It's Brisk in Broken Hill!

We arrived late yesterday afternoon to a very chilly Broken Hill (fondly know as the Silver City because of its mining past), which lies about 550kms north-east of our home and 1,143kms west of Sydney. Despite being in outback New South Wales the closest city is in fact at home in Adelaide, South Australia. In my nursing years I cared for many residents from Broken Hill and with a vibrant quilting community (and the former home of Lessa Siegele!) we have a fondness for this part of the world. Our first place to visit late yesterday was the Living Desert Rock Sculptures to capture the sunset. It was freezing cold on the hill and in fact today it might have climbed to 13C but overnight  tonight it will be 0C! Despite the chill the changing colours were wonderful.......

 First stop today was the Telstra shop as I was having problems with my email system where we once again admired the lovely architecture from days gone by when mining boomed...........

 This is the enormous Palace Hotel that featured in the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert movie.......

 Water (the lack of it), has been a huge issue for this city and this sculpture is most appropriate......

 Looming in the distance on top of the bullock heap (that we thought was a slurry!) stands the Line of Lode Miner's Memorial where over 800 names are recorded due to loss of life due to mining. Many losses date back to the late 1800's and so many were under the age of 20.......

 It is great to hear that there are new mines starting up to uplift the economy and it is also very nice to know that safe practices and standards have improved......

 As we left the site it was moving to read a poem and memorial of the site where two young men died after they fell over 500 feet in 1902. Their bodies were never found but lie deep in the earth underneath the carts.......

 After lunch we ventured out to the outback town of Silverton where we witnessed wild horses galloping beside emus and kangaroos......

 The stillness and silence is wonderful but it was too cold to stand there for long...........

This is the site where the iconic Mad Max movies were filmed........ 

 The creek beds can fill suddenly when there's been rain.........

 More wild horses that seemed unfazed at the cars passing by.......

 Our final afternoon stop (that wasn't a coffee!) was for a milkshake from the historic Bell's Milk Bar where they have been using the same recipes since the 1950's and it was wonderful.......

Tomorrow we head east to the town of Cobar so more of that soon x