Broken Hill – Day 2

We had two surprises his morning.

• Firstly, we had hoped that by travelling some 300 km North from Buronga/Mildura that the temperature would get a bit warmer.  Unfortunately it was cold and very foggy here early this morning but by 9 am, the sun was out and there was the promise of a nice day coming up.  Despite clear blue skies and a few puffy white clouds, it only got to about 15 degrees.
• Second surprise was that I woke with a very swollen ear and a big swelling down the side of my face (the same side of face that was affected by the shingles).  Change of plans.  We spent the morning at Broken Hill Base Hospital.  No one knows what has happened but I have tablets to take and they asked me to come back on Wednesday. Bugger!  Anywhere but here (the walls are plastered with signs about Hep-C and bottles of hand-wash are all over the place).  They were good at the hospital but even while we were there, there was a violent incident with a couple of young guys, one of whom put their fist through the wall!

Broken Hill Base Hospital

While I was waiting in Emergency Ann had a bit of a wander around the hospital and was very impressed by some quilts on display.

Broken Hill Base Hospital Display Quilts

Ann extended our booking here and we will just have to cross our fingers and hope that my problem goes away in the next few days.

After sitting around in the hospital waiting rooms for hours we needed to get outside and walk, so mid-afternoon we went to The Broken Hill Sculptures and Living Desert Sanctuary.  It is an interesting place and you get a fantastic view of the Broken Hill region from the lookout.

Broken Hill Desert Living Sculpture

They really don’t want you to use this entrance!

Our gorgeous grand-daughter Alex asked Ann why Broken Hill was called “Broken Hill” so we made it our business to find out.  Well, in 1844, the explorer Charles Sturt saw and named the Barrier Range, and at the time referred to a ‘broken hill” in his diary. The ‘broken hill’ that Sturt referred to in his diary actually comprised a number of hills that appeared to have a break in them. The ‘broken hill’ no longer exists as Silver was discovered in the hills in 1883 by a boundary rider called Charles Rasp and since then the hills have been mined away.  Good question Alex!