Broken Hill to Flinders Ranges

Found a caravan Park at Broken Hill where we could have a camp fire, meaning marshmallows were on the menu that night, followed by damper on sticks. The next day (Wednesday) we explored Broken Hill. Ned bought himself a fantastic rock/mineral collection with all the money granny and Grampy gave him. We checked out one of the many art galleries in town, and then took some special tablets that temporarily shrunk the family for this photo on a local park bench. 

Honey I shrunk the kids

In the afternoon we had a special treat at a 1950s style milk bar - really authentic with lots of 1950s memorabilia.

Bells milk bar

Visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service base

We then headed for the desert sculptures north of Broken Hill for sunset.

Desert Sculptures

Desert Sculptures looking west

Monnie "striking the pose" next to a sculpture

Sunset on way home to Broken Hill

That night we headed out to the Silverton Pub to watch the first State of Origin Game in real Aussie style. We were ready for a big night out and lashed out on a pub meal for the whole family while watching Qld whip NSW. The kids loved it, not because of the authentic aussie atmosphere or the Queensland win or the fact they were allowed to sit at the public bar, but because they got chicken nuggets and chips for dinner. It seems that the quality of the holiday is mainly judged by the type of food on offer and frequency of yummy treats!

Oooops - this is AFL country - the Silverton Pub was pretty quiet for State of Origin!

Next day we went to Jack Absalom’s art gallery where Jim was pleased to meet the man himself and get some autographed prints. (Jack also had outback travel shows on TV when Jim was younger.) Broken Hill has over 30 art galleries and we would have loved to see more. Later we had a simulated underground mine tour by an old timer who taught us about the old days of mining – pretty special. Learnt that silver and lead always occur together in the same rock. Then checked out Silverton (Mad Max country) in daylight, and some of the great old buildings there. 

Wandering camel on the way to Silverton

Elsie and Monnie at Silverton

The famous pub (again)

The original Mad Max car, not very well preserved. Looks a bit like a pretend hotted up XC Falcon.

Finished off the day with a visit to Pro Hart’s House/Gallery which was pretty good, and a favourite of Claire’s. Saw his collection of Rolls Royces. (Couldn't take photos of his other paintings.)

The next morning we attempted to pack up in record time so we could make it to Flinders Ranges, South Australia. We did pack up in record time (2.5 hours!), but only made it to Hawker, where we set up in the dark next to a camp kitchen, full with a crowd who were there for the annual Hawker Races. Encountered our fist bit of rain, but it didn't affect us too much. Prior to Hawker we did a small detour to Magnetic Hill where cars appear to roll freely up the hill (towards a fake magnet - actually an optical illusion). Also saw the 500 year old River Red Gum at Orraroo.

500 year old River Red Gum at Orraroo, S.A.