What a pleasant surprise the camping area at the race course is, very clean, modern amenities and close to town, added bonus is the caretaker Shane, a real happy go lucky type of bloke. Staying for another 2 days now. Full moon rising was very relaxing way to wait while dinner cooked.
For a regional town in a remote area, Broken Hill is well worth spending some time exploring, it has a wealth of history, art galleries as well as the well known bush artists private galleries.
The Big Picture Art Gallery with a 100mtr long mural of the surrounding area combined with a desert landscape incorporated, done by bush artist Peter Anderson, over 9 tons of paint and 2 years to complete, it also incorporates a silver smith and chocolate factory - some free samples !
We met Jack Absalom this afternoon, spent some time in his gallery and fantastic collection of Opals, some displayed and some for sale, the quality was up there, just like his art, I loved the way he uses the raw oil paint to get physical texture into rocks, bark etc, gave me a new appreciation of his skill.
I just wish I had $20,000 to spare to put an original on my wall !
Went to Pro Hart Gallery but it didn't float the boat for us, each to their own I guess.
Kath wanted to see the Big Bench at the lookout east of town, Oh gee let me sit on it she says, I had a good chuckle watching her trying to climb up there, managed it on the 4th attempt with the aid of a strategicly placed rock ! It will be a place to visit on sunset when there are a few clouds around, I should be able to get some unreal photo's.
There is also a monument to all miners who were killed whilst working here, the wall of honour has their names, ages and cause of death, some were as young as 12 yrs, rock falls, drownings, electrocutions, lead poisoning, explosions, crushed and the list goes on, a very tragic reminder of mineing history, work place safety we take for granted today is a result of these poor buggers who lost their lives. Also the flags flown at the Union House, red if a miner was seriously injured and black if some poor soul had lost their life at work. Hence the use of red with the ALP, it signifies the blood lost by a Union worker, learn something new every day.
We explored the park opposite the I centre with the old head gear and memorial to all Miners, it is appropriately an ant as they work co-operatively to achieve their goal.
Out and about exploring tomorrow, update to come.
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