Broken Hill is in the far west of New South Wales, is in the Central Timezone and is closer to Adelaide than it is to Sydney. Much of the architecture is typically South Australian.
We were here just under 2 years ago for a few days and merely scratched the surface of this fascinating city. There's heaps to see and much to do in this place which was built on some of the world's richest mineral deposits.
About 25 km from Broken Hill is the ghost town of Silverton. On our way we stopped off to tour the Daydream Mine. This mine operated 100 years ago, predominantly with cornish miners. They certainly has a hard life with many dying around age 40. The limiting factor to mining in the area was the lack of water. The mines were rich, but water had to be transported in for both the workers and mining operations. We donned hard hats and mining lights for the underground tour. In its day, Daydream was quite a thriving community. Once back above ground we had coffee and fresh scones at the cafe.
After our morning tea we drove to the Mundi Mundi Plains lookout. Last time we were here we had a flat tyre as we pulled into the parking area, and the plains were very brown. This time there was plenty of green around - and no flat tyre. The plains have been used as the location for many movies, notably the Mad Max movies and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Then it was on to the Umberumberka Reservoir, which is the backup water supply for Broken Hill. This is a popular bbq spot.
Back to Silverton, we checked out a couple of galleries with their distinctive desert paintings. The Mad Max vehicles have moved from the area next to the historic pub and we found some of them further up the hill. At its most active, Silverton had a population of over 3,000.
At sunset we joined the many tourists at the Desert Sculptures in the Living Desert National Park to take photos. The sunset was a bit of a fizzier though because there were no clouds. The sculptures are the result of a symposium in 1993 when international and Australian sculptors lived at the site and created the sculptures. They looked great as the sun shone golden on the sandstone.
Our neighbour in the caravan park was back the next night for a better sunset and also managed to get some photos of Sturt Desert Peas, South Australia's state flower.
Our last day in Broken Hill we did our civic duty and voted in the upcoming federal election. This is out last opportunity to vote as we are "going bush" again tomorrow. Then it was off to the Information Centre to pick up a booklet on the Heritage Trail - a 40km drive around the city. We had good intentions, but only managed to see about 29 of the 220+ attractions.
We lunched at the Miners Monument cafe, on top of the Line of Lode, looking at the view over the city. The Monument is a memorial to the hundreds of miners who have died as a result of their mining activities; some through accidents and others through diseases.
We've been able to sample some good food while here. We celebrated our wedding anniversary with dinner at The Astra restaurant, and were back there the next night for dinner with Robert's cousin. And we had milkshakes Bells Milk Bar where we stepped back into the 1950s.
We spent most of the afternoon at the Historic Synagogue, which houses the Historical Society, and learned about the jewish history of the area. We also saw the Titanic Exhibition with it memorabilia of the fateful voyage.
Broken Hill is a city of galleries and we had hoped to visit the Pro Hart Gallery this time. Unfortunately we've just run out of time. At least we have an excuse to come back again. Not all artworks are in galleries though. The striking train murals at the station were commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of Rotary in 2004.
Lake Mungo is about 110km northeast of Mildura in the Wilandra Lakes World Heritage Area. It took us a couple of hours to get to the Main Camp - slow going with about 90km on dirt road. Lake Mungo is just one of about 13 lakes in the Willandra Creek system. It has been the site of human habitation for at least 50,000 years. In 1968, the cremated remains of Mungo Lady were found. These were dated to about 50,000 years old. A few years later Mungo Man was found. At about 45,000 years, his is the oldest recorded ritual burial in the world! Mungo Man and Mungo Lady would have shared the area with megafauna - giant marsupials - and abundant fish in the lakes. This is truly an ancient site and has a very spiritual feel about it.
The Visitor Centre has a very good interpretive display with videos illustrating the discoveries and subsequent scientific research. There are also skeletons of a bettong and hairy nosed wombat, both now extinct in this area, and a display relating to the pastoral history of the area. Outside the centre is a recreation of the "trackway". These footprints are of an ancient group of people including a one-legged man and children walking in he area. The footprints have been used to determine the build and size of the people who made them - they were much taller than us. A sculpture tells the story of the area and its people. The lake is about 11km across and 35km around and it dried up about 17,000 years ago. It was fed by overflow from Lake Leaghur which, like the other lakes in the system, is also dry.
