We started early (9 o'clock) because we planned to get to Wilcannia, the nearest caravan park on the way to Broken Hill.
A few kilometres to the east of Wilcannia, we came upon Talyawalka Creek. This is no ordinary creek, it is 3 kilometres ( 2 miles) wide where the Barrier Highway crosses it. Of course this is only so after good rain, it is otherwise about 5 metres (15 ft) wide.
Unfortunately, the caravan park at Wilcannia was flooded and the nearest one is at White Cliffs 90 kilometres (55 miles) away. The road is unsealed and we soon saw that it was going to get worse before it got better so we decided to go on to Broken Hill.
Every new situation provides a new insight. In this case I discovered just how fast the mighty Motley would cruise. With the pedal on the metal it goes along very smoothly at 105kph (a tad over 60mph) on the flat. We travelled 480km (290 miles) in the day and we did the last 200 km in just two hours.
We visited "The Living Desert" which is a reserve a few kilometres to the north of the town.It is an unusual place because it really is near desert. We saw a solitary Wallaroo resting in the shade of a tree and one or two little brown birds but all else was saltbush and red soil.
In the evening we returned to see the sculptures on the top of Sundown Hill inside the reserve. Very impressive stuff done by a number of artists during a sculpture symposium in 1993. The rocks used were recovered from beyond Wilcannia and transported to, and erected on, the site by local people. The sculptors camped on the hill for three weeks to create the works
We drove to Silverton, a ghost town 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Broken Hill. In its heyday it boasted a population of 3000, all seeking to make a fortune from the mineral boom.
Little remains but a small Museum set up in the Goal.
We had lunch at Penrose Park, a local picnic spot, set up at considerable public expense to provide a site for R & R for the miners of Broken Hill. It is still popular judging by the number of others spending the day there.
We visited the Geo Centre, a mining and minerals museum set up in the old bond store building. Very interesting but a little over the top in its interactive exhibits which all boomed out loud messages whenever the children set them going.
After lunch we took in the City Art Gallery. A fascinating collection of local artists interspersed with European paintings donated by a rich patron of long ago and a visiting exhibition of Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize paintings from the NSW Art Gallery.