Thru the desert & into Victoria...

We decided to head to Cobar after we'd been in Lightning Ridge. Cobar was more than a 5-hour drive away so we made our dinner for when we arrived the night before. I helped mum to make a stew that would slow-cook in our ecopot in the car while we were driving. It was yummy!

Cobar is a mining town in Central West NSW and it was once Australia's leading producer of copper with over 2000 workers. The Heritage Centre was being renovated while we were here but we did spend a morning visiting Cobar Miners Heritage Park, this was completed in 2002 to commemorate all the miners who died in Cobar mines. It was very sad to see so many names of people who had died just by going to their work.

We were lucky we got to see this before the rain started, it was so heavy we went home and spent the afternoon playing card games, when it stopped raining we went out for a walk and had dinner at the local pub, The Great Western Hotel. I had the chicken schnitty which was so good it made me fart, a lot!!

We got up early in the morning and went for a walk before leaving Cobar to go to Broken Hill. We were here for 4 nights as dad's car was booked in for a service and we stayed in a cool place called the Broken Hill Outback Resort. It really was in the middle of nowhere, we used the drone to have a look and there was nothing around us.

We went to Silverton the next day and visited the famous pub called the Silverton Hotel for a yummy lunch, lots of movies have been made here such as Mad Max. I was here 18 months ago with my dad and some friends, we met a dog called Boots and I was hoping to meet him again. I was looking for him and calling his name when he appeared across the road, I called louder and he came over to me. I got a picture taken with him, this time he looked much older as he had more grey hair on his face, it was so good to see him again, it made me think of Ruby, I miss her, thank you for looking after her for me Kara, Scotty, and Heidi.

We visited Menindee the next day, the road was closed due to flooding when we were driving to Broken Hill, it has some cool campsites on the river where you can stay. We went to the Tourist Information there and the lady gave me a rugby ball! We went into the town to see the 2nd Oldest Pub in NSW called The Maidens Hotel, Menindee is famous for being the 1st town established on the Darling River. The Bourke and Wills exhibition camped at Menindee when they were travelling from Melbourne in the South to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the North, they never made it and died of exhaustion on the banks of Cooper Creek only 10 weeks later.

We went to Kinchega National Park and stopped off at the Kinchega Woolshed, this was so cool as it had all the old machinery that was used when sheep shearing was done there many years ago. It was so far off the main road in the middle of nowhere that the shearers had to live there while they were working, the rooms have been renovated and you can pay to stay in them overnight.

Back in Broken Hill, we visited the Living Desert and Sculptures. The Living Desert is 12km out of Broken Hill and is a unique 2400 hectare reserve, it was established in 1992 by the Broken Hill Council for the protection of native flora and fauna. There are some great walking areas and also a nature reserve where kangaroos and native animals can be seen, I saw 3 kangaroos while I was visiting. You can walk from there to the Sculptures, there are 12 sculptures in total carved out of sandstone, the artists came from many different countries. 53 tonnes of Sandstone were taken to the Reserve from the Wilcannia area so that these could be made, my favourite one is down below it looked so cool!

The next day we went to drop dad's car off so we spent the day in Broken Hill, it was officially named Australia's first Heritage City in 2015 and there is heaps to do and see here, lots of different museums and awesome buildings. We visited the Sulphide Railway and Historical Museum, as well as having really old trains it also has the Migrant Museum, Hospital Museum, Ron Carter Transport Museum, Joyland Museum and Triple Chance Mineral Collection. It was really easy having them all together in one place. My favourite was the Joyland Museum as it had all the old amusement park toys, my least favourite was the hospital one as it was a bit creepy!

After another great lunch this time at The Broken Hill Pub, we visited the Silver City Mint and Art Centre, this is the home of The Big Picture and has the Chocolate Factory in it too. We met the owner whose brother painted The Big Picture, it is the longest painting done by a single person in the world, it's 100m long and 12m at its highest point. Aidan, here's one for you, look out for it in next year's Guinness Book of Records, he tells us it's being included!

We left Broken Hill on Wednesday and travelled south towards Victoria but more on that later!

Hope you all have a great week, until next time.

Jaime xoxo