As well as the indigenous history of the area there are remnants of the pastoral history with woolsheds at both Mungo and Zanci.
We signed up for the Discovery Tour with an indigenous ranger, Robert, and drove across the lake in convoy to begin our tour. Being with a ranger we would be able to walk on the lunette, the dunes known as the Walls of China on the eastern side of the lake, and would have the benefit of Robert's excellent knowledge and connection with the area. We saw the layers of sand and clay dating back to 100,000+years ago - red, yellow and white - which have provided a starting point for dating the ancient finds in the area. The lunette is so named due to its shape - a crescent moon - and was formed by sand dunes which have been covered by clays and more sand. The sand dunes are marching eastwards at a rate of about 3 metres each year.
We saw 50,000 year old fireplaces and also an animal skeleton in situ. Our 2 hours walking on the lunette was a spiritual experience and we could almost feel the ancestors from so long ago.
In the evening we drove back to see the lunette at sunset - amazing! We drove back carefully to avoid hitting any of the hundreds of kangaroos we saw. During the day we it was emus we had to avoid.
The next day we set off on the self-drive tour. The tour starts at the visitor centre and took us over the lake and around the lunette. We passed through the scrubby saltbush of the lake and into mallee country. We stopped off at the lookouts and short walks along the way. The undergrowth changed from saltbush, to spinifex (porcupine bush) with its needle sharp rolled leaves, to yellow and white daisies. Sometimes the ground took on a bluish tinge where there were low bluebell like flowers.
The Goat Trap has been set up to trap some of the many feral goats using the one thing they crave in the area - water. The goats enter the chute to get to the water in the dam where they are trapped until they are collected by the local tribes and sold.
We stopped at Vigars Well which is a waterhole which was used by Cobb & Co coaches and other travellers as a watering place. While there we walked up the eastern side of the nearby sand dunes.
A few kms from the end of the drive we called in to Zanci Station which was used by the pastoralists as a day area. A dugout was used as a shelter from the heat of the day.
About 70km and 3 hours later we were back at our campsite. There are a couple of excellent campsites in the National Park - we stayed at Main Camp near the entrance, and we shared it with several kangaroos. Wildlife is abundant. We saw bearded dragons, stumpy tail lizards, red and eastern grey kangaroos and emus.
There's plenty of information available on Lake Mungo in the visitors centre at Mildura and the ranger station at Buronga. There's no phone, WiFi or TV once you arrive there. One thing we found out about once we got there is a digital guidebook available from www.visitmungo.com.au. We wish we'd known about it to take with us. We've got it now so we can relive this ancient and spiritual place.
We were here just under 2 years ago for a few days and merely scratched the surface of this fascinating city. There's heaps to see and much to do in this place which was built on some of the world's richest mineral deposits. 
About 25 km from Broken Hill is the ghost town of Silverton. On our way we stopped off to tour the Daydream Mine. This mine operated 100 years ago, predominantly with cornish miners. They certainly has a hard life with many dying around age 40. The limiting factor to mining in the area was the lack of water. The mines were rich, but water had to be transported in for both the workers and mining operations. We donned hard hats and mining lights for the underground tour. In its day, Daydream was quite a thriving community. Once back above ground we had coffee and fresh scones at the cafe.
After our morning tea we drove to the Mundi Mundi Plains lookout. Last time we were here we had a flat tyre as we pulled into the parking area, and the plains were very brown. This time there was plenty of green around - and no flat tyre. The plains have been used as the location for many movies, notably the Mad Max movies and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Then it was on to the Umberumberka Reservoir, which is the backup water supply for Broken Hill. This is a popular bbq spot.
Back to Silverton, we checked out a couple of galleries with their distinctive desert paintings. The Mad Max vehicles have moved from the area next to the historic pub and we found some of them further up the hill. At its most active, Silverton had a population of over 3,000.
We lunched at the Miners Monument cafe, on top of the Line of Lode, looking at the view over the city. The Monument is a memorial to the hundreds of miners who have died as a result of their mining activities; some through accidents and others through diseases. 
Broken Hill is a city of galleries and we had hoped to visit the Pro Hart Gallery this time. Unfortunately we've just run out of time. At least we have an excuse to come back again. Not all artworks are in galleries though. The striking train murals at the station were commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of Rotary in 2004.
