Big Trip 2024 - Day 18 (Broken Hill 2)

 After yesterday's shenanigans I woke up this morning to messages my body was providing that indicated that today was going to need to be a much quieter day.

I shed a number of items on today's "to see" list and narrowed it down to three things. Those other things  I will deal with next time around (and yes, i think there will be another trip to Broken Hill in the future).

The first item on the agenda actually wasn't in Broken Hill. It was in a small town about 20km north west of here.

"Well, that's unusual signage for a small town of 50 out in the bush. Why do they have a movie camera to represent their town?", you are asking.

The town, and its buildings, have been used in a number of movies over the years, including Razorback, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, as well as the TV series Flying Doctors. All very interesting but not why I'm here. The region was also the main production area for Mad Max 2 and they now have a museum here dedicated to that movie.

I was the first person out there and managed to have a decent chat with the owners, Adrian and Linda Bennett. Originally from the UK, they moved to Adelaide a few years ago with the intention of moving out to Silverston to create this tribute to Mad Max 2. From a standing start they have built an impressive museum using local contacts, bits found around the place, auctioned items (every now and then) and donations from interested people. Whilst it is mostly the second film they also have a range of props and costumes from the latest instalment, Furiosa which was also partly filmed in Silverston (Hot Scoop - they didn't think much of it. Too much bad CGI - which they accidentally told the head of CGI for the film - and he agreed). They spent the best part of 2 months filming in and around the town and it was a bit of a traveling circus for that period of time.

I was told that Silverston receives around 160,000 visitors per year, and a lot of them visit the museum. By the time I left (after about an hour) I reckon there would have been over 30 people visit. And apparently this is a slow month (too hot).

They wouldn't allow any photos inside, which I fully respected, however they were OK for photos of the cars in the shed out the back. Here are some for your enjoyment.

 

They also suggested I visit the Mundi Mundi Lookout, which overlooks where a lot of the scenes in Mad Max 2 were filmed.

The area was vast. Not sure how else to describe it. This photo does it no justice at all.

Driving back through the Silverston I saw the outside of this gallery. Closed, unfortunately.

 The next stop was the gallery that was closed yesterday - Pro Hart Gallery.

Pro Hart was a collector of Rolls Royces. There are four on display and he painted one of them. Here it is.

Upon entering the gallery you are ushered to a theatrette that provides a brief background to Pro. It includes the advert for Stainmaster that I had in yesterday's blog. Actually, not only that one but two more.

Photo taking was allowed. I am a bit of a fan, so went a bit nuts:

This is a small version of the dragonfly in that ad.

Pro's technique changed and developed a lot over the years

Probably my favourite piece in the collection

This is some sort of record for longest piece or largest piece.

The gallery has still got a number of Pro Hart works for sales. The smallest ones are about $1,200. i would have bought one but didn't think it would be appreciated back home.

It's interesting comparing this gallery with the one I visited yesterday for Jack Absolom. Both painters have passed away, and both have a variety of items for sale. Pro Hart's gallery felt a lot more active, and more a celebration of the man, rather than yesterday's shrine. If you ever visit Broken Hill I recommend going to both, so you can make up your own mind (I could be biased).

After a brief period for lunch I went to my final visit for the day.

Yes, it is a distillery.

It would have been rude not to try some.

Whilst I am more of a whisky man than a gin man, I can appreciate the different subtle tastes of the gins created by the various distilleries that I have visited on this trip. They all will use their local botanicals. Amd they are all very proud of their recipe of these formulae to create their special gins.

Yes, I bought some.

On the road tomorrow. Heading East.

PIE REVIEW

I think we might have a winner.

The bakery in question is Sufi Bakery, operating from a window in the centre of town.

They only offered two pies. The first was a standard meat pie. Standard size.

The other was a larger pie, with a filling of beef, that has been slow cooked for 20 hours, and mushrooms.

Price was $7.50. It was more than worth it.

This was the best pie I had eaten on this trip, with daylight second.

I am not sure what else to say.

Podcast of the day: From the Hideout - A More Salubrious Surroundings

- Veteran TV presenter Pete Smith is joined by funny men Tony Martin and Djovan Caro to talk about their lives. And it's engaging and very funny.

