A very lovely stay in Silverton which is about 25kms Northwest of Broken Hill, as previously mentioned famous for the Mad Max film franchise, more than anything else. Broken Hill has long been on my bucket list as a place to visit, mainly I think because it is in the outback proper, and its relative isolation from any other towns. It was built on the mining industry and whoever had the road naming rights back in the day either had a sense of humour or was just being very literal about what came out of the ground. Most of the main roads in the town are named after toxic chemicals, for example Bromide, Oxide, Sulphide to name just three. I suppose it does make a pleasant change from Acacia Avenue. Its quite an artsy town now, lots of galleries and static displays portraying is Aborigine heritage and its mining past. The main CBD still has a good lot of originality well at least on the outside.
The campsite I stayed at in Silverton was a very quiet and peaceful especially at night. No lights on either so the night sky was quite spectacular. There was a chap staying there from Queensland who was a very keen astronomer, who was gracious enough to set up his telescope one night to let me have a good look at the heavens. Quite some sights to behold.
About 6km further west from Silverton was a place called Mundi Mundi lookout where my sunset phots were taken from.. I probably chose the the best night of the four I was there to go and take some photos of it. Basically its just a hilltop which overlooks a vast plain, with not a great deal between it and the horizon. Sure gave you a scale of the vastness of the country. Lots of feral goats and sheep on the road between Silverton and Broken Hill, which also produced my first near miss with an emu, as is there want it was trotting along beside me when it decided to dart across the road in front of me. Luckily no caravan was being towed at the times was able to break and swerve at the same time and managed to just miss it. This strengthened my thinking on getting a bull bar fitted to the car as hitting one of those at any sort of speed can do some serious damage to the car. (more on the bull bar saga later).
Anyway I finally packed up and left the area and headed off towards South Australia a state which util now I haven’t ventured to. My first stop on the trip southwest was at a small place called Mannahill, as I saw a sign for coffee at the local hotel. If I had known what I knew after I stopped before I stopped things would have been better. Number 1 the flies here were of biblical proportions , the sign as you enter town which says welcome to Mannahill, inhabitants 14, dogs 7, flies 10,000,000 was very close to the truth, man there was sure a lot of them. Anyway into the hotel goes I in search of my coffee, and when the proprietor finally turned up she did say did I want instant of espresso coffee, well I did ask for espresso but what came back was Im sure just instant with hot frothy milk. Not nice at all, Managed to get a photo of the train station before departing and tipping the coffee under the truck. My next stop was at Yenta, where basically I stopped for fuel (blooming 70ltr tank not the best, but more on that later as well), so filled up with diesel then noticed the sign across the road saying there was overnight parking allowed for campers, so decided to stop for the night. On talking to the lady behind the counter of the local garage/post office/bottle shop/takeaway/hardware/shop was informed that the Indian Pacific was due through the town at about 1500hrs that afternoon. For my UK fraternity the Indian Pacific is a weekly day train ride from Sydney to Perth, it departs Sydney on a Wednesday and arrives in Adelaide on the Thursday and then onwards to Perth arriving on the Saturday, it then heads back on the Sunday. Its also a very touristy thing to do the trip but it doesn’t come cheap, and you thought the UK trains were expensive. Whilst we are on the subject of trains there is also another service called The Ghan which runs weekly from Adelaide leaving on Sunday via Alice Springs arriving on the Monday then on to Darwin arriving late Tuesday afteroonto and vice versa. It was quite the sight to behold when it came through doing a fair lick of speed, and being a lot longer than I thought it would be, probably 18 to 20 carriages, It was going too fast for me to count them (if I had remembered to that is)
Next day it was on to a town called Terowie, which was a recommended stop on the camping guide app. This town grew up with the railway and was what was called a switching station. Apparently in the days ago the railways used to use different gauge tracks, so the trains from Adelaide, Melbourne and Broken Hill had to stop here and the passengers, freight and livestock had to all get off and get on another train to continue their trip, Now doesn’t that just sound like a railway built by a committee. Terowie other major claim to fame is the fact this is where during the Second World War General Douglas McArthur got off a train here and made famous quote, “I have come from Bataan and I will return” (hence my title). Unfortunately he wouldn’t recognise the place now, its dwindled from and its height was a population in excess of 2000 to just over 40 today. I was going to leave the following morning but when the temperature hit 30c at 8am and it was forecast to go a lot higher I thought I would sit and veg for the day, It finally peaked at 43.2c, which for those of you still using the imperialist measurements is a toasty 109.7f, nearly enough to take off my jumper and roll the trouser legs up. In the end I stayed for 3 nights and a lovely stop it was too.
While in Terowie I found a place in Clare South Australia which did 4×4 repairs and fittings and when I asked them if the could put a bull bar and an extended rang fuel tank on my Nissan they said of course no problem, give us a week to order the parts and we will be good to go. Result thinks I that will make life easier and being virtually on the route I was going, it didnt need too much of a diversion.
