every lunch hour. So cheap and oishii!!!! |
 |
| Some of the Street Art in Melbourne. They don't call it graffitti :) |
 |
| Grand Final weekend in Melbourne - they are mad about their sport! |
 |
| More Street Art |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)