After our short stay in Dubbo, we moved on to Max and Marg’s place outside Gillgandra. The property is now primarily a sheep station, though Max and Marg have run cattle and crop farmed in the past. The boys had the opportunity to ride quad bikes, look for opals from opal dirt, hold a lamb, shear a sheep skin and play some pool.
Zaac and Jay holding lambs
From Max and Marg’s, we head for the mining town of Broken Hill. We are surprised at the town services and cleanliness. For a small outback mining town, it provides all the services needed and many more. The RFDS has a base and the School Of The Air also service the outback regions of NSW. We visit DayDream Mine just outside Broken Hill which was in operation before Broken Hill’s resources were uncovered. The visit takes us underground and back in time. Operating in the late 1800’s, the mine still has the remains of the original township which had a population of over 500. Much of the labour used on the mines were boys as young as 8, they sorted the rock after it was removed from the mine and then sent for further processing.
Ian, Zaac and Jay go mining
The mine was barely large enough for me to walk through and the miners of old would have lead a very hard life.
We also toured the School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service bases. Both of these were well worth the visits. The SOTA now uses satellite communication and video conferencing rather than HF radio and the RFDS gives a full history on where the service has come from. After our time in Broken Hill it is time to push on to Adelaide.
The two day trip had us stopped at some road side rest areas and we were glad to arrive in civilization and hot showers and running water. We are now staying at Jodi’s sisters place and doing the sights of Adelaide which we will update down the track.
