We were told that Broken Hill had a lovely sunrise but by the time we ventured out and into the morning, Broken Hill was again covered in cloud with rain threatening. The previous night was the coldest night that we have experienced since leaving Sydney.
We had planned to spend the day in and around Silverton which is located about 22 k’s from Broken Hill with most of our group deciding to meet for lunch at the Silverton Tea rooms.
We left our campsite at 10:00am and drove towards Silverton. We stopped just short of the town to look at part of the old railway infrastructure. This provided the opportunity for some photography of the old structures and the remainder of the rails.
After leaving the rail area, we made a visit to Penrose Park, the local caravan park that will be used as one of the stop on a tagalong planned by our ACC branch next year.
When we arrived in the main street of Silverton, we were greeted by four donkeys that were calmly walking the streets of Silverton. One actually stuck its head into the open window of the car and was very happy to have its head patted.
Whilst in Silverton we visited most of the galleries and purchased a couple of books from one. We also spent time looking at the street art and the restored buildings. Six couples enjoyed lunch at the Silverton Tea Rooms. We had been told that the place was expensive but actually it was not and we all agreed that we received good value for money.
After lunch we headed away from Silverton and stopped at the Mundi Mundi lookout. It is from this lookout you can see across the expansive plain and witness the curvature of the earth. In the distance you can see the Boolcoomatta Hills in the Olary Range some 90km away.
After leaving the lookout we headed to the nearby Umberumberka Reservoir. Last time we visited the reserve was near full, now it is near empty.
We returned to Silverton and headed straight to the Silverton Hotel where we enjoyed some liquid refreshment. We managed to convince four of our members to participate in “the test” which involves placing a funnel in the top of your pants and then dropping a potato balanced on you forehead into the funnel. Whilst the participant was concentrating on the potato, the barmaid poured water into the funnel. Needless to say what the final result was! We all had a good laugh and some money was raised for the RFDS.
We left the hotel at 4:30pm and headed back to the Mundi Mundi lookout to watch sunset and take the mandatory number of photographs. “He” managed to fly the quad copter but after taking two photographs, landed the quad quickly as the wind was a little stronger than expected and the quad was having trouble maintaining a GPS lock.
The sunset was average but it was colourful. On our return journey to Broken Hill, we did stop to take several more pictures of the dark blue sky with the colour of the sunset on the horizon.
We did not have a formal happy hour and after finishing our evening meal, we cranked up our electric heater and watched television until late in the night.