The first place I visited in NSW was Silverton. It's been a ghost town for over a hundred years, but it manages to hang on with its museums, movie credits and bits of tourism. I visited the Day Dream Mine, which was one of several small silver mines that used to operate. As a township it almost ceased to exist once ore was discovered at Broken Hill; apparently many miners moved themselves, their possessions, and their houses twenty kilometres to Broken Hill. The large gaol was built of stone and today serves as a substantial museum for the Broken Hill Historical Society. Penrose Park was a delightful place to stay, being a piece of history in its own right. From the 1880s to the 1960s it was a place of resort for the people of Broken Hill who travelled there in open railway trucks. In 1915 a Turkish camel driver opened fire on the picnic train to support the Turkish effort in World War I. I parked Bertha between an old tennis court and a disused basketball court and experienced quite a significant dust storm. Actually, I assumed it was par for the course when my shoes blew away and my meal filled with red dust and I was surprised to hear locals talking about it three days later.
Silverton still has camels. I enjoyed a ride one evening. YouTube: Silverton I planned to spend a quick night in Broken Hill to finally inspect its mine, see some of the galleries, take in the History Tour, and a few bits more, especially the Afghan Mosque. I hadn't reckoned with the extent of the tourist slowdown in the hot weather. I only managed the Pro Hart Gallery on Xmas Eve, although I did manage to see the mosque through a locked gate on Christmas Day.
When I reached the second major creek there was water over the flow way and three people were pushing a ute out of the water; there was a line of utes not daring to cross in the other direction. So I headed back to the safety of the city side of Stevens Creek. I was surprised to find that it had come up during just thirty minutes and was flowing vigorously beside and under the road. There was a derelict café/gallery there, which made it a good place to camp. In the morning I was happy to find that Stevens Creek had dried overnight, so I headed north again and found the second creek similarly dry. I was driving along happily reflecting that flash floods end as suddenly as they start, when I came to a very wide puddle on some flat ground. I was confident that I could steer Bertha round the edge ... that is, until she stuck. I rang the road service but I didn't have to wait for them this time as two boys, bound into town for Christmas lunch, towed me out backwards. This time I too returned to town and, after locating the mosque, considered my options. I particularly wanted to visit White Cliffs, near Wilcannia, for both the opal mines and the historic solar power station. Boxing Day wasn't a good day to visit. Although there were lots of OPEN signs the reality was that everything was closed. I decided that I needed to get to another part of NSW as fast as possible. YouTube: When Xmas plans don't pan out Nights 298-300 - Penrose Park, Silverton Night 301 - Broken Hill Tourist Park Night 302 - (Xmas Eve) at Stevens Creek on the Silver City Highway, north of Broken Hill Night 303 - (Xmas Day) a return to Warrawong on the Darling, near Wilcannia where I stayed back in April
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AuthorIn mid 2018 I started recording each night I sleep in Bertha: sometimes just for myself, sometimes to share with friends and other travellers. Archives
February 2024
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