This is the longest stretch of this years holiday: 750 kms in one day. Simply because there is (hardly) anything interesting inbetween these towns. This is outback New South Wales. For many people Broken Hill would be a town to skip, but if you do a proper research you soon discover there is lots to see here. We will stay here three days.
Broken Hill is the far outpost of New South Wales, 1,150 kms from Sydney, and ‘only’ 500 kms from Adelaide. When the town asked the New South Wales government in the 19th century to be connected to power and infrastructure, the government refused by saying that “Broken Hill was only a pinprick on the map”. The people of Broken Hill were enraged by this and wanted to be part of South Australia. Soon after, silver was found in the area, and Broken Hill got all the facilities, but had to remain part of New South Wales. Meanwhile Broken Hill council had chosen to be on the same timezone as South Australia (30 mins earlier than Sydney), and adopted the South Australian telephone area code (08). They still have.
Dubbo Courthouse
Helicopter in Nyngan, commemorating the airlift of all 1,975 (!) inhabitants of the town during the 1990 floods when the Bogan River swallowed the full town (except the railway station) after heavy rains.
Distances from Nyngan
Still in New South Wales, but a different timezone that starts just before entering Broken Hill
And this summarises the other 749 kms from Dubbo to Broken Hill. It’s a long way there, you won’t see many cars, and if you see one you start waving. Love that about Australia, so charming. I can’t imagine that happening in 21st century Europe, maybe in the far north of Scandinavia ?
Click on the photos to see them enlarged !
grappig dat deden wij vroeger in europa als wij op vakantie gingen, zwaaien als we nederanders zagan