We felt the trip would not be complete without a trip to the historic town of Menindee which is on the Darling River and about 110 km from Broken Hill.
The terrain was a little different with more small trees and more stock grazing on the land.
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| Blue skies over stunning land |
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| Ever changing landscape |
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| Amazing flowers and sheep...no fences out here |
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| Pipeline with drinking water from Menindee to Broken Hill |
We saw lots of wildlife and many
domestic animals like sheep, cattle and goats.
I actually saw kangaroos fighting
today, they were in a group of about 8 animals. We almost ran over a
few stumpy tail lizards and saw some bearded dragons. Lots of Emus
are along the roads in small groups or alone and can be seen about
every 5 km which makes me think they are territorial.
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| Slow moving Stumpy Tail Lizard |
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| Emu |
We had a picnic lunch beside a very
muddy Darling River which is affected by flood waters from
Queensland.
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| River looks like milk...very muddy |
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| Authentic Aboriginal art |
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| Carvings and instruments |
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It turns out that Menindee Lake is
empty and we are not sure why except that people are not happy about
what has happened and they have been protesting. There are lots of
white crosses along the roads, these are a part of the protest.
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| That is Lake Menindee Cattle grazing there. |
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| Lake Copi Hollow A man made lake for recreation |
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| It's a protest! |
Bourke & Wills are a big part of
this little towns history as Menindee was the very last European
settlement they visited before their fateful journey north. They
stayed at the hotel, their camp was nearby. Their intention was to
return, some of their party did, unfortunately neither Bourke or
Wills did.
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| This is outside the spot where the hotel they stayed was back in the day |
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| Lovely park entrance |
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| Grave of Dost Mahomet who was part of the Bourke & Wills expedition. He died back in Menindee and is buried at the place he prayed. |
We came back into Broken Hill in time
to revisit the cemetery, unfortunately no one was there to assist us
so we spent a few minutes saying goodbye to our family, leaving wild flowers
with our memories.
History is being made right now, mining still goes on in Broken Hill and the mining industry is alive and well, this is the richest source of silver, lead and zinc in the world.
Our ancestors who are a part of this history were there at the beginning and we are proud of them.
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| An amazing train that goes into the underground mines |
I'm sure leaving Broken Hill tomorrow
will be emotional for us but we are so glad we came and really feel
as if we are a part of this place.
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