Day 2 – Gilgandra to Broken Hill Broken Hill, Australia

Broken Hill, Australia

Today’s Challenge – The first to spot a white horse gets a free round of drinks at the next outback pub.

It’s Rods Birthday today and he checks his phone for Birthday wishes. Brooke is up in Brisbane and sends a big Birthday wish, she asks what we are up to today.

We leave Gilgandra at 7.30am in heavy fog again but it doesn’t take long to clear to a superb day. We weave our way through some very scenic country but there is not a white horse in sight.

Three hours into the drive we take a picture of a big road sign welcoming us the the NSW Outback, low and behold, one minute later we spot a highway patrol car pulling over a speeding driver. “Nice welcome” we both say.

As we enter Cobar, Debi starts getting very animated she has spotted some horses in the distance, she calls out ” one of them is white “. I confirm the spotting…………..doh it’s my shout.

Cobar is a real mining town and has a lot of character. We stop at the Mining Museum and see some good stuff then head to a servo to refuel. The trip-meter has hit 1000km.

Our next stop is a roadside rest area and we are swarmed by flies as we hop into the car to resume our trip. We notice we have picked up one as a passenger who is running away from home and his thousands of relatives. We decide to call him Hector.

It’s not long before we get our first steering wheel wave. The camaraderie we have read about begins and we are nowhere near the Nullarbor. No wave from the next car we encounter. Realise the first one could have simply been a response to Rod brushing Hector away from his face.

We plan to stop at Wilcania for lunch and decide against purchasing some witchedy grubs and smoked lizard; Wilcania is perched on the Darling River which is almost breaching it banks as we cross it. Wilcania is also a scary place so we keep driving. Two km on we spot a fox feeding on road kill; didn’t expect to see that..

Having missed lunch we are starting to get hungry and pull into a spot on the map called Little Topar, it has a pub and one petrol bowser. As Rod clearly lost today’s challenge he shouts some cold beers, a hot dog and two dim sims. There is a sign behind the bar that says ” don’t worry about the dog, beware of the owner”. Should we be worried? This is the first of our outback pubs and not the last I’m sure.

We spot some wild emu’s 45 km out of Broken Hill and it’s not long before we pull into our accommodation. It’s called the Grand Imperial and it is guest house that once was a fine old hotel.
Broken Hill is another mining town with a lot of character. Tonight we catch a cab to a restaurant called Broken Earth which is perched on an old mine sight high above the town. The food is fantastic and we wonder why when we are in the middle of the outback and order Morten Bay bugs that they are so damm fresh, yet when we order them in Brisbane they are so skanky.

We return to our accommodation and enjoy a game of pool with some complimentary port.

It’s been a good birthday.