Broken Hill

Thursday, 31 May 2018

On the banks of the Murray River

The boys

Look at that, Paul!

Sally with the Broken Heel at Broken Hill

"Over the top" murals

Cold and dark on the verandah

Palace Hotel verandah

Mirror image

It was a very chilly start to Wednesday morning (only one degree, but no frost) as we packed up and headed east to Mildura.  The road was much busier than our last couple of days towing; being on the major truck route between Adelaide and Sydney, we encountered many trucks heading in both directions.  We travelled through grape, citrus, olive and almond growing districts, crossing the Murray River on three different occasions.  We had a lunch stop in a rest area, before continuing to the Big4 Golden River Holiday Park at Mildura.  We were very impressed with this park – large slabs, plenty of grass around our site, a large number of new cabins and very friendly staff.  Being only about 50 metres from the Murray River, it was an easy walk to look at the water and houseboats moored nearby.  Fortunately, the weather had warmed up to a very pleasant afternoon.

Thursday morning was certainly warmer than the previous morning and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen.  We headed due north to Broken Hill, crossing the Murray River once at Wentworth.  Apart from a few emus, goats and the occasional truck and car, the only other sign of life during the 300 kms was the construction of a water pipeline from Wentworth to Broken Hill.

We arrived at Broken Hill just before noon (change of time difference again!) and checked in to the Broken Hill Tourist Park and were allocation a huge site right next to Les’ sister and her husband!  A fair bit of talking took place during the afternoon before we headed to the Palace Hotel for dinner.  This hotel, built in 1889, was the setting for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  After ordering dinner, we were encouraged to look through the hotel and take photos of the Priscilla display and the many, many murals (quite over the top, actually) that covered all the walls and ceilings and visit the balcony.  A very interesting evening.