Day 223 Broken Hill, NSW

Even though we woke to another wet day it wasn't going to stop us doing the Heritage Walk around the CBD of Broken Hill.  What was I saying yesterday about the rain following us 😂😂😂😂.....

But before we embarked on our walk, we had to change caravan sites.  The site we were on had neither satellite reception nor park wi-fi and was in a very poor mobile reception area.  It doesn't worry us if don't have satellite TV as we can always use the Apple TV that effectively gives us a smart TV, but that is IF we have reasonable mobile coverage.  The lady at the caravan park reception counter was very helpful and we are now on a much better site.  

Just as an aside, this is the first caravan park we have been in that uses wood chips on the sites.  I was a little dubious when I first saw it but they actually work a treat.  We had quite a downpour of rain last night and this morning the site was as dry as a bone.  

So, getting back to our Heritage Walk.  We parked the car at the Visitor Information Centre and started walking towards Argent Street that is the heritage precinct.  I mentioned yesterday that in its heyday Broken Hill had around 70 Hotels.  I think on our walk we probably passed at least thirty of those hotels!  Of course most of those old hotels have now been converted to different purposes - restaurants, accomodation and commercial being the favoured.  Some buildings have been beautifully restored to their former glory and some have been let go - cost being a major factor.  The Palace Hotel is well renowned as one of the outback places that "Priscilla - Queen of the Desert" was filmed. 

There are information panels spread along Argent Street with some very interesting reading.  On Guy Fawkes night in 1888 there was a massive fire that spread down Argent Street.  The buildings back then were made of tin and timber so the fire spread rapidly and in just six hours the area was burnt out. Fortunately, because of the wide street, the fire was contained to just one side.  But by 1889 all the buildings that had been destroyed had been re-built.  That is a remarkable feat and just shows what can be achieved.

Thankfully the rain had held off for our walk, but when the skies suddenly opened up again we decided to take shelter and stop for Brunch.  It was good timing because we had been walking almost two hours and had seen everything we wanted to see.  The only thing we missed out on was "The Big Picture" - the worlds largest acrylic painting by one artist - that measures 12m x 100m.  The Silver City Mint and Art Centre building houses this piece of art and was shut today but opens again tomorrow.

When we arrived back at our car we took the short drive out to the AGL Solar Farm that I mentioned yesterday.  It is massive and the solar panels stretch as far as the eye can see. 

Some statistics:  

If you placed the panels end to end it would cover a distance of 803 km (Broken Hill to Melbourne)

Reduces CO2 emissions by the equivalent of taking 29,000 vehicles off the road

Covers an area 75 times bigger than the SCG

Pretty impressive statistics!

This afternoon we headed to Bells Milkbar - the longest running milk bar in Australia.  Here we ordered an old fashioned Lime Spider, Vanilla Milkshake and Belgian Waffles.  It was remarkable how much it took us both back in time.  Where I grew up in Warwick we had a milk bar and Philip says that although they didn't have a dedicated milk bar in Julia Creek the cafes still served you a proper Milk Shake with ice cream and malt.  Bells Milkbar has a museum in the back rooms where the original owners lived.  It was another step back in time for us to walk through the rooms.

We needed to walk after this good size afternoon tea so we drove up the steep hill to JP Keenan Lookout.  As far as lookouts are concerned, it wasn't much, but we did get a pretty good view of the Broken Hill Line of Lode that is 7.5km long and up to 1km in depth. 

After the lookout we took the long way back to the caravan park going up and down streets lined with the old miners huts.  Most have been restored to some degree, some more than others and some have been let go.  When you consider that, at its peak, Broken Hill had a population of 35,000 and now sits around 17,000 it is a well preserved town.  

Tomorrow we head to the historic mining town of Silverton.  With a population of just 60 people, it is a credit to them that they have kept the township going and tapped into the tourism industry.  Of course the filming of Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice probably helped their cause considerably.