Benalla street art ...

We were a bit later leaving Melbourne than planned - that was Nick and I chatting!  It was definitely lunchtime when we reached Benalla and we were pleased of a break from the road.  

Nick and I had lunched in Benalla when returning from Melbourne in 2019 but we'd detoured to see local-ish silos, so hadn't viewed the street art.

We had a wander along Benalla's main street after lunch and enjoyed seeing some murals on buildings - and there were opshop stops.

Wodonga was our overnight stop, in a poolside villa - well, the pool was just across from us.  And yes, we had a very quick dip!  It was a quiet night.  Scrabble after a sausage sizzle dinner.  Lovely!

Melbourne mini silos ...

Federation Square had an exhibition of mini silos, so we showed Nissa those as part of playing Melbourne tourists for the day.  (We just posed with replicas of those that we had visited in real life).

We had never been to the ACMI during our Victorian era, so had a great time there playing with the many exhibits.

We saw a few other favourite places, bought salt samples (no stock from Pink Lake but we found others to try) from an upmarket spice shop in The Block arcade and generally strolled about till our legs got tired - then ubered to Toorak.

Nissa came back to our room and later we all dined at Romeo's, which was an excellent finale.  

Nissa was set to road-trip with us for the next week, which was a wonderful bonus to our holiday.  Nick re-packed some of our larger gear when in Broken Hill and had further refined organisation since, to ensure space for Nissa and her bag.

Melbourne meandering ...

Our Melbourne time was centred around visiting friends and family and we had some lovely, long catch-ups.  

We stayed with friends on our first night and then at the Toorak Manor for our next two.  

As we entered the building we both laughed, cos it was called Graeme's - but absolutely nothing like Graham's at Wilcannia!  (Our hostess had also stayed at Graham's, so we chatted of our experiences)! 

We were invited to view the available rooms and make our choice.  Nick went upstairs and chose 17, which had a private balcony.  It was a beautiful space and our luggage looked just right!

For whatever reason we found it hard to make a restaurant booking for Saturday night, so finally ordered takeaway and used our picnic gear to set up for private, balcony dining - which was very pleasant.

Nick spent some time with music friends on Saturday, while I toured the Herring Island Sculpture Park with Nissa and her partner.  I invited them back to our room afterward and they were also impressed with how nice it was.  

Pink Lake - again!

When Nick spoke of driving to Melbourne in one day, my focus had been on the 700km distance - and sitting for such a long time on my very uncomfortable seat!  

I hadn't thought much of what we might see along the way, so the silo art was a bonus as was the realisation that we'd re-visit Pink Lake!  

We'd enjoyed our first visit so much that I'd sourced pink lake salt from a retail supplier and included samples in our Christmas mailout that year (and we used the remainder for quite some time, also).

The site had been developed further since our last visit.  There was some signage in the picnic shelter and a small laminated sheet to advise a coffee van visited at particular times (salt could be purchased as well as coffee).

We walked down to the lake first, as the only sheltered picnic table was occupied.  I hadn't intended to be colour co-ordinated with the salt but was very pleased of my kikoy sun protection.  (My kikoy was purchased in 1985 during my time in Kenya).

Coonalypn and Kaniva silo art

We planned to drive just under 700 kilometres during to day.  There was time for quick stops along the way.  Coonalpyn was about two hours from Adelaide, so a good spot for a break and a look at their silo art.

Coonalyn's silos were the first to be painted in South Australia and were completed in March 2017 (when we were just new QLDers).  They were painted by Guido van Helten, whose work features on the Brim silos (the first in Victoria to be painted).

We made a trip to see the Brim silos in 2016 when they were still quite new - and that experience sparked other silo art visits.

You can read about the Coonalypn silos, here.  Kaniva is about an hour and a half drive, "closer" to Melbourne.  We made a quick stop there also.  The sun was quite bright by that stage, so we didn't have the best viewing conditions but really liked the colours and artwork.  (There's more detail about the Kaniva silo and the site's history on this page).

Adelaide departure ...

We stayed three nights in Adelaide, which gave us a chance to catch-up on washing and kick back a bit, ie. stroll along the beach next door to our cabin accommodation - in between playing tourist and poking about in op-shops!  

And yes, we spotted another Gladstone bag which was purchased as a special souvenir (from Salvo's)!

The cabin was family-sized, so we had plenty of room to spread out.  We chose to self-cater the first two nights and then splurged a bit for our finale.

I did a few loads of washing during our trip and was pleased to have packed pegs and some washing powder.  I might start saving gold coins before our next adventure, to save getting change from the reception offices.

We had a long drive on our departure day, so packed up and checked out before 8:00am, very chuffed with our excellent effort!

