Waiting for the Broken Hill report

Line of Lode with Miner's Memorial (L) and Broken Earth Complex (R)

I mentioned in my last post of 18 April that I had some friends - Jane and Richard - heading up to Broken Hill. Their red dust covered vehicle has been spotted once again back in Melbourne.

So now I wait to bombard them with questions about what their impressions were of the Hill. A text suggested the trip was going really well.

I had hoped to report today on some of their favourite things from their road trip, but my life's been hectic so there's been no chance to catch Jane or Richard ... yet.

So stay tuned. I'm super keen to hear their stories. It will be fascinating, at least for me, and hopefully for you too dear readers, to hear a different perspective about Broken Hill.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Federation Way Broken Hill re-opens Saturday 27 December 2014

Federation Way in Broken Hill is the road that takes visitors and locals alike up the famous Line of Lode to the Miner's Memorial, Big Bench (and Broken Earth cafe complex-currently closed).

The road has been closed for seven months as it needed some major repairs. There were also issues with insurance to be sorted out.

Line of lode and miners memorial #brokenhill set to re-open to public after bring closed for months within days
— ABC Broken Hill (@ABCBrokenHill) December 23, 2014

Finally, it re-opened yesterday (well according to the local Barrier Daily Truth newspaper 25 December 2014 issue).

It's really great news for tourists and locals alike.

I was visiting the City earlier this month but unfortunately couldn't get up there, much to my disappointment. There was one way, but you had to pay for a tour around town to do it.

I believe the tour was a half day commitment - I guess you could always hop off after you'd been up there, but normally it's free access, so it was an expensive way to do it, and of course the time had to suit you too.

The Big Bench, Miner's Memorial (centre), Broken Earth
complex (left) and me. All on top of the Line of Lode and
all attractions accessed via Federation Way, Broken Hill

On this last trip to Broken Hill, a freelancer from the Lonely Planet was also in 'town'. We caught up several times. She's actually from Melbourne and it was her first trip to #BrokenHill.

She told me she thought of doing the tour, just to make the journey up the Line of Lode, but as mentioned, there were those restrictions so I'm not sure if she managed to visit in the end.

Anyhow, I'm very glad it has or will re-open any minute (as I'm not there, I'm not sure. Just reporting what the paper said).

Definitely it's a must for a visitor.

Enjoy the view as well.

Cheers, Jane Deany

Full Moon in Broken Hill

A full moon rising above the horizon in the country (or anywhere really) is always a treat I think. It's a wonderful moment to enjoy nature at it's best, and it's also one of the simple pleasures of life to witness a fabulous full moon appearing on the horizon as it begins making it's grand monthly entrance into the sky.

I was therefore pleased to be visiting Broken Hill at the time of the full moon and took advantage of some great photo opportunities featuring the full moon. The photo below features one of my favourite Broken Hill vistas from on top of the Line of Lode, with the Broken Earth Complex on the left, the striking Miner's Memorial in the centre and the full moon quite high in the sky on the right.

Enjoy, cheers, Jane D

Broken Hill Line of Lode views

horizon view at sunrise Miner's Memorial and
Broken Earth Complex to the right of picture

I have just returned from 2 weeks in Broken Hill and it was a very busy but fun time.

Something I always love to see is the fantastic skyline view afforded by the Line of Lode with the modern adornments of the Miner's Memorial and the Broken Earth Complex. 

Here are some of the different angles I have taken of that famous view. It's great at sunset, sunrise, in all different lights and angles and in fact anytime at all, well in my view anyway;-)

Enjoy the view.

Miner's Memorial left and Broken Earth Complex right
on top of the Line of Lode, day time view

afternoon view

after sunset

just after sunrise

I am admiring the view from on top of the
Line of Lode, in front of the big seat,
Miner's Memorial behind me and part of
Broken Earth Complex far left

another afternoon view

For a little more information on the Line of Lode, Miner's Memorial and Broken Earth Complex see previous post here.


As you can probably tell ... 


                      I just love that view!



Cheers Jane D

The St Patrick's Day Races at Broken Hill 17 March 2012

Races
March 17, 2012 dawned and it was off to the St Patrick’s day races in Broken Hill with my old friend Melissa.  The biggest event of the year in the city brought out a lot of green, but surprisingly, there weren’t many green dresses to be seen at the track.  No matter, Melissa and I proudly wore our green dresses and enjoyed a wonderful day.

