Posts Tagged With: broken hill

The weather was pretty miserable all day today.  No actual rain, but just dull grey, windy and very cold.

I started my day by going back the hospital for a follow-up visit.  Although I had only been on the tablets for 2 days, the doctor was pleased with the extent to which the swelling had gone down.  He said to complete the original prescription and to get the repeat filled to have on hand just in case.  Very practical doctor.

Meanwhile Ann stayed back in the caravan doing some book-work.  When I got back we spent a bit of time trying to sort out an issue with my credit card.   I was embarrassed when my card was declined.  A call to the bank today revealed that my card had in fact been blocked due to a suspected fraudulent transaction, but no-one had told me.  So a new card has been issued which I will receive in due course.  Not a fun way to spend an hour or two I can assure you!  And it was all on the mobile from Broken Hill!

After a quick lunch in the caravan, we had a look at the Pro Hart gallery.  Parked out the front are several of his Bentleys and Rolls Royces, including the famous painted Rolls.

The approach to the Pro Hart gallery

Painted Bentley by Pro Hart

Then we drove to the BHP Miners Memorial.  This is a huge steel structure built as a memorial to the 816 workers who have died in the BHP mines since 1883.  Names are listed by year, and include the name, age, and cause of death.  The youngest we say was aged 12 and the oldest was 78.  Causes of death were quite horrific and included death in explosions, suffocation, buried in pits, and so on.  The last death recorded was in 2007, which is actually since we were last here.  It is a very sober reminder about industrial safety.

Miners’ Memorial

Floral tribute to each fallen miner

Old mine near Memorial

Broken Hill sure ain’t flat

We then dropped into the supermarket for fresh supplies and drinking water and then back to the caravan to hitch up and prepare for our departure tomorrow.

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!