Silverton – Travel Australia

238kms @ 16.2 litres/100kms

Nearly 30 years ago, Jan and I got snowed in at a little place high in the Rocky Mountains called Silverton during American Thanksgiving. The town conjures beautiful memories of log fires, delicious game food, and being taught the finer points of American football in the snow by the locals. 39 dips away from Broken Hill, an Australian town called Silverton was once a thriving mining town in the late 19^th century. The 39 dips refer to the number of road dips you experience between Broken Hill and Silverton. We just had to visit the Australian Silverton to compare, and we weren’t disappointed.

Silverton, NSW today has a population of 72, the majority being quirky artists. There’s a classic pub, a café with great outback meals (we tried quandong pie), a Mad Max 2 Museum, and a number of interesting galleries, donkeys and VW beetles.

John Dynon is a renowned local artist who has been living in Silverton for 42 years. When we arrived, he was working on one of his signature dunny paintings, which he had been commissioned to do for John Platten, retired well-known AFL Hawthorn footballer. He explained that he had painted these dunny paintings for many celebrities, and plastered on his wall were photos of him meeting famous people, including Fergie, ex-Duchess and Queen Mary of Denmark.

We also visited the Horizon Gallery, where we met Albert Woodroffe, a plasterer turned artist who had been in Silverton over 12 years. Albert had some great stories to tell, and we established that we had a common connection with the Pilbara and the road trips. Albert’s paintings and gallery were also highly sought after, and he described how different high-profile identities have turned up incognito, blending into the outback life.

Silverton – a must-visit if you are in the NSW outback.

We hit the road for a couple hours and set up camp at Nackara East Rest Area on the Barrier Highway, close to the South Australian border.

Silverton Dynon Spring Water — John Dynon’s Spring Water

Silverton Beyond 39 Dips Gallery — Beyond 39 Dips Gallery

Albert's Art Gallery — Albert’s Horizon Art Gallery

592 kms @ 15.7 litres/100kms

Driving along the Barrier Highway was very interesting with its diverse scenic landscapes. We spotted another solitary walker, a number of massive road trains hurtled past us, and hundreds of feral goats grazed roadside. The goats can be real pests to graziers due to the damage they cause with their hard hooves. We have heard, however, that some graziers are herding the goats and then selling them for a decent profit, so some good can come out of a nuisance animal that has been too difficult to eradicate.

Up to this point, our caravan Dora the Explorer has been quite resilient, given I inadvertently side-swiped her on a fence in Prairie and a few of the rougher tracks we have pulled her through. Today, Dora had her first real mishap when her side window nearly blew away as we were travelling at around 100kph down the Barrier Highway. Fortunately Jan was at the wheel and noticed the loose window flapping pretty quickly and pulled over at the conveniently located Topar Hotel to investigate. Before I even had a chance to assess the situation, a Good Samaritan with a horse came over and worked out what the problem was. Now, I thought I had brought along a pretty comprehensive tool kit to fix the most common repairs. Not so. Dora’s window was ripped off its hinges, and I was in need of a rivet gun. In a flash, he went back to his horse trailer, locked his horse in, returned with the necessary tool in question, and the miscreant window was soon secured. I consider myself reasonably handy (I’d probably rate myself around a 6 out of 10 in handiness), but this guy was the Donald Bradman of handymen. Who would have thought that in the middle of the NSW outback, this bloke happens to be exercising his horse at the time we pull up, AND have the technical know-how AND the right tool to fix up what could have been a very tricky issue for us? Actually, in most places whilst traveling, we have found that people are very keen to help out. The great Aussie spirit is truly alive and well out bush! We were very grateful and wanted to thank our knight in shining armour with a bottle of wine, but he would have none of that. He just waved his hand in the air and headed back on the road into the sunset with his horses and family.

We drove through the NSW outback mining town of Cobar (copper) and then into Broken Hill (silver, zinc and lead). Full of well-preserved character buildings built around the end of the 19^th century, Broken Hill has much character with wide streets and pubs on most corners. The wide streets made it easier for bullock trains to turn around, and the pubs were for the thirsty miners. It reminded both Jan and me very much of Kalgoorlie, where we lived 30 years ago. Broken Hill Propriety Company Limited (BHP) was first established here way back in the 1880’s and interestingly the company is still going strong today as BHP Billiton. We were told by a couple of proud locals of Broken Hill’s other claim to fame – that a number of films have been shot in and around Broken Hill, including Priscilla Queen of the Desert (the Palace Hotel stands regally on the main street), Mad Max 2 (filmed in nearby Silverton), A Town Like Alice, Razorback, Scorpio and In Pursuit of Honour. The public art and numerous plaques of interesting facts adorning the streets, as well as the number of art galleries in town created real interest in Broken Hill, so we booked Dora into the Caravan Park so we could explore more the following day.

TOP TIP: Make sure you include a rivet gun and a range of rivets in your tool kit.