Total km travelled: 4,511

Big Trip 2024 - Day 17 (Broken Hill 1)

 A busy day was planned. I'm in Broken Hill for the next two days and have planned about four days worth of sight seeing.

I was going to dedicate this day to arts in Broken Hill. This town is probably renowned for being one of the artsiest towns outside of the main cities.

Pro Hart lived here (hands up who remembers the iconic Stainmaster Carpet Cleaning Ad from 1988? Too young? Then educate yourself by watching this.

Whilst Pro passed away in 2006, there is an art gallery featuring his works. This would be a good first stop.

Bugger.

It looked as though most of the other galleries would only be open after 10.

So I took the opportunity to visit the Line of Lode Miners Memorial which sits upon a mullock created from the mining waste. Online says it's 30 metres high. I think they're short by about half.

The Memorial sits next to a recently built cafe that has sepectacular view over the city. Sadly, it's not been occupied for a very long time. Anybody with the urge to start a new cafe business in a sprectacular location should contact Broken Hill Council.

The Memorial Site is for all the miners that were tragically killed by mining incidents from 1895 until now.  800 of them. That's a lot.

On the same site was another one of Australia's Big Things - the Big Park Bench.

This is two and a half times bigger than a normal park bench. It's a pity this photo doesn't show you that.

I then started visiting some art galleries. First stop was The Shed. Dirk Romeyn was the artist in residence and I spoke to him and his wife  for quite a while. Formerly of Katoomba, and then Adelaide, they moved to Broken Hill only a few years ago and this former carpenter now sells a variety of artwork. No photos were allowed, which I respected, however you can see the type of work he creates here.

They recommended that I visit Jarah Mosaics. Which I did. A house on a residential street with Mosaics created in windows and doors, the pavements and as stand alone pieces. I spoke with Julie for a while. She and her late husband moved to Broken Hill about 20ish years ago once they retired and started making mosaics for sale. Here is some of here work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 From there I drove to the art gallery of the late Jack Absolom. I think I found the right place:

The mood of this place was totally different to the first two galleries. Whilst it looked like a normal house from the outside, inside felt like a shrine to the man. The lady who took my entrance fee of $4.00 disappeared very quickly after I arrived.

Photos were allowed. Here are a couple of pictures of the gallery.

a self portrait of the great man himself

Probably my favourite piece

The exhibition include an opal exhibit, but I felt this was almost set up as a money grab. In fact, I think almost everything was for sale, including print copies on placemats and postcards as well as DVDs of some of his TV specials. I spent 15 minutes there and then moved on.

The city's art gallery is in the centre of town and is called (funnily enough) the Broken Hill City Art Gallery.

Like most arts galleries, there were pieces I liked, pieces that challenged me and pieces that bored me. Here were a couple of my favourites.

After lunch I spent some time back in the cabin, working and resting.

After 5, I decided to head for a walk. A long walk. To see the Living Desert Sculptures.

There was a sign leading to the main car park at the start of the walk, and a second sign that I didn't quite read (this will become important)

At the car park it indicated that the sculptures would be about 900m away. Up a hill. A steep hill.

Yay.

Here is a a picture near the top of that hill.

That's a long way down.

A very long way down

 After about an hour of strenuous walking (with many, many stops) I finally reached the top of the hill. The first thing I saw was a car park. A van was driving into it.

I DIDN'T HAVE TO WALK.

Well OK. What was there to see?

About a dozen sculptures, of vary degrees of impressiveness. Here are a few:

This was a massive project created in 1993 and 53 tonnes of sandstone was transported from Wilcannia for this project. Sculptors came from all parts of the world including Syria, Georgia, Mexico and the Tiwi Islands, as well as some closer to home. This project has become world famous. 

The trip back down to the car wasn't that difficult, and I enjoyed a long drink in the car. 

On the way out I read the sign I originally missed. It was for the alternate way of getting to the sculptures.

Bugger.

I probably shouldn't have done that walk (my cardiologist and Lesley would probably both agree) but I 'm glad I did it, though I am sure I will feel it tomorrow.

PIE REVIEW

Macs Oven Foods was my lunch destination today and my lunch was the Brisket and Jalapeno pie.

 It was the dearest pie I have had so far at $8.50, however I noticed that all their other pies were $6.50, so there may have been a good reason for the high  price.

