Day: May 12, 2018

A long day driving bought us through Broken Hill. We only had time to stop for lunch, fuel, gas and restock the cupboards. But I hope we are able to come back. It seems like such a historic town with many a tale to tell. Old buildings, another massive mine in the the middle of town, museums and art galleries galour. Turns out Pro Hart (famous Aussie artist) was from here.

Again preferring to stay out of the bigger towns and off the major hwy’s we went on another 100km south down to the Darling river and stayed at the Copi Hallow caravan park, which is also home to the Broken Hill speed boat club.

As we arrived the most amazing red sunset dipped below the horizon. We were too late to enjoy it and only catching a glimpse, along with the a lovely location and very nice camp hosts we decided to stay two nights in the hope of capturing some more of this magnificence.

Unfortunately this wasn’t to be as the weather turned windy, cold and a little wet. It did however turn out to be very interesting, as we discovered the local history of famous Australian explorers I remember my dad telling me about, and got a sense and sight of the water issues facing those who try to eek out a living down stream on the Darling river.

Tragic, is the most fitting word applied to both of these tales or woe. Burke and Wills stayed here at the Minindee Pub and I guess it was here that things started to fall apart as descent arose and the exploration party fractured under Burkes leadership. Still he must have been made of some remarkable stuff to achieve and endure all he did. And the present day tradgy is the large investment and toil put into establishing the vineyards we drove past only to have to abandon them and have the bush (and weeds) fight back and reclaim them. Broken dreams and likely some broken people attached.

The river (very low) and river gums are very beautiful and we throughly enjoy a drive through the national park, along the banks of the Darling. Even coming across the site where a paddle steamer, (transport of choice in the day) had exploded and there lay on the very high banks an old solid iron boiler. It wasn’t the only causality though as when the rest of the crew returned from the pub they discovered the body of there mate up in a tree.

It was also fascinating to see the flood markers from recent flood event 1983, 1976 and 2011. With the river so low now it’s hard to imagine how it could reach such levels but then we are a country of drought and flooding rains. We enquired about the recent flooding in Queensland and apparently it takes about 4 months for the water to arrive so plenty of time to prepare.

The Darling and the flood plains have capture our imagination and we have decided to follow her to Bourke rather than take the hwy. More adventure and dust no doubt!

 

Leaving Spear Creek we drove throw the Flinders Rangers coming out the other side to a place called Wilmington or Beautiful Valley. We stopped for a fabulous coffee from the Black Sheep Cafe. Although they were closed due to refurbishing the kitchen they kindly made us some great coffee and shared their interesting story. Sounds like we missed a wee treasure of a bush cafe with a pie to rival any other.

With water on board the van we were looking for a free camp for the night and thought we’d try the abandoned mine and ruins of Waukaringa. We prefer to be off the highway away from the noise of road trains. And I thought this might be a chance for some fascinating history.

Turned out to be quiet an adventure. Firstly because it miss calculated the distance off the highway and secondly the condition of the road to get to the camp. From Yunta we turned north off the Barrier Hwy for 30km. The warning sign at the beginning of the drive only added to the sense of adventure.

The ruins were pretty trashy with broken glass and rusty metal strewn everywhere but there were a few information plaques telling the story of yesteryear. The highlights of this stay was the country side, the stars and the road trains that travel this road at night.

We perched ourselves up upon a hill away from the eerie ruins. It felt like and we really were in the middle of nowhere. We jagged the weather with clear sky’s and nil winds to speak of and set in for another spectacular sunset with the roo’s.

The lights, dust clouds and noise of the road trains was a sight to see and you had to wonder where they were travelling to as it appreared to be a road to nowhere. How vast this land is!