Well, for the past few days it seems like we have seen nothing but bitumen. Largely because there has been not a lot between where we have been and where we are now.
After leaving Charleville, we headed for Bourke on day 24 (11th April). We were amazed by the township - every shop had a roller shutter and was locked up tight. Made me glad we were spending 5kms out of town! The weather has definitely changed...for the worse. We are now experiencing cooler weather, but in an effort to drag out the tropical holiday, we hit the pool for what might be the last time for this holiday. And such a shame. The pool at the van park was amazing. It was easily the best pool and surrounds we have been too. Pity the water was cool and so was the ambient temp! Tonight was the first time we have not had the a/c or the fan on! Distance travelled today: 455kms.
On the highway headed towards Broken Hill. Note all the bugs on the windscreen!
Day 25 and we packed up and headed for Broken Hill. Unfortunately, we are stymied by water over roads throughout the Bourke shire, which has meant that instead of being able to do a bit of off-road driving following the Darling River, we are constrained to the bitumen once again. Cobar was a much bigger town than I expected, and although Wilcannia looks to be the same size on the map, it is nearly the opposite of Cobar. Broken Hill is enormous. I'm not sure why I am amazed by its size, but it is a huge town. Distance travelled today: 624kms,
Day 26 and we took the kids to Day Dream Mine just out of Silverton. This turned out to be a great visit...Tom was unbelievably good (!) and Biddy was ok too. We took a surface tour before descending 80+ meters. Mark would never have made a miner - 6'4" is just a might too tall to be walking around the mine. In fact, the only ones that didn't bang their heads were the kids.
Day Dream Mine, Silverton
Tom and Biddy ready for the mine
Sam and Tom
Tom and Biddy exiting mine....Biddy exerting a bit of effort to get out!
After the mine we checked out the town of Silverton....strange little town. Nice though.
And just as a bit of a side note....thanks to Dicko for posting a comment on the post that spoke about the police station at Avon Downs, NT. Dicko (being a copper himself), did a bit of research and found out the background behind why there was a station in the middle of nowhere. Check out his comment on that post. And for his efforts, he has got himself a bottle of wine!
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