Although Nick had more than three weeks leave, we had a medical review deadline at home - so needed to keep to a schedule. (Hence we drove across to Melbourne in one big day).

Adelaide Awesome!

Neither of us had previously been to Adelaide and even though we only stayed three nights, it was awesome!

As I shared on Facebook - "We've had an awesome Adelaide finale. Just wonderful! The day clicked along splendidly. There were the Botanic Gardens first-off for a few hours, then a light lunch at the National Wine Centre with self-guided tour and nifty "enomatic" wine tastings afterward. We loved the marvellous Mortlock Wing of the State Library - very pleased to have spotted that recommendation in the tourist info. There was even time for a quick look at the Museum and a short stroll along Rundle Mall as well. Our waterfront dining at Glenelg this evening was lovely - and really well-deserved after our 9km of walking throughout the day! *And* we found two geocaches before turning in for the night. I mean, could the day get any better?!"

Magnetic Hill

I realised this trip that tourist info staff are knowledgeable about their local areas - but not always in tune with what might really appeal to us.

We'd been given lots of detail about Peterborough's rail history and I'd also picked up a brochure of the local area.  

As we were packing up, I glanced at the top 30 things to do list - and saw a short reference to Magnetic Hill!  Hah!  We'd had so much fun playing with the gravitational anomaly near Hanging Rock in Victoria with Elmer the Blue that we made a point of detouring after check-out to see South Australia's version.  And we laughed a lot as we tested Elmer the Gold - rolling uphill!

I've now re-discovered this list and reckon we'll need to make a trip to Mount Cotton once we're home again.

Peterborough Motel

The Peterborough Motel office was unattended, so we rang the mobile number on the gate and checked-in via telephone call with the manager. 

He invited us to pick grapes from the 95-year-old vine.  Had he been on site, we'd have been welcome to sample fruit from a backyard orchard. 

After unpacking we walked about 200 metres to a very well-stocked Foodlands store for basic groceries and then were happy to relax in our pleasant room (with small teapot).  Nick played guitar and I wrote on my journal cards.

We'd made a family-sized batch of creamy bacon and mushroom pasta the previous night in Broken Hill and ate that while playing Scrabble (and sipping bubbles).

I spotted this excellent trophy in a Dalby op-shop for the marvelous bargain price of $1.00 and decided it could be our Super Scrabble cup. The Big Loop road-trip was its first outing and I was very chuffed to pose with it in Peterborough! (Nick put down a 7-seven word on his first turn and I was behind by a significant margin throughout the game but came good in the final few minutes - to win by 8 points).

Peterborough

Peterborough is a key town in Australian rail history. It was the junction of three railway gauges - as state governments couldn't agree on a standardised guage.  

The town became an important rail link between the mines at Broken Hill and the processing plant at Port Pirie. Hard to believe now that at one time over one hundred trains a day passed through the township.

We had a quick stop at the Greg Duggan lookout before our Sunday roast lunch at one pubs in town.

The town's main tourist attraction (and info centre) is Steamtown.  We spent some time there and really enjoyed looking through the historic sleeper carriage.

On the way out we picked up some brochures for the local area and Adelaide. Although there was another free train site we could visit, we decided it was time to check into our motel and take a break.

Drinking water station

We were so intrigued by Yunta's drinking water station that we turned back for a better look.

Adams Aqua have supplied a total of 206 off-grid water stations since 2004.  

I've researched Yunta since returning home.  

The remote town (pop. 85 as at 2016 census) does not have a council but rather a committee.  That body made a submission about water in 2020, which makes interesting reading.  There is this document, also - much longer and more detailed about water supply issues in South Australian outback communities.

Locked-in at Yunta!

We re-fuelled before leaving Broken Hill.  Yes, even before spotting the no fuel for 200km sign!

It was about two hours to Yunta, a very small highway town with a several petrol stations.  

We quickly spotted the park and public toilets.  I was so keen to go that I didn't register the lack of handle inside - till it was to time to get out and I couldn't. 

The vacant/engaged indicator jammed in the locked position - and I called out to Nick for help. He then worked with a screwdriver to free me from the cubicle!

There were some tourist info signs in the picnic shelter and a list of fruit which shouldn't be brought into South Australia.  

We didn't have any fresh fruit or vegies with us but did have dates, which were on the list.  We made a point of eating them before arriving at the quarantine station 40km down the road (which was over 200km from the NSW/SA state border via the Barrier Highway).

The quarantine officer didn't seem concerned by our admission of eating the dates and wasn't interested in keeping the seeds.  He did get Nick to open our Engel though, to verify there was no fresh produce on board.

Silverton shingleback!

There was huge excitement when I saw this shingleback crossing the road!  

