Sunday, 22 May 2016

Wilcannia to Broken Hill

We headed down the Darling River Run on the eastern side of the river but after about 10km realised it was not worth risking our vehicle over the 150km journey. A truck must have driven on the road when it was wet and left gouges that were at least a foot deep. This caused water to fill the tracks which overflowed and created gouges across the road that were anything up to 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide.

Instead of going to Menindee Lakes we drove on sealed roads to Broken Hill and will be here for five days. Unfortunately my sister and her partner had the great idea they would surprise us by meeting us at Menindee Lakes! They got the surprise when they checked their phone messages and learned of our change of plans. At least their drive was shorter and on a sealed road.

On Saturday 21 May the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Broken Hill celebrated its 80th birthday so we went to the open day. Current planes and equipment were on display along with some of the earlier planes and original equipment.

The following day we drove the 25km out to Silverton which is where Mad Max 2 was filmed along with many other films, TV shows and advertisements. Fury Road was to have been filmed here but there had been rain and the script did not call for a green landscape and that is why the movie was shot in Namibia.

This evening we had dinner with the Broken Hill contingent of the family at the Palace Hotel which featured in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The hotel was closed for a couple of years but new owners have done some renovations and reopened the hotel with the original murals intact. The film Priscilla runs constantly on a big screen at the hotel. In September the Palace Hotel features in the Broken Heel Festival which sounds like a lot of fun (and a lot of Abba music and dressing up). The Priscilla bus will even be in town for the festival.




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