I bet on races 3 to 7 (there were 8 races in all) and had several wins including three firsts, the 1,400 metre race 4 with #1 ‘Dealers’, trained by local trainer Michael Wayman, and ridden by Wayne Kerford, the 1,600 metre race 5 with # 1 ‘My Ex Mate’ trained by Peter F Blanch of Morphettville (SA), and ridden by Shayne Cahill and race 7, the outback stayers 2,200 metres race, won by #1 (again) ‘Young Tearaway’ trained by Nicole Bruggemann of Strathalbyn (SA) and ridden by Elly Brooks.  Number 8 Lotto Blues, trained by Kym Healy of Strathalbyn, won the 1,600 metre race 6 Outback Cup, the jockey was Tara O'Donnell.  I unfortunately didn't pick that one.

Melissa and myself at the
St Patrick's Race Club

I thoroughly recommend putting this on your list of things to do, especially if you like the races, but even if you don’t.  There was a real carnival atmosphere, so many people made a wonderful effort with what they wore.  The weather was sunny, mild and breezy, just as well as the event was cancelled last year due to rain.

As mentioned in an earlier post it’s the first time the event has actually been run on St Patrick’s Day - March 17.  Apparently the scheduling has always had something to do with Easter.  We had a quick refreshing coffee at the Broken Earth Café restaurant which not surprisingly was fully booked out for dinner.  It’s a great spot to take in the view across the city and hills in the distance.  I showed Melissa the moving Miners’ Memorial, which I’ll talk about another time.  It was then off to dinner at Café Alfresco where we watched the passing parade of race goers and enjoyed a lovely dinner.  We popped in to the atmospheric Broken Hill Musician's Club (Muso Club) for a look around, some refreshments and a dance, then called it a night.  What a great fun day it was.

Cheers Jane D

2005 and I've returned to Broken Hill at last

Leaving early afternoon on 30 December 2005 for Mildura some 5.5-6 hours north west of Melbourne, I was excited to be going to Broken Hill again.  My travel companion and I left Mildura early on New Year’s eve, arriving at our destination about 11.30 am.  We gained half an hour as, 40kms south of Broken Hill, the time zone goes back 30 minutes as although Broken Hill is in NSW, it runs on South Australian (SA) 'Central time', as it’s fairly close to the SA border and it just makes more sense to do so.

Being a country city, most shops in the heart of town were closing between 12 noon and 1 pm.  (The shops in the newer shopping centre a few kms from the centre of town, we found out later on, were thankfully open longer, a little bit more typical of what bigger cities have).  We rushed around for an hour or so visiting as many shops, galleries and clubs as we could in that time.  A visit to the Broken Hill Visitor Information Centre was very helpful.

                                                                                       Must See

Broken Earth Cafe Restaurant
on top of Line of Lode

It was then up to the Line of Lode hilltop lookout where we stopped off for lunch at the Broken Earth Cafe Restaurant. The restaurant sits at the highest point of the Line of Lode - see note below - and therefore enjoys a fantastic view over the town in all directions.  It served and still serves a tasty and diverse range of food (and drinks-yes licensed) and also has some excellent art adorning the walls which is sometimes for sale. It is actually a striking and award winning piece of architecture and has a Visitor's Centre attached as well.

We followed this up by a visit to the adjacent, (accessed via the Visitor's Centre) impressive and touching Miner’s Memorial, which also sits on top of the Line of Lode, which is made up of in part, remnant mullock (skimp) dumps and appears as a hill that divides north and south Broken Hill and is part of the massive orebody that has proved to be one of the world's largest silver-zinc-lead mineral deposits.

Must See

Miner's Memorial

Art Scene

We took in some more galleries, including a brief visit to the famous Pro Hart Gallery which you have to pay to go into. They were about to close but luckily someone buying some art delayed the closure and I zipped around the 3 levels as fast as I could.  It was a fantastic personal collection which, unfortunately for visitors, has been significantly sold off after Pro died in 2006.  It is now a gallery primarily exhibiting Pro's own work.

Must See

We then did a little shopping for picnic supplies and headed a few kilometers out of town to go to the wonderful Living Desert Sculpture Symposium/Park to take in a fabulous sunset and view.  The sculptures are pretty impressive as well.  Oh, by the way it was about 42 degrees celsius, so just a 'tad' hot!  After taking lots of photos, we enjoyed some champagne and a yummy picnic.

Horse head sculpture



Club Scene

It was then back to our motel to freshen up and off to the Muso Club aka Broken Hill Musician's Club (one of a number of clubs in town) to see in the new year and to catch up with one of the local identity Steer brothers whom we’d met earlier in the day at his art gallery in town.  More about art later…  It was lots of fun at the club and we felt we could enjoy seeing in the new year twice – with the half hour interval between events due to the time zone variation adding an extra bit of fun to the night.  I don’t think many Melbournite’s go to Broken Hill for new year's eve, it was certainly a different and novel way of seeing in another year.

(Above, left and right) Sunset and several sculptures from the Living Desert Sculpture Symposium/Park

Cheers for now, Jane D