Monday 25^th June

Broken Hill here we come!!  Our trip was only a short 140 km from our campsite last night on Lake Popiltah.  I lit a lovely campfire and we sat around it chatting and enjoying the bright stars for quite some time – well until it was bedtime.

En route to Broken Hill the landscape was very flat with very little undulation at all.  Some of the wildlife included feral goats and emus.

We listen to ABC radio when reception is clear and this morning the announcer was interviewing Cal Wilson, a comedienne who was promoting the Melbourne Comedy Festival’s one night roadshow in Broken Hill.  Following this interview a competition was announced asking for people to identify the MC for the night to win a double pass to see the show.  I looked at the mobile phone and it had no service, so waited a few seconds until a bar or two showed.  I told Bob I was going to win some tickets for us.  Wouldn’t you know I got straight through to Broken Hill ABC, answered the question and got 2 x $45 tickets for Tuesday night!!

First port of call the Tourist Information centre, so we came away armed with brochures and pamphlets on attractions.  We have booked into a caravan park as there is very little camping within any distance from town. 

The Royal Flying Doctor Service has their biggest Australian base at the airport with a wonderful new building.  Within we found interpretive displays giving a very good overview of the origins and developments of the RFDS.  We also watched a film and took a guided tour. For a Monday and not school holidays there were at least 25 people in the tour group – I think Broken Hill maybe a magnet for tourists.

We had heard about a milk bar still living in the 50’s, serving spiders, ice cream sundaes and all varieties of milk shakes – without the 50’s prices I must say.  Our two large malted shakes were $14.50!!  Maybe they are current prices but as we never buy them we don’t know any different.  Nevertheless it was quirky and took us both on a nostalgia trip.  We noticed that the Niagara Café in Gundagai rated a few mentions as well as copies of their menu.

 They even had magazines from the 50’s laminated and available to read whilst enjoying the milkshake.

 I browsed a “New Idea” from 1953 and read all about the Duke of Edinburgh’s mother, Princess Alice (for those who are not aware she founded a nursing order of nuns known as “The Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary” in Greece after the war and devoted her life to charity work).