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.

September in Ástralia

September was great, my 7th month in this country, I had the chance to have some traveling, and some time with my family at home as well. It was a bit of  cold month, due to Winter in here, makes everything really wet and cold, but, makes it green and beautiful.

Because one of the Rotarians in my club owns a Skiing shop in town I had the chance to go Skiing more times. I went the to the same Skiing field, called Mt. Selwyn, a little family resort with all kind of rides, mostly of low difficulty. I invited the other exchange student in the District, called Mickael, he is from Sweden, and lives about 2 hours from Wagga. It was a good day. Mickael knows how to ski so he taught me the basics again, and told me the things I was doing wrong. Even though there was not enough snow, it was a great day and we had lots of fun!

The day after was father's day, the fact of being other day made it pretty odd for me, but it's just different. We went to have some nice lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Junee with my host siblings Dad and had a nice evening. Junee is just a little town 15 minutes from where I live, and about 30 minutes from Wagga, it has a few shops and a nice Liquorice factory. It's a good excuse for a short road trip.

The next week I had my Host brothers party, he turned 18 so he had a big one. We have some friends in common so it was good fun, until I had to clean next day. Definitely a good night!

Next sunday I went skiing to Falls Creek, one of the biggest and best resorts in Australia, definitely other level, my skiing improved and I learned how to ski without falling and with proper techniques. It was really good. It was snowin the same morning and I managed to ski as much as I could. Definitely something I will never forget.

The weekend after I had an outbound orientation where I met the Aussie exchange students and see my newbies again. It was in Wagga so I showed my newbies around and had time to know them more. It was a great month and I quite enjoyed. September sweet September.

August/Ágúst/Agosto in Australia/Ástralía

August, August, August, the month that has been my favourite month by far, this month I celebrated half a year in this amazing country, my home. Life at school has became more enjoyable and pleasant. I think because of the fact people and myself realise that I've been in this country for long, and rather than being  just an exchange student, I am Nelson.

I've done plenty of things this month, it's been even busier than Safari months (March & April). Because I changed families I've had the opportunity to travel more, due to the better weather.

The family I moved into is incredible! I just have a Host Mum called Pia, she is a Doctor and an amazing mother. I have 5 siblings, yes, 5!!, 2 Girls, and 3 boys. My eldest sister is 24, she is called Blær, then comes Shannan, she is 20 and goes to University in Canberra. Then comes Connor, he is 18 and goes to Wagga High with me, he is at Year 12, Callum Is the the next, he is 15 and currently at year 10 in my school as well. Last but not least, Padraig, or how everyone calls him, Paddy. He is 11 so he attends Elementary school in Wagga. My house is on a farm, it has about 15 000 hectares, and plenty of sheep and cattle. It is located about 25 km from town.

For my "welcome home" activity Mum organised a bonfire for me, I met the neighbours and their kids, it is amazing the fellowship that exists, I think I've learned to like that. Even though people over here knows everything about you it is incredible, and the fact of just driving on the road greeting and being greeted is so nice. It makes you feel really welcomed.

The next day, we went back to work, and guess what it was? Lamb marking! The moment when mum said, we are doing lamb marking made me think, mierda. But, because is probably the only time I do that, I decided to do it, and I have no regrets, it was incredible, really exhausting, but fun, I started Vaccinating the lambs, then I switched to the ears, we started at 7 o'clock and finished at 5, straight after we finished we released the sheep and seeing them going across the hill with the blue sky and the aura of the sunset coming was just amazing, finishing something makes you so good, it was just nice.

The next weekend I had an Outbound orientation, I met my Newbies (The new exchange students), it was nice to see how they started, and rewind some months and see how I was back then. We are 8, Fiona from Austria (Wagga Wagga), Stephanie from Germany (Yenda), Lukas from Denmark (Forbes), Mickael from Sweden (Young), Laura from Finland (Blayney), Yu from Japan (Leeton), Ricardo from Brazil (Orange) and me. We went to some revision of rules and some advices from us the oldies and the District comittee. It was just for a day so we didn't talk much with each other, but it was great to meet them and introduce themselves. 

The next Friday was the time to say, JUST ONE YEAR MORE!! That means I turned 17, and I can say, by far, the best birthday I have had, EVER. The day before I had dinner with my family, we ate some delicious Hindi food. The day of my birthday my friends at school brought cake and sang Happy Birthday. The afternoon I went with the other exchange student Fiona from Austria and my coordinators to Sydney, we arrived at night and saw the amazing skyline .  We had dinner at a restaurant in front of the harbour and enjoyed some nice fish&chips delicious. The dinner finitud and we went for a walk around Sydney harbour was amazing, I took amazing photos of the opera house and the harbour bridge when we were there. It was beautiful!

The next day we woke up early and went to one of my favourite parts, Yum Cha, as I explained in one of my past post is a Chinese breakfast were the waitress pass with trolleys offering you different Chinese plate, and you choose what you want. It was delicious we had breakfast there for like 3 hours. After that we went walking around Chinatown and took some photos, along with a quick visit to Paddys Market, a market that has practically everything you can imagine, fruit and veg, meat, jewellery, clothing, souvenirs and more! We went for a walk around darling harbour and it was time to go to the Zoo for the first time in Australia. I went to the zoo in a complex along with Madame Tussaud's and the aquarium, I didn't have the opportunity to go to Madame Tussaud's though, both of them were amazing I really enjoyed it, my first time on an actual big zoo, I saw some kangaroos and koalas around, just impressive! The aquarium was nice, so I barrier reef, dolphins, crocodiles and sharks.

After that I went to the most exciting thing, the Rugby union Match, New Zealand (All Blacks) vs Australia (The Wallabies) these two countries have a bit of a rivalry in spite of sports. Or everything probably, but a friendly rivalry! It was really nice, they explained me everything I needed to know and it was really exciting.

The next day we had an early morning because the exciting part was coming! Sightseeing! We went to places like Bondi Beach and Parks were we had an amazing view of Sydney and the beach, I took some amazing photos of Sydney and Fiona took some great of me as well! We went to the Sydney heads, that looks like an entry to Sydney harbour, really impressive, turquoise sea colour and beautiful rock formations. We stayed there for a while and it was time to go home, but that was not all, I went to The Royal Botanic Gardens for an incredible view of the harbour, including the skyline, the opera house and the bridge, just amazing!

Next week was nice as well, it was the time for my first visit to the capital of the country, Canberra, and no, it is not Sydney and it never was. My host sister Shannan studies there so we went for a visit. Canberra is a big country city with about 300 000 people, it is a planned city and a few months ago was its 100 years anniversary. It is really clean and organised, really impressive because is surrounded by bush, and mixes through it. I went to the War memorial, Parliament House, the Main Street, Telstra tower, were I had an amazing view of Canberra. Canberra is a big country town rather than a city, and most of Australians say it's a hole and not worth to see, but I think it is a nice city, the War memorial, parliament house, museums and perfectly organised streets makes Canberra nice and unique.