I managed to catch him/her and we had a good look at our new friend, before replacing him/her gently to continue strolling through the countryside.

I'd missed catching a small dragon on the way to Menindee, so Nick doubted I'd get this guy/gal.  Hah!

Silverton

We drove from the Daydream Mine, through Silverton to the Umberumberka Reservoir (try saying that a few times, fast - or at all)!  

There's some more information, here.

Recent rain meant the dam was full, for the first time in a long time.  We chatted to a local family who had particularly driven out from Broken Hill just to see water in the reservoir. 

We headed back to Silverton for lunch at the famous pub - glad to be sitting out of the sun and resting for a while.  At that stage, I had already completed 150% of my daily step goal!

Several cheeky apostlebirds wandered through the huge covered dining area, keen to share our lunch.  

We had hoped to see donkeys at the pub but they weren't visiting that day and we didn't spot them anywhere else around the town.  

After lunch we spent some very pleasant time at the Silverton Photography Gallery, chatting with Helen about cameras, photos and life - and admiring her lovely gardens.  

Daydream Mine

When dining at Maidens Hotel one evening (across the road from our Menindee room), another couple highly recommended the Daydream Mine tour at Silverton (and said we should have the scones)!

We'd booked our tour soon after arriving in Broken Hill. Phone and internet reception weren't great at the mine, so we'd been asked to use cash rather than eftpos.

We like looking at mines and have seen various examples over the years.  It's interesting the note the similarities and differences in method when comparing scale and what is being mined.

As kids at Yowah my brother and I were sometimes allowed to go underground (supervised).  Some equipment on this tour was familiar from those days.

We did a surface tour first before entering the mine.  I'm short (and sadly getting shorter) so don't usually have to duck in many places but needed to scooch a few times on the underground tour, so did wonder how tall the miners were!

We would definitely recommend the tour - it was a highlight of our time in the area.  And have the scones!

Early morning flora appreciation

Our day started at 5:30am and after some quick organisation we were on the road, back to the Sculpture Park.  

Why so early?  Well, the park opened at 6am and we wanted to avoid the heat of the day - plus we were booked to do a Silverton mine tour at 10am (with earlier check-in).

We planned to do both the flora and cultural walks (a total of about 4km) in the cool of the early morning.

The moon was still in the sky when we arrived and it was too dark to read the entrance hut signs.  

We viewed those signs on the way out and laughed over memories sparked by seeing the native apricot photo!

Some of the shrubs and flowers were familiar.  A great bonus was seeing some Sturt's Desert Peas when we detoured onto a smaller side-track.  

Desert Peas featured on our wedding cake and on a teabag pouch in our trusty beverage case.

It was close to 9am when we got back to the parking area, time for a quick cuppa and loo stop before heading to Silverton.

Sunset sculptures

Visiting the Broken Hill sculptures was something I really wanted to do, so we headed out of town to the Living Desert State Park. 

"The Living Desert ... was established in 1992. On top of the highest hill inside the reserve are the 12 sandstone sculptures, created in 1993 by a group of artists from all over the world, which are now one of the top attractions in Outback NSW ..."

So says the Broken Hill tourism blurb - and the reserve is touted as a must-do when in the area.

We had called into a supermarket during the afternoon, so as to have provisions for a sunset cheese platter - which was a great decision as we both loved the park landscape a lot more than the sculptures!

Broken Hill

Neither of us had been to Broken Hill, though it had been on the wishlist for a long time.  We'd actually started planning a trip while in Victoria - and had begun a family eBay fundraising mission when life intervened very soon afterward, which sparked our Great Cull of 2015.

There was no mistaking Broken Hill as a mining town, cos the main mine was  beside the road as we entered the township.  It was just massive.  Wow.

We spent some time chatting at the tourist information office and then back-tracked to see the Line of Lode Miners Memorial.  It was sobering to read all the names.

Junction Mine was our next stop - a free access site with limited signage but we enjoyed walking around, looking at the infrastructure.

We had a lunch break and then poked around the mineral museum, where there was a 42 kilo silver nugget in the collection. Large rock samples are housed outside in the miner's cottage next door, so we looked at those also. 

The lovely yellow flowering gum is a specimen tree from Western Australia.

On to Broken Hill ...

We re-fuelled before departing Menindee, stopping in for a last look at the water before heading for Broken Hill.

There were a couple of people fishing from the rocks near the walkway - as well as seagulls and cormorants flying over the water, and diving in.  

I'm not sure which group was having more success!

Dost Mahomet

We've visited a number of Burke and Wills historical sites at different times, so visited Dost Mahomet's grave just out of town.  

I've read more about him since returning home.  It's a sad story.  There's a bit more information, here.