Holy Cow! The brisket was juicy and tender and the jalapenos gave the right amount of heat against the brisket. The pie was one of the higher ones I've had, but didn't crumble when I took it out of the tin. It definitely had structural integrity.

This is either the best or second best pie I've had on this trip. I have only a few days to decide.

Podcast of the Day: TOFOP with Claire Tonti - Dancing Your Baby into Existence.

This subpodcast is under the Everyone Relax umbrella of podcasts with Wil Anderson and Charlie Clauson. Today's topic was Matrescence, which I though was a made up word until about 6 months ago. An informative listen.

Total km travelled: 4,427

Big Trip 2024 - Day 16 (Barrier Highway)

 Today was a good day.

The anticipated distance on the road was going to be a shade under 500km. I ended up doing slightly more than that.

Yes, I also can remember in times gone by doing 800 or 900 km in a day. By myself. Those days are long gone. I appreciate the journey more and realise it's not a sprint. It's a marathon. And one to savour.

Morning tea was in Port Augusta. When driving around looking for a bakery (pie review below) I realised that I may have erred in choosing Whyalla over Port Augusta as my two day stopover. It's a much nicer town and feels more in tune with its self. I  know how that sounds, but it's the truth. 

Next stop was Wilmington. A small town with a bit going on. 

Those cars you see outside are full scale models.

 Whilst the Toy Museum had an open sign out the front it was closed when I was there. They might have gone for a coffee.

It also had the "Sansouci Puppet Museum" which is apparently the largest puppet museum in Australia. It's also the only puppet museum in Australia.  Unfortunately it wasn't open this morning.

After Wilmington I stopped briefly at Orroroo, to take a look at the "giant gum tree".

I'm not sure what to say. It was a gum tree. It was pretty big.

At Peterborough I turned on to the Barrier Highway and stayed on it for the rest of the day.

I had chosen Yunta to be the designated lunch stop. It had a pub (closed) and two roadhouses, one on each side of the road. Apart from that there was nothing but red dirt  and scrub for miles and miles (kilometres and kilometres).

I stepped in to the Ampol Roadhouse, bracing myself for a dodgy dim sim or some soggy potato cakes. Instead, the Indian family that operated the roadhouse provided a range of curries. From Beef Vindaloo to Butter Chicken and from Chicken Korma to  ... something else I had forgotten to note. I had the Chicken Korma. It was cooked fresh and was a taste sensation I was not expecting on the Barrier Highway today.

About 90 minutes after this tasty lunch I reached the South Australia / NSW border with the clapped out town of Cockburn. The 2016 census showed a population of 56 and I reckon most of those had left since then.

Note the signage on the right showing the border

 One of the things that I really appreciated today was the red colour of the dirt. I saw this a couple of days earlier first, when driving into Iron Knob, the town before Whyalla. I guess it's part of Australia's Red Centre?

The red is caused by the oxidization of the iron dust in the dirt. Whilst I "knew" this  before I don't think I actually got what that meant. I tried to take photos but I think I mostly failed to capture how special it looked. So they're not going up here.

What this meant was one of the most enjoyable days driving that I have had just soaking up the views, driving through red ranges or along red plains.

The end of my journey, Broken Hill, came as quite a shock, seeing a largish population, and traffic. For the previous 6 hours, after leaving Port Augusta, there may have been only 100 vehicles in total. In Broken Hill there was a traffic jam as school pick up time meant plenty of cars on the road. Well, it felt like it.

I'm going to be here for a couple days, and am looking forward to exploring what is here.

PIE REVIEW

Today's pie is courtesy of Port Augusta French Hot Bread. The pie in question is the Egg and Bacon Pie.

I forgot to take note of the price.

The mince was very well seasoned and the crust was firm. The bacon on top was plentiful and there was a bit of cheese on the top as well. The egg in bacon and egg pies can sometimes taste quite dry as the yolk can be overcooked. That was not the case here, The egg complimented the rest of the pie very well. This may feature in the top half of the list at the end.

Podcast of the day: News Weakly.

- Author, comedian and former ABC Melbourne breakfast host, Sami Shah, gives his unique take on news satire where he extends beyond the standard low hanging fruit to discuss news from other parts of the world. This podcast is recorded from the Singapore Writers Festival.

Total km travelled: 4,360