Day 2 – Spring Hill to Peterborough with Broken Hill & Silverton

Boys at Broken Hill Visitor Centre 

Today started with a fantastic sunrise, we had a relaxed morning and enjoyed chatting to the other campers at the rest area – mostly grey nomads and all heading off in different directions, the couple next door had a few mechanical issues so we assured them we’d be coming through behind if they didn’t make it to Broken Hill.

Not long out of camp and Bob the Emu and his 2 mates decided to cross in front of us, we’ve been pretty wary of the Emu’s as they are so scatty and like to run across and then back again but Bob the Emu decided to cross, cross back and then stop in our lane – right in the middle of our lane – seems to be a theme in the first hour of our trip that some form of wildlife tries to stop us in our tracks.

We only had an hour & half in the car and we pulled into Broken Hill.

The Visitor Information Centre was a good first stop and we soon found out that the main lookout over the town and mine was only available  to people on an organised tour, which unfortunately for us had left half an hour earlier.











Mum had said we’d feel right at home as it’s very similar to Kalgoorlie and that it is!  Big slag heap on the edge of town, ornate buildings hinting at fortunes of yesteryear and a pub on every corner.

After a drive around Broken Hill and fuelling up we decided to head to Silverton and check out the ghost 

town, quirky galleries and Mad Max Museum.

The boys loved Silverton, especially Declan who spent his whole time scurrying around looking for quartz, no one will be surprised that he spent a lot of time on the ground (shock horror – Dec on the ground - think soccer games, camping trips, Star Struck!).

We wandered around the Goal, old Municipal buildings, art gallery, ruins, old train station then up the hill to the Mad Max Museum – once again the sight-seeing gods weren’t smiling and we noticed the sign saying CASH ONLY.

So we saved ourselves some cash,  took a few pictures outside and then headed down the dirt road to the Historic Silverton Hotel for a drink and lunch. 

Mitch was happy to have the McLeod name featured on the menu at the pub!

I can imagine the Silverton Hotel filling up and having some wild wild nights, there is a huge stage out the back with an old Bedford truck either side holding it up, the bar staff were all back packers and even on a winters day almost every table in the beer garden was full.

We are now in State number 2 of the trip - SA

We hit the road again after lunch heading for Peterborough, we drove along through the low scrub and red dirt stretching on seemingly forever, then about an hour from Peterborough we went over a rise and all of a sudden there was a bit of grass on the ground, gum trees peppered around and the barren outback seemed to have disappeared.

Closer in to Peterborough it greened up even more and there were crops growing, the change in terrain was incredible in the space of 3 hours.

Peterborough Caravan Park is home for the night, super clean and tidy, dirt sites that are wide and views off to the fields and hills in the distance, a bonus for the boys is that it’s right next door to a beautiful park and great playground so they got to head there while we set up this afternoon.  Even bigger bonus was that when I checked us in the man at the desk said 2 adults?  I said no 2 adults and 2 kids and when I said their age he said oh don’t worry about paying for them – so $30 for a powered site is pretty great!

We are pleased we got a powered site and we aren’t free camping again as the overnight temp is going to be -4, the little fan heater we bought is buzzing away and I think it will stay that way overnight. 

Happy Campers with the playground next door!