It's around 800km from Cooper Creek to Menindee - and 750-ish kilometres from Menindee down to Melbourne.  I'm not sure whether he was transported in some way to Melbourne, or if he had to walk.  

Kinchega Homestead

We drove from the Woolshed to the site of the former homestead.  It was around 11:00am by that stage and I was very glad of my long-sleeved shirt and hat because the sun was quite strong.  

The homestead ruins are protected by a boardwalk and I'd started to walk toward that, when I surprised a goanna - or vice versa!  

We could see lots of his tracks around the site, so we think he was a resident.

The Kinchega homestead was built in the mid to late 1880s.  Stores were brought in by steamer and there was an extensive vegie garden on site, tended by a Chinese gardener who used square steel tanks for irrigation.

Lake Cawndilla was our next stop.  There were so many paddy melon vines growing along the sides of the road along the way.  I can't remember ever seeing them in such numbers.

It seems the term paddy melon is commonly used to describe two types of wild melon, both introduced.  I'll have to look more closely next time.

We enjoyed another cafe lunch and then spent some time looking around the Main Weir reserve, where a couple of young emu were strolling along the water's edge.  There was a campground nearby, where Burke and Wills' Base Party had remained from 19 October 1860 to 26 January 1861 (when the advance party had proceeded to Coopers Creek).

Kinchega Woolshed

Kinchega National Park was formerly part of an 800,000 hectare pastoral lease, which once extended all the way from Menindee to the South Australian border and up to Broken Hill. 

We headed in to the National Park after breakfast. The River Road was closed due to recent rain but we could still get to the Woolshed, which is one of the key sites within the park.

The woolshed was built in 1875 from river red gum and corrugated iron.  In that same year 72,800 sheep were shorn.  92 years later, at the Kinchega Station handover ceremony in 1967, the last sheep was shorn - and that action brought the total shorn tally to 6 million, over the life of the station.  

One accommodation option for Menindee was to stay at the Kinchega Shearers' Quarters - but it was booked out at the time of our visit.

We'd both seen woolsheds before but none as large as this one.  We had a thorough look around, thinking about all those sheep - and testing the cantilevered gates!  

The light was lovely and I took a lot of shots of the site.

Menindee mooching ...

After our first glimpse of the lake, we drove into town and chatted for some time to a lovely local lady about the area.  She and her husband have a grape farm out of town. 

Menindee grapes are a popular table variety, so named due to originating from the area - and for decades local growers produced up to a million boxes a year.

Our volunteer guide gave some tips about places to visit in the area and made recommendations for lunch/dinner.

We really enjoyed our cafe lunch and then checked into our room afterward, was was a favourite of the trip. It was very clean, with colour co-ordinated towel fans arranged on the beds.  

After setting up, we headed out to look at Copi Hollow.  

Broken Hill Speedboat Club is based there, with a popular caravan park.  We were happy to use the reserve area next door and have a paddle in the water.  

There was an amazing sky - just stunning!  As large as this water area seemed, it's just a smaller section on the map.

Meandering to Menindee ...

We took the West Wilcannia Road down to Menindee, so called because it runs along the western side of the Darling River.

Long stretches of open sky and wide dirt road - with the river overflow quite close at different points.  It was beautiful.  We saw an eagle, stopped for a closer look at a central netted dragon - and just really enjoyed driving through and seeing the changing countryside.

We noticed many fallen road signs - and those still standing which featured stock silhouettes had faded from black to golden yellow!

Menindee Lakes were originally a series of shallow natural ephemeral lakes along the Darling River which were developed into water storage.

When full the lakes hold three and half times as much water as Sydney Harbour!  

I couldn't find any statistics but the lakes seemed full during our visit and we were glad to see them in their glory.

Till recently the concrete pipeline beside the road carried water from Menindee to Broken Hill.  There has been media coverage regarding it's replacement - as well as plans to divert water from the lakes, due to various community opposition.  There's some information, here.

Wilcannia

We hadn't expected it to be difficult to find accommodation in Wilcannia - but it was.  We lucked out for our first and second choices, so stayed at Graham's, where you booked at the servo in front.

Let's just say there was major contrast between our former pharmacy Nyngan apartment and our basic family room (the only one left)!

Someone had recommended the Wilcannia Golf Club for a Chinese meal and we were glad we'd taken up the advice - our (huge) meals were great!

We strolled around the town after dinner and had time for another look in the morning, including a river walk. 

Wilcannia was once a major inland river port and has some beautiful, old sandstone buildings.  I enjoyed taking photos of those and reading a little of their history.  There had been a lot of rain in the area, so the river was quite full - which was good to see.

We planned to have a couple of nights in Menindee.  Recent rain meant one of the roads was closed.  There were still two choices though and we opted for the more scenic, dirt road - which was an excellent decision!