2560km Road Trip

Back in May, DH & I embarked on a road trip out to Broken Hill ...and then returned home via Mildura in Vic, giving us a total of 8 days away.  We covered 3 states - NSW, VIC & SA (perhaps a bit of cheating here...lol, from Broken Hill we drove the 50 or so km's out to the SA border...just so I could say I've been to SA...LOL), we did 29+ hours driving time, used 243 litres of petrol, took 813 photos and spent an unknown amount of $$$$$ (who's counting when you're having fun??). 

So, I thought I'd best get a move on & add some pics/details from the trip before the ol' Alzheimer's really sets in & I forget stuff :-/

We headed off at about 6am on 14th May for the 923km haul to Broken Hill.  Stopping at Nyngan, Cobar, Wilcannia & a truck stop that was out in the middle of nowhere (with nothing else there but the truck stop), for lunch & rest breaks.

^ There was literally hundreds of kilometres like this....just straight & flat.

We arrived in Broken Hill about 5.30 pm....and the next day got straight to doing the touristy thing...

^ Main street of Broken Hill

So many beautiful old buildings....

^ Court House

^ Town Hall

^ Post Office

And this was the hotel where we stayed - The Royal Exchange....very art deco! 

After strolling around the CBD & having breakfast on our first morning....we headed out to the Royal Flying Doctors.  What an amazing place...and such a great service that they provide - Loved visiting here :)

^ Inside the hanger at the RFDS

We then headed back into town for some more sight seeing....



^ Giant park bench at the site of the original BHP mine - The line of load.

^ Old mine relics @ BHP mine

^ The harsh landscape that's left after years of mining

We then went out to the living desert to have some lunch, walk around the desert & view the amazing sculptures.....

^ My new found friend of the desert

^ Sturt Desert Pea

^ Sacred aboriginal site

^ My favourite sculpture (& the one I took the most photos of!)

^ I waited & waited for the sun to be lined up through the hole of the sculpture for this shot...this is probably the best of about 20 that I took.

^  Magnificent sunset

The next day....lots to do again, so first on our list was the School of the Air.  What a fascinating place.  Don't think I'd want to be a teacher there though....by gee you need to have a lot of patience - all the waiting for the kids to reply on the radio all the time., would drive me nuts!  lol

Then we went out to Silverton for the afternoon....so much to see & do here also!

^ Famous Silverton Hotel

^ The Mad Max Inceptor

^ LOL

^ The Mad Max museum

On our 3rd morning we drove out to the SA border....so that I can now say I've been to SA.  lol

And ...... I have proof :)

We visited the Pro Hart gallery...wow , what a talented man he was.  I took a heap more photos inside this gallery, but will just share my fav....

^ From the well known TV commercial - Oh Mr Hart...what a mess!

Day 4 and we're off to Menindee Lakes.....

^ and stopped off here on the way, as we knew this was a spot that Pro Hart visited regularly to produce many of his pieces of artwork...

^ And the first thing we seen were these guys....I'm not sure who was startled the most...them or us!  LOL

The beautiful Menindee Lakes....this place was just out of this world.  So serene & peaceful.
I probably took 100 or so photos here....and I could have easily taken more.  I would have been happy to just take photos all day - it is such a beautiful spot.

We were so lucky to be there at a time when the lakes were full....due to the recent floods of QLD & far north NSW on the Darling River.  We'll definitely have to add Menindee Lakes back on the evergrowing list of places to see.

While out in the Menindee area, we also visited Kinchega National Park & the Kinchega homestead & woolshed.  What an amazing place this was....easily spent 3 or 4 hours wandering & checking things out.

^ The Woolshed - in operation from 1875 thru to 1967 when the 6 millionth & last sheep was shorn.

^ Inside the woolshed

We also went to see the mighty Darling river while in the township of Menindee....

and then drove on to the Burke & Wills campsite, 30 or so km's out of Menindee.....

Due to the recent floods along the Darling river...a lot of places were inaccessable.  We started walking along this track, but it got to the point where it was so bad that we couldn't continue....unless we wanted to end up with mud up to our knees.......

^ Although the ground looks dry & cracked here....it was very wet & soggy under the top layer that looked dry.

^ Darling river

And now our time in Broken Hill is up...time to head to Mildura down in Victoria.....

with a few rest stops along the way.....

^ A branch of the Darling River, called The Great Anabranch

^ Such a beautiful spot

^ This gum tree was humungous!

 

Finally we arrived at Wenthworth....a little township about 25km north of Mildura...where the Murray & Darling Rivers meet.....

^The 2 rivers meeting place.  You can really see the difference in the water between the 2 rivers as the Darling River has lots of clay in it.

While in Wentworth we visited the Old Wentworth Gaol....

What a tough life it would have been serving time here!

 

Just outside of Wentworth are these amazing sand dunes - called Perry sandhills.....

^ I didn't want to walk on them and disturb the amazing patterns!

^ Jetty at Wentworth

Statue of Chinese, John Egge - a wealthy & well known businessman of Wentworth

Finally, we're in Mildura....

^ Restaurant area of Mildura

^ Murray River & pier

^ Rio Vista - Home of William Chaffey - one of the brothers who brought irrigation to the Mildura area.

^ P.S Rothbury

 ^ P.S Melbourne

^ one of many rows of grape vines....they are everywhere in the Mildura district.

 

Sadly, our time in Mildura is at an end....and it's time to hit the road for the 8 hour drive home...

We had planned to stop off at Hay for a lunch break & to visit "Shear Outback" - Australia's shearing hall of fame which is just outside of Hay...

^ The shearing shed

 ^ Shearing demonstration

^ 2 sheep made out of corrugated iron.

^ Main street of Hay

^ Hells Gate...out on the Hay Plains 

And here we are almost home......

So there it is....our first road trip in many many years....hopefully it will be the first of many :)

If you've read this far & are still with me....I hope you've enjoyed our journey!
Thanks so much for dropping by :)