South Australia Bound.

For the next 4 weeks I will be travelling in South Australia. We left home on the 8th April and headed to Lightning Ridge, Cobar and then Broken Hill.

Lightning Ridge is a very different town, population -unknown, it appears to have no real rules about building or mining but very famous for opals especially the black opal which fetches the most money for the miners. The ridge as it's known is a place of
 "make- do". People use anything and everything to build things and make art.  Lightning Ridge is also the home of a well known Australian artist John Murray who treats the subject of the outback with some humour. 

Build your own castle

Mullock heaps - evidence of opal mining throughout the town 

creative signage 

no rules 

Old is important 

John Murray's Gallery

Some creative metal art

 

COBAR 

 Cobar has a sliver, lead ,zinc, copper and gold in the area. So red and so dry. The landscape really lives up to the name so often given to Central Australia -  "the red centre" 

Beautiful old pubs.

Town Sculpture 

 

  Broken Hill has large deposits of silver, lead and zinc as well.That same ore body became the largest single source of silver, lead and zinc ore ever discovered on earth, generating over $100 billion in wealth.  It was also the home of  Pro Hart another famous Australian artist. 

On our way to Broken Hill

Rest time for the driver BM

Broken Hill

Memorial to miners 

The mine 

 

Travelling with Pam and Tony 

Out side of Broken Hill is Silverton , once a thriving silver mine now almost a ghost town and a  famous location for movie making. MAD MAX 2, parts of  Mission Impossible  and Priscilla Queen of the Dessert were filmed there. It is certainly the place if you want to show isolation, the red colour of the outback and miles of nothing.

Mel Gibson ??

Not much grows in the dry climate 

Open space forever 

See you at Peterbourough.