Broken Hill

I arrived in Broken Hill not long after 11.00am. I headed to the tourist office to get a local map, then went and grabbed a much needed espresso coffee. I have to say the town is thriving and has a pretty good vibe to it. It's closer to Adelaide than Sydney, 520 k's versus 1150k's, so everything is really centred around South Australia. It even stays in the South Australian time zone. There were three things I wanted to do here but I only got around to doing two of them. I missed out on the Living Dessert Sculpture Park from pure apathy nothing else. I did however get to see where they shot a lot of Mad Max 2 and I also got to see the Pro Hart Gallery.

Broken Hill gets its name from a break in the hills that was at the original site of the town. Of course being a mining town they have mined the break into oblivion so the name is somewhat of a misnomer now. BHP also takes its name from the town but hasn't been active there since the 1950's but there is still plenty of mining going on. I stayed at this wonderful old renovated pub that had just 23 guest rooms along with an extremely nice dining room. They even had a live pianist playing (no I didn't get up and have a go). This guy was so old I think he could have been Methuselah's father. Everything he played sounded like those jaunty old war time tunes like "Tea for Two", "Pack Up Your Troubles In An Old Kit Bag" and "It's A Long Way to Tipperary". Even when he played more recent stuff (say only 30 years old) it still sounded as if it had been arranged for the musical hall. I absolutely loved it. It made me a little sad however because it made me think of mum. This was her kind of music and of course she will never hear it again.

I'm getting ahead of myself however as I have to tell you about the Pro Hart Gallery. Old Pro was a much maligned Australian artist whose use of colour and innovate painting techniques (think firing paint filled cannon balls at your canvas using a variety of weaponry) raised a few eyebrows. He made fabulous use of colour and portrayed iconic bush scenes in a vivid and totally understandable way, it was instantly appealing and recognisable to a child. What I didn't know until I visited the museum was that he was also a talented sculptor, some of his portrait work was absolutely haunting (he was often criticised for not being able to paint people), plus he also had quite a political side to his work. I always had a sneaking admiration for him because he was a talented organist as well. The gallery was only small but it has some fabulous examples of his work, including one of the Rolls Royces he had painted and of course the famous dragonfly image from his stainmaster carpet TV commercials. It gave me a fresh look at both the man and his work. I'm pleased I got to see to through adult eyes.

I also visited Silverton which is not far out of town. It really is a ghost town. It has a population of about 50 and is trying to eke out an existence based on its appearance in innumerable TV shows and films. I have to say that it didn't do a lot for me. There was nothing particularly wrong with the place but it's charms were lost on this visitor. 

In contrast the dinner in the dining room at the Royal Exchange Hotel Broken Hill was exceptional. Hard as it is to believe but I would say it was the best meal I enjoyed this entire trip. A twice baked cheese soufflé and the tenderest piece of eye fillet I have eaten in a long time. Sadly everything wasn't perfect as I ended up with a hair in my meal (that obviously wasn't mine). That did however get me a complimentary cheese platter and a glass of 21 year old port so I really can't complain. 

Dubbo is my next stop. It's really only a layover place. Just the 750 kilometres up the road. The trip is nearly over and I'd say two or three more posts will see this blog out for the immediate future. Who knows where or when I will get to fire it up again?