We awoke to a crisp clear morning and took advantage of the fact we were staying in Broken Hill for 2 nights by having a cooked breakfast and slower start to the day.

The Wells had not had such a great night with Dave developing a toothache and rash…and despite multiple doses of painkillers nothing was improving so Rosie had managed to contact an emergency dental service who could fit him in at 1150.

Our first place to visit was the Daydream silver mine out of Broken Hill near Silverton. It was started in 1881 and was being mined before Broken Hill was discovered. We drove out to the mine aiming to get on the 10 o’clock tour – we arrived just in time and fortunately for Rose and Dave the owners allowed them to go straight down the mine to see the underground section of the tour before they had to leave to get back to town for the dentist.

We all joined the full tour and for the next 2 hours learnt a wide variety of interesting facts about the early mining days, bush tucker, surviving in the arid outback and what local plants to use for deodorant, blush and eyeshadow!

The Cornish miners who came out here in the 1800’s were a tough bunch spending 12hrs a day down the mines with roofs held up by mulga tree trunks digging the hard rock by hand and blasting with gunpowder to get the silver contained in large seams deep below the surface.

The views across the desert were amazing and the relics around the mine made for some great pics! Annette and Ashleigh were bent on finding some silver!!

We all donned hard hats for our underground tour. The mine was fascinating- down steep narrow passages lined with rock still glistening with mineral deposits and roofs and sides held up with piles of rock and tree trunks.

Gordie felt the need to still wear his sunglasses underground, Kerry was fascinated by the deep passages and Annette’s shoes were glowing in the dark!!

After the tour we headed back to the homestead for some homemade scones and coffee – fantastic light and fluffy scones!!

We were then on our way back along the long and winding dirtroad to the Living Desert and Sculptures.

The groups of sculptures were created in 1993 by a group of artists from all over the world. The sandstone blocks were brought in and hauled up the hill. The artists then carved the sculptures on location.

Those of us who appreciate art enjoyed the pieces while others were less impressed!!

The view across to Broken Hill was spectacular.

Trev put up the drone for a quick landscape view and some pics….

We then walked the track through the Living Desert and saw some “natural” sculptures and fascinating desert vegetation….

Dave by this time was back at the campground recovering from surgery to remove the offending tooth and well dosed up on painkillers – Branch was no where in sight which was a first….

We picked Rosie up and went back into town for coffee and to see the Big Picture – unfortunately the gallery where the Big Picture was located had just closed….so all we saw was a small picture of the Big Picture through the window.

Back to camp for happy hour…but first Macgyver and Trafman with Branch’s assistance tackled the Wells cable issue and after much fiddling around finally succeeded in fixing the issue.

Happy hour in the dark and cold was still fun – Branch comforted Dave after his dental ordeal…….

while we all tried to keep warm – thanks for the UGG boot tip Klaus – some of us got the memo!

Annette looked by far the cosiest in her puffer jacket! Last night in Broken Hill – Parachilna here we come…