So I cross over the border from NSW into South Australia and get stopped at a biodiversity quarantine checkpoint (looking for fruit flies) Well all my salad and bits of fruit were promptly frowned upon and rapidly thrown into the bin by the Chappy manning said checkpoint, he did fail to see the humour or the irony when I pointed out that my apples were a product of South Australia, all I got in response, if you haven’t got a docket for them you can’t keep them.
So onwards we trundled to a town called Burra where I was planning to stop for the weekend. On the way there I passed a huge wind farm probably well over fifty towers. I managed to pull into a rest area where the had one of the sails from a window tower on display, 44metres long it was, they dont look so big when the are twirling around on the hill side. The towers are 80metres tall so when the sail is pointing straight up its over 120metres off the ground.
So into Burra and the campsite, was going to a pay one rather than free camping as I needed some water and a decent cup of coffee. So I go into the office to book myself in for the weekend, and the person behind the counter must have got out of bed the wrong side as they weren’t the most cheerful person on the planet that afternoon. Now there was a big sign outside saying pet friendly, so I mentioned that I had two dogs with me and that I have a cage which goes outside the the van so they can’t get loose. First question I was asked was how big were they, when I told then Labrador size there was a good intake of breath, almost like a well drilled mechanic when you ask them how much. I said if its a problem I will go somewhere else. I was then told that they had to be on a leash at all times, when I explained they were in a caged area when outside they still said they had to be on a leash. It all just seemed like it was too much effort for them. If they dont like big dogs then say so in the advertising then people know. But dont advertise as pet friendly when you really mean pet tolerant, we want your custom so I guess we have to put up with your animals. (Soap box put away again)
Anyway the town of Burra was charming very olde worlde with lots of character and very well looked after and maintained. Well worth a visit if you are passing that way. they have a heritage trail which you get from the Isite you pays your fee and they give you some keys, which open doors and gates along the trail, Its about 11kms long so you can do it by car, bike, motorbike and its very well done. and the good thing about it you dont have to fight through all the passing sightseers, and you get some peace and quiet. I didnt actually do the trail as dogs weren’t allowed on it, and I didnt fancy leaving them alone at the caravan park.
From Burra it was a short trip, about 50kms across to Clare in preparation of getting the truck upgraded. Now Clare is spookily enough right in the middle of the Clare Valley which is a large wine making area of South Australia, known probably more for the whites rather than reds, but hey we all have to make sacrifices. Again I booked into a caravan park, as I thought if Im going to be without a car for a day or so I dont want to be too far from town. Its just as well I did because come the Tuesday evening the weather turned decidedly wintery. Rain, drizzle, wind, and temperatures struggling to get into the teens. Now while I was in town I thought it would be a good idea to get the dogs jabs/flea/worm treatments all up to date so made and appointment on the Monday afternoon to see the vet. Well when she was checking over Whisper she found a lump on her front leg just above her ankle and said she wasnt happy with look of it and would like to know what we were dealing with, then when she got to Whispers mouth she said she had an abscess or something similar in a couple of places, which also needed urgent attention before it got any more sinister. Now in my defence, Whisper had not shown any problem at all eating or drinking or if I touched her on her snout. So anyway whisper gets booked in for first thing Wednesday morning to get herself sorted. Come collection time Wednesday afternoon, I was told the lump was nothing too serious more of a fatty cyst, bit like a ganglion which us humans get. but she had a nice big blue bandage covering most of her leg. But the was whining a lot and when the vet told me she only had eight teeth left I knew the reason why. The vet even took out the ones which had been damaged (previous vet believed she had been kicked) before I had her. So we had to nip to the shop on the way home to get some soft dog food for her. A very restless night was had by all, but by the next day lunchtime she was virtually back to normal, and by the weekend she even ate some biscuits which Cody had walked away from. And just as an aside, when I took the bandage off her leg on the Saturday as per vets instructions the lump was back again. Back to the vet we go on the Monday morning for a quick check up and the vet as very pleased and a bit shocked how quickly Whisper had recovered.
On leaving the vets I popped down to the garage to see the people who were supposed to be doing my truck, as I hadn’t heard from them. Bearing in mind it was well over a week since I had spoken to them. I was told that the bull bars had turned up but the fuel tank probably wouldn’t be there til the end of the week or more likely the following week. when I enquired where it was coming from I was told Sydney, which I found hard to believe that they couldn’t get one in Adelaide or Melbourne, and that I could have driven to Sydney and back again within the week. So I told them not to bother as I couldn’t hang around for another week on the off chance it turned up sometime. Luckily I found a place in Mildura who had what I wanted in stock and they said they could fit me in whenever I could get there. So I left Clare on the Tuesday morning had an overnight in Renmark, which is a place I wouldn’t mind seeing again, and went all the way back to Mildura, at least it was via a different route, dumping more fruit and salad into the quarantine bin on the way through.
So here I am again, back in Mildura, the car got done on Thursday, had an oil and filter change this morning so will be all raring to go on Monday morning, I may just go back to Renmark for a couple of nights and then see where the road takes me.
So you are all up to date so will call that day.
Not much in the photo business as haven’t really taken very many lately, will buck my ideas up in that department soonest.
chin chin
Geoff1511 Travels 