Nsw home

May 2018 Brodie’s next 15,000 klm

On th e road again

Blog page at issuu.com/janandkeithtravels

Silverton Broken Hill was a bit pricy so we stayed at Penrose Park in Silverton, (bottom right) the park used to be the recreational centre of Broken Hill with families picnicking and camping. There was a train ride, tennis courts all forms of camping and BBQ areas, sadly it has become rundown but still suitable as a low cost overnighter for us.

Once setup we jumped on the bikes and took in the sights of the town, including trying out the chips at Silverton Pub. The barmaid who served me had to be the grumpiest person I have met this trip...worse than Jan when I’ve done the wrong thing .... but the chips were OK. It seems everywhere we go there are catpaws or double gs (three cornered thorns) spread all over the ground, I had “thorn proof” tubes fitted to the bikes but they are not good enough for these things, I’m getting sick of fixing punctures.

n at sunset

A Mad Max II prop

outside the pub

A ride arou Just about every building in the town is worth a photo but then we would have a whole magazine just on Silverton, but we will be back

und Silverton

A quick visit so we could fill up with Maccas, fuel and water and then off to White Cliffs .... Just enough time for a few pics. One in the main street and the rest from the top of the in town mine at the Miners Memorial, established to remember the men killed in the mines

Broken

n Hill

White

Cliffs

White Cliffs exists for opals.

It seems far less sophisticated than it’s bigger cousins , Coober Pedy and Lightning Ridge, and there lies its charm. There are over 80000 shafts and mullock heaps littering the very small area.

We tried our luck with a UV torch, the opal supposedly glows when lit, unfortunately our attention span failed before the torch battery and we didn’t score ... maybe next time.

Just a few of the shafts

The ďŹ rst Solar Power Station built in Australia

Heading Home After leaving White Cliffs we were virtually finished touring and heading towards Port Macquarie for some warranty work.

Our first o/night was at Cobar, the comments on Wikicamps led us to believe the council had closed all the close in free camps but the RSL club had opened one.

When we found the RSL, the free camp was just a gravel car park right in town, unfortunately they also had there rubbish bins there (they stank) but with a bit of wind and it being late we decided to put up with it along with another caravan. You feel a bit obligated to patronise the club but with a couple of drinks, a mediocre meal (very) and a flutter on the pokies we went to bed $84 lighter. The caravan park would have been much cheaper and without the airconditioning plant running every 17 minutes.

Cobar was a nice town to visit and a tour of the weather station was on offer, but not the day we were there .. something for another trip. When we left the next morning, just over the hill on the outskirts, there was a very nice free camp with quite a few vans in it ... it would have been a far nicer option.

Gulgong show ground was our next stop (after a few recommendations) it was a little way off the main routes and involved some narrow twisty roads that showed the tyre problem (after the new rear tyres in Adelaide) was still a problem, the motorhome wanted to float all over the road ..not really a pleasant experience.

We arrived at Gulgong and discovered the town was booked out with a Ford hot rod club, and all that was on offer was an unpowered site (just park over there somewhere) with toilets and shower in very poor condition ..lucky we had everything on board. Perhaps the powered section was a lot better we didn’t get to see.

We spent a couple of nights with my sister in Morpeth doing the family stuff and reorganising the storage in the motorhome before spending a night at a nice free camp in Kew before getting to Port Macquarie nice and early for the warranty work and home that night

Cobar where we stayed

Cobar where we should have stayed

Kew free camp

Gulgong show ground

We have reached the end of this trip and it was quite an adventure, We were away 61 days 16 nights in Caravan Parks 8 nights with friends and family 37 nights at free or low cost camps.

34 nights unpowered Travelled 13322 kilometres used 1702 litres of fuel Rode our bicycles 322 klms sightseeing and saw lots of great sites and met some great people.

Our other blogs

issuu.com/janandkeithtravels