Sunrise over the racetrack at Broken Hill was a great way to start the day.

We fuelled up and left early aiming for Peterborough for a late morning coffee. Branch had decided to assist Trevor with his CB radio which was playing up – crackly and not always connecting…until a voice came over channel 5 asking us all to get off as we were interfering….moving to channel 7 seemed to improve the issue but it wasn’t long before the CB was playing up again…must be something to do with a small aerial – anyway MacGyver and Branch will sort it out at some point – intermittent communication is better than none and can sometimes spare you from inappropriate communications such as musical items selected by “friends” hahaha…..

The drive along the Barrier Highway was uneventful with desert and saltbush for miles – it was hard to believe that the miners from Burra walked all the way to Silverton with all their belongings in wheelbarrows through this arid area– incredible perseverance and tenacity…. Crossing the border we entered South Australia.

We stopped for coffee at the Take a Break Café in Peterborough – a very “unusual” café with home baked goods made by the owner’s mother. It turned out to be more than just a “new agey” place and Gordie left some reading materials in their book display for them including a couple of Bibles and “The Search” – you never know who may benefit from picking one up – God works in mysterious ways!! After a short prayer for the owner we left and continued our journey.

Travelling north from Peterborough the wind picked up and so did the fuel consumption!! A brief stop at Hawker for lunch in the vans out of the gale and fuel we continued on toward Parachilna our destination for the night.

Now heading past the Flinders Ranges the countryside was a bit greener with many ruined homesteads and buildings reminiscent of the pioneer life in early Australia dotting the fields along the highway.

The magnificent Wilpena Pound made for a great backdrop for photos.

We arrived in Parachilna just in time to set up the vans and catch the beautiful sunset before dining at the Prairie Hotel – famous for it’s “Feral Menu” including Kangaroo, camel, goat, emu and various other unusual delicacies.

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…

After a night of rain we planned to leave at 0700…as we were packing up a bloke camping near us wished us luck getting out as the ground was so boggy and slippery. However he obviously had no idea as we all engaged 4WD and got out without any issue (surprising considering the track record of issues so far!!)

Aiming for Broken Hill by 430 we drove to Cobar for coffee….

And as usual it appeared we would not make our destination before dark as the guys were stopped talking to a local about a log splitter Glen was keen on.

Glen also had a stop outside the local police station/ courthouse ?? unsure what was going on there!!

Between Cobar and Wilcannnia the drive was long and straight….

We stopped at a roadhouse for a stretch and Branch just had to check on Glen’s Hilux as he had to keep doing a “DPF” regeneration…. Seems Hiluxes are not “unbreakable”!

Then on to Wilcannia for lunch…actually just petrol as the town is still a bit dodgy…so we stopped at the next rest area after WIlcannnia which had great views over the Darling floodplain.

MacGyver and Trafman61 decided to have another look at Dave’s 12 pin plug…Branch could not resist! It may be able to be repaired without an auto electrician as all auto electricians in Broken Hill were completely full much to Dave’s dismay.

The rain had stopped but it was still overcast – the area still looked dry and barren with many dead trees as evidence of extended drought. Trev gave the drone a quick test run.

On to Broken Hill – we arrived at 4 PM thanks to the half hour time difference… and set up at the Broken Hill Regional Events and Racecourse – lucky we booked as it was completely full!! Sunset reflecting on the distant hills over the racecourse was beautiful!

The day had finally arrived and the excitement was palpable! Let Wild Adventure 2 begin!! We aimed to leave at 0700hrs at Holsworthy…..so told everyone to be there at 0630… Gordon and Kerry took pole position at 0635 followed by us at 0640. Rose and Dave nailed it at 0700hrs….but the Hackies dropped the ball due to an all-nighter cake effort by Annette.  The morning was misty and cool adding to the excitement.

It was all good until Branch showed up in the Wells vehicle with their rear camera showing “no signal”….MacGyver Loveday found the issue – no surprises…a loose cable.

After a couple of group shots and a Gordie toilet stop we were on our way.

First stop the Hydro Majestic for coffee. The view down the Megalong Valley was spectacular with low cloud filling the valley.

On to Wellington for lunch aiming to get to our free camp at Nyngan Weir by 430 so we could set up in daylight. We arrived at Wellington…. Ostensibly to eat a quick lunch and continue on.. but nothing is always as it seems. There was some heat coming from the Wells rear end …something that is meant to keep things cool was getting very hot! The fridge now seemed not to be working even on gas! Branch hopped out for a sneaky look as he was concerned if detected he may get flung into the fountain nearby! It appeared that the 12 pin connecter into the car had heated up and affected the fridge which was now not working. After a few frantic attempts at sorting out the cause the decision was made to eat lunch, turn on all our portable fridges to enable rescue of the Wells supplies and push on to Nyngan free camp hoping that when we get to Broken Hill on Monday afternoon an autoelectrician could be sourced to fix the issue.

As we drove on to Nyngan thunderclouds appeared on the horizon… despite the fact that NSW is in drought and the landscape was very dry and barren… it began to rain!! We arrived at the free camp location at Nyngan – what an awesome spot! Right by the river with plenty of room so we set up and enjoyed happy hour.

Surprisingly the Wells fridge had kicked back into life but disaster is never far away. Right from the “get go” (or was that “gecko” Rosie??) there was action in the camp…..Gordie lit up his barbeque…literally and flames shot up right next to the caravan. Quick thinking Kerry raced around to turn off the gas…Branch did not even appear as it was all over in an instant… Gordie did remind us at that moment of Russell Coight.

Gordie’s fire addiction was somewhat satisfied as we sat around the fire after dinner once the rain had eased… it doesn’t get much better than this!