Broken Hill, NSW

November 20, 2021

Broken Hill Road Trip 2

The year of 2021 was not a whole lot better than 2020 in terms of the pandemic and lockdowns, so as cabin fever set in once again, we planned another road trip to experience the freedom of the open road.

We were once again heading for Broken Hill, but planned to see Mungo National Park on the way. Mother nature of course had other ideas and at the last minute, the rains came down and washed away the roads leading into Mungo National Park, forcing us to make last minute changes.

The trip ended up replicating for the most part, our previous Broken Hill trip, but mother nature was not quite done with us yet.

Photographed using

Distance: 2176kms

Start: 10/11/2021

Finish: 20/11/2021

Our first stop after leaving Moss Vale, was Griffith and it rained for most of the drive, stopping about 30 minutes out of town. We stayed the night in a motel and ventured out to the ‘La Scala’ Italian restaurant (used on the TV Series Underbelly) for a great meal with very friendly service. The next day, we headed off to Broken Hill.

Given our last minutes changes to the trip caused by the closure of Mungo National Park, we managed to shift most of our accommodation around, except for our first night in Broken Hill, so we had to spent one night somewhere else other than the Airbnb we had booked. We thought we would be adventurous and book the Priscilla Room at the Palace Hotel. It is a two bedroom suite with the most outrageous decor, and is in fact the room they used in the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Priscilla Suite Bathroom, Palace Hotel

Priscilla Suite Bedroom, Palace Hotel

Once again we took the time to drive out to Silverton which was rather uneventful, although lunch at the Silverton Hotel was not too bad. We did however decide to drive out to the desert from Silverton, and went as far as we could on the dirt road until we had to turn back. Along the way we saw a significant amount of wildlife including Kangaroos, Emus, Goats and many reptiles.

Emus

Kangaroo

As before on the previous trip to Broken Hill, we spent an afternoon at the Living Sculpture Park and waited for the sun to set. Mother Nature clearly was not on our side on this trip and the sky whilst colourful, was not that dramatic as the cloud cover was poor and the drama comes with the clouds. We did however manage to see an amazing rainbow off in the distance and walked away with some ‘ok’ images, but nothing great.

Living Desert Rainbow

Living Desert and Sculptures Sunset

On the way out to Menindee we stopped into the Kinchega Woolshed. Built in 1875 of corrugated iron and river red gum, the historic Kinchega Woolshed is a vast and very well preserved classic piece of Australian pastoral heritage.

Inside the woolshed, you’ll see wool presses and tables, a machinery room and an original steam engine as well as sweating pens and the board where the sheep were held for shearing. In 97 years of operation, six million sheep were sheared here.

ON a bright sunny day like we had on the day of our visit, the rustic old machinery contrasts so well against the blue skies above.

KInchega Woolshed

After checking into the Menindee Hotel for the night, we eventually made our way to the same place we were on our last visit to capture what we hoped would be another magnificent sunset over Menindee Lakes, but not before seeing where they control the flow of water into the lakes at one of Menindee’s many weirs.

We sat here for about 45 minutes watching the large Carp trying to jump up to the top level of the weir. Most were unsuccessful but a few did make it. These fish ranged in size from about 35cm to 50cm in length. Sadly many were struggling with exhaustion in their endless pursuit of that top level.

When the sunset finally came, there was not a cloud in the sky, and while the colour was there, the drama was not. At this point we really felt like Mother Nature had it in for us!

Menindee Weir

The rest of the trip was about getting back to Sydney, and we did so via Dubbo where we stayed in an Airbnb for the night, and headed out for dinner at the Devil’s Hollow, a great brewery/dining venue. I am not a beer drinker but the food here is really good Pub food and it did not disappoint.

The following morning we called into a cafe called Press, which I believe serves the best breakfast in Dubbo, but perhaps NSW. It is debatable between Press and The General Store in Burrawang as my favourite. The Bacon and Eggs here are simply perfection, as too is the coffee.

Overall the trip was not what we were hoping for, certainly not in terms of photographic opportunities, but it was still great to get out of the house and into the Australian Outback once again after a year we would all rather forget.

Devil's Hollow Brewery

Press Cafe

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Broken Hill, NSW

Broken Hill Road Trip 2

Photographed using

Distance: 2176kms

Start: 10/11/2021

Finish: 20/11/2021

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