Broken Hill: The true Australian Outback

The Wednesday morning we left heading to Broken Hill, this has been a trip that I have waited for quite a few time, and definitely the most exciting after Safari. It was mum, 2 of my brothers and his girlfriend. We went for a mission, try to get to Mildura. Because we left, a bit late, we didn’t know if we were going to make it. We left and passed through some towns, Narranderra, Leeton, Griffith, Hay, Balranald and finally to Mildura.

The trip up to Mildura was really nice, not just because of the company or the excitement, but the amazing change of Soil colour. I am not sure if you know this but Australia is characterised by its unique Red soil. Well, it started to change when we passed Hay area, passed from being a Forest Green Brown soil and Gum trees from Wagga, to desert Red, yellow-ish lawn.  The agriculture and works change as well, while The Riverina (Wagga – Narranderra - Leeton – Griffith) are more Crops, Fruit, Wine orientated farms, from Hay are more cattle (Sheep – Cows) orientated farms, clearly seen in Hay, at the Shearing Outback. Hay is a little country town, with about 2 thousand people, because of its distance to other major cities it is small, and the lifestyle is more country, despite Wagga that is City and Country lifestyles combined. It has a big museum called Shearing Outback where it tells the story of Hay and their shearing history, and how the shearing process works, why it’s important and its relevance to the town.

Mildura is the major city of the area, with about 40 000 people, is a nice big town. It’s in The Murray’s river way and near the border of Victoria - New South Wales. It is widely known for its fruit industry (Orange, Vines, etc.) and their famous Paddle Steamer boats. The one I went in navigating across the Murray. It contains a big main street because it’s the main centre for other small towns around.

The next stop is Broken Hill an Australian Mining town, it is a fairly big town and it has had a big mining history. Again, some people say Broken Hill is a town that is not worth to see, but it is not. It is one of the nicest towns, the fact of driving around, and within 5 minutes of driving you are in the bush, looking at amazing landscapes is incredible. Even now, most of the city’s economy is based on Mining and service. It also has amazing places around, like Mundi Mundi lookout, where you can see the curvature of the earth you can see the Flinders Ranges as well, that are km away.

Another place is Menindee lakes, the thing that makes this place unique is its death Trees and its random grey coloured water. It is a famous holiday spot for the wealthy people around the area and its nice weather is good to have a swim.

Broken hill has this nice sculptures in the top of one of its hills and one of them, is actually sculptured by a Mexican Artist. It is a perfect spot to see the sunset Broken Hill and its surroundings. The sculptures are really symbolic, what makes them really impressive. Not all of them are literal and similar. It was a great place to go, and the walk was really nice as well.

Silverton is a spot you should go. The mines around are incredible, I had the chance to go inside one, and it’s impressive the conditions and places the miners had to tolerate for years, they would work when they turned 12 and work for hours a day with bad conditions. Due of the explotation of the mine, Silverton became a dead town and there are empty buildings, but with little places to see, like the famous bar, the Mad Max Museum, and more.

Places like these make Broken Hill such an especial place. A lot of people haven’t had the chance to come, or chose not to, but it is a destination I definitely recommend. To an traveller, national or international. This was definitely the best trip I’ve had, the fact of visiting the True Australian Outback, see how people in towns live and see the big fellowship that they have between its citizens is amazing. The people in this kind of towns know each other pretty well, and they are very kind with everyone. A clear example of how good the country life is, and one of the things I like the most about it.