The weather was very ‘average’ in the Clare Valley and we had done/seen all we had planned. We pivoted, changing our plans again, and headed for the Flinders Ranges, famous for rock formations and Wilpena Pound.

Initially mistakenly thought to be a meteorite crater due to it’s huge circular shape, Wilpena Pound is actually a natural formation caused by geographical folding and uplift during earthquake activity resulting in the resemblance of a ‘pound’ (another name for an area used to keep animals contained) hence the name Wilpena Pound. The National Park has some great 4WD tracks which get you to amazing walks and exploration of the gorges and unusual rock formations, all unfortunately not accessible to us due to rainfall and road closures.

We had booked in to the National Park for 3 nights. Yet again the weather gods were against us. Rainfall in the surrounding catchment had caused flooding of such proportions that all the unsealed roads and tracks were closed – some with 2 metre washaways. With no prospect of being able to access any of the sights for the next 10 days we decided to cut our losses and head to Broken Hill.

Broken Hill was a great chance for us to give VanGo a spring clean, getting ready for our return home. The town itself was very quiet with holiday makers having already left for cooler climates and the caravan parks very empty. We went to visit some of Broken Hill’s iconic ‘must see’ tourist sights – Bells Ice Cream Parlour, a drink at the Palace Hotel (where the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert’ was set) and the Miner’s Memorial perched high on the hill overlooking the mining operations and the town. Unfortunately the Pro Hart gallery was closed as were several other attractions – this town is very quiet on Sunday/Monday. Oh well, maybe we’ll have to come back someday!

No trip to Broken Hill is complete without a side trip to nearby Silverton (34km) which in 1880 was the area’s largest township offering a central, flat position, good water supply and was established to service the nearby mine and prospectors flocking to the area. With the discovery of the Silver, Lead and Zinc deposits in Broken Hill, which subsequently proved to be the largest in the world, Silverton’s mining declined and the town like so many other mining towns became deserted. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) was formed in the De Baun’s Hotel, the current site of Silverton Hotel, in 1885. No trip to Silverton is complete without a visit to the Mad Max museum (filmed here in the outback) and pictured below. The BIG skies, amazing colours and interesting old buildings have led to this outback area’s popularity with the film industry.

Once you start to realise you are within a week of returning home it’s hard to focus on being a tourist and with so much bad weather around we said an early goodbye to Broken Hill and headed for home (only another 1,500 km to go……….. )