Saturday, August 1, 2020

Broken Hill Desert Sculptures, The Flying Doctor, Bells Milk Bar and the Line of Load Memorial


Fantastic day mooching around Broken Hill. Kids took the camera and had fun using in it in the beautiful desert landscape.



We did the Royal Flying Doctor Service.....It seems a very well respected and supported organisation. Essential out here as it's sooooo isolated. It's is kind of comforting knowing you are only an hours trip from Sydney by air if needs be. Most pubs have some form of collection going on for them in the bar. One had an open umbrella attached to the ceiling to throw in your spare change. But a fully fitted out plane is $10,000,000 so it's all relative.

We also had a look at the Miners' Memorial....It's located on the overburden from the mine. You basically drive up onto all the waste. I had a hard time understanding how the whole thing stays up as it's just a pile of dirt and rocks. Anyway, it did. It lists all the causes of death of hundreds of miners who have helped build Australia. Happily, the deaths have decreased by a huge amount in the present time, but they have gone from lots of rock falls, drownings and gassings for the first hundred years to things like electrocution today, so it's still a really dangerous way to pay the mortgage.

We also visited Bells Milk Bar, which is fantastic if you are a fan of old fashioned malted milkshakes and vintage. The decor is fantastic and takes you back. It was such an uncomplicated generation of little need to make decisions. For example, you had to get out of your seat to change channels on the TV and you only got to choose between channels 2, 7, 9 and 10. A lot less complicated than today. Maybe that's cause I was kid, but that's how I remember it. 

The menu at Bells was also like that.   Toasties, milkshakes, coffee (very 21st C) and lasagne without salad......but totally worth the visit if you are out this way. There's a great vintage store next door too, without the Sydney prices, which was nice.

We also look at the Desert Sculptures....save that for sunset. Apparently, it's stunning. Although we did it at 11am under cloud. At least they got a bit of rain. The yearly average for BH is 220mm...this year (2018) to date they've only had 18mm......so very dry and dusty.























Taken from my travel diary in 2018.  For more travel stories go here.
 

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