Since the rain made all the dirt roads uncrossable, we’re struck in the towns surrounding the Outback. Menindee is just a small village, not really nice to spend some days so we head immediately to Broken Hill…

Broken Hill is mostly famous because it acted as the movie scene for a couple of movies. The most famous ones are ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’, ‘Mad Max 2’ and ‘Mission Impossible II’.
We enjoy the scenery of the ‘Palace Hotel’, where a part of ‘Priscilla’ was filmed. The many murals in the halls remain and it gives us a nice couple of hours in the bar. That evening we hire the DVD and watch him on spot.

Broken Hill is one of the biggest silver mining cities in the country. It supported Australia through two world wars, two depressions and endless social change. At this time, it is only a small shadow from what it once has been…
The worlds largest mining company, BHP – Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited – was founded here in 1885 to mine the world’s richest source of silver, lead and zinc ores. Since its discovery in 1883, the ore body already generated a stunning $100 billion…

Being there in the rain gave us the luck to spot the beautiful desert peas. Normally they appear later on in the season, but rain changes a lot in the desert!
Everywhere they make publicity for the ‘Living Sculpture Desert’. We visited it, but it felt not that attractive…

In Silverton, some 25 km’s from Broken Hill, you can experience a classic Outback town. It gives some beautifully, well conserved Outback buildings, some nice art galleries and a cafe with delicious food!
It was a nice spot to rest, but soon we really hope to get back to the quietness of the Outback! So we leave the city after two days and head to White Cliffs, a spot where people still live underground…