Broken Hill 2014 (Fifth Nationals) - The Event

[cobber]

---

Hi all you tourists

I thought we should open a thread specifically to house your reports of the Nationals and your trips to and from them.

If you all use this thread, the event won't be mixed in with all the pre-event discussions etc.

I've already moved posts over from those of you who have already started letting us know what's happening.

Conti   (now back to Cobber)

---

Good on ya tooley 

A nice relaxed journey to the Nationals for us too, spent last night in the Lockhart caravan park after cleaning out the 'Second Hand Shop ' in the Main Street then.......went back this morning to buy something we saw yesterday and decided today we must have 
Roamed up and down the Main Street of 'The Verandah Town'.. and they opened up the 'Greens Gunyah Museum' for us so we could see the caravan they have on display ... actually they have two, a teardrop and an old van used by the council, apart from that she's a top museum, well worth a visit, in fact she's a top little town.



Part of 'The Verandah Town' early in the morning.


Tonight we're here,

Where's this ? ............whoops sorry   wrong thread.


Cobbers.

[2up]

Guess that's one way to cover rust in EK/FBI!

[tooleyau]

Prior to departure I purchased a 1980 Ford fairlane as a tow vehicle, the engine was 25000k old, I replaced the fuel pump, the water pump, had the distributor rebuilt and tuned by experts. I put in a fan assisted transmission cooler and had done some small trips away to test the towing capabilities.

Day 1. Hooked the van up to the car and moved it out onto the driveway, ready for departure. While manoeuvering it I noticed the steering getting harder, and when I lifted the bonnet I noticed a large puddle of steering fluid on the ground. One hour later with the hoses re-clamped we headed off.
We met Ken and Judy and Steff and Susan outside Canberra and headed to Gooloogong where we settled in for the afternoon. Gooloogong is a free camping spot with 8 powered sites and a shower in the mens and womens toilets. There were about 20 vans spread around.

Friends of ours came across from Forbes for afternoon tea.

Anne and I did a walk around town to fill in the time, happy hour then early to bed.

Attachment Deleted

Day 2
Early to rise, very leisurely breakfast, the departed for Forbes. We stopped for fuel, then when driving past the main park we spotted some friends from Canberra who come to Forbes after the NSW Council of Car clubs Easter rally in their 1934 Chrysler Airflow. We recognised the car and then spotted our friends.
An hour later we left Forbes, drove through Parkes and stopped of at the Parkes Radio Telescope for a look-see. We had morning tea then headed towards Narromine where we settled into the caravan park near the airport. Excellent facilities.
We settled in, had a late lunch,and then relaxed until tea time.
Early to bed.

Attachment Deleted

Day 3 Rest day in Narromine.
I got up early and walked the 3 k into town and back, just for the exercise. I stopped in at the golf club to see if I could organise quick round but the pro-shop was closed. So I headed back to the caravan park and found everyone had risen and breakfast was ready.

We had a leisurely morning and Joe and Maureen joined us for a drive into town where we found a nice bakery and had lunch. We then visited Coles for some groceries and the toured the town. There were some nice homes in the back streets.

Late afternoon Ken went down town to see a guy about his CB radio, and we went for fuel, and the eggs that Anne forgot.

Back at the caravan two more vintage vans turned up, and then later that evening, friends of Ken and Judy joined us.
Once again an early night.

Mike and Anne.

[willow5075]

ah if only there was a "like" button ...

[shesgotthelook]

What a fantastic couple of days we had doing the start of the Mexicans tour. So disappointed we cannot join you all for the rest of the trip.
Here's a taste of the first 3 days,

Set up at Wedderburn



Raymars Don







Dave's Roadhaven that looks like it needs a wash







Little outfit I picked up in Inglewood, nobody saw this though




Playing Quoits




Damper on a stick




Raining Tues. so brekkie indoors

[shesgotthelook]

Lined up in Wedderburn







Lined up in Boort




At the spanner mans place.




Kids catching a marlin




No.1 Son getting some inspiration




I'll leave it at that for now. I'm not much of a photographer & KFisher & Mrs Dave will give you a better selection. Thanks for a great few days, enjoy yourselves & all stay safe on the tour.
Cheers, SGTL

[shesgotthelook]

[tooleyau]

50 k from Cobar,

Attachment Deleted

And, of course,


Attachment Deleted

[foxy]

Hi everyone

I'm so envious when I see the great photo's of your trip so far to B/hill,I intended to be with you all but unfortunately my Ford falcon futura became sick so I had to cancel and use the money I had aside for the trip to fix my trusty steed.

Those of you who haven't been to B/hill before are in for a wonderful experience, there is so much to do and see

signing off

A very envious foxy

[redmr2red]

Leaving home in the morning (Friday) early ....... See you all in Mildura soon.

[bobandjacqui]

The Qld and northern NSW crew are in White Cliffs for Anzac Day. Arrived yesterday having travelled down from Warwick....Moree...Lightning Ridge...Bourke.

We have seven vans in convoy at the moment and will be arriving in Broken Hill Saturday morning. We have had a ball along the way. Thanks to Cathie Smiles for organising the trip and caravan sites and places of interest.

Cheers Bob and Jacqui.

[tooleyau]

I know this is not a vintage van, but it does meet someone's needs.


Attachment Deleted

[LaConic]

We are already having so much fun! In Mildura...

[brock]

Good luck and good times to all of you making the trek.
Wish I was there!

[tooleyau]

Day 4. Narromine to Cobar.
This was a long drive, but there were town in between that we visited.
The Cobar caravan park was on the outskirts of town and provided nice facilities.
We checked out the town and found a clothes shop that sold shorts. We had forgotten to pack some as the cold of Canberra had biased out packing.
Day 5 . The long and tedious drive from Cobar to Wilcannia.

Attachment Deleted

We stopped at a roadside camp for a break, then at the servo further down the road.
I would have expected the countryside to be boring, but it was continually changing. Not a lot, but enough to keep the boredom at bay. We saw several emus, a number of dead kangaroos and many goats. Apparently the feral goats roam far and wide.

We did not know what to expect at Wilcania, given the notoriety of the place, but the Warrawong on the Murray caravan park, as detailed in a post above, is excellent. Brand new facilities, almost as good as home.

We booked in for two nights, unhooked the van, and then decided to look at the town. What a disappointment. No shops, two fuel stations, and everything else boarded up.

That evening, the caravan park put on a talk by the local indigenous artist. He took us to some camp sites and explained the history of the place, then showed us some of his paintings. He is talented.

Day 6 Saturday,
We decided a day trip to White Cliffs, the hottest place in Australia was a good idea, so we set out at 9.30 in the rain.

Attachment Deleted

Apparently it rains 3 days a year in White Cliffs. We can now say we were at White Cliffs the day it rained.

A very interesting town, we looked at two opal shops, drove around the town, had coffee, and then came home for a late lunch.

Early to bed as we have an early start tomorrow for the final run into Broken Hill.

[Geoff & Jude]

thanks cobber, mike and anne, bob and jacquie and sgtl for your stories and pics.

we humble souls "back home" are forced to live the nationals vicariously through your posts.

it's almost as if we're there (not) but we do enjoy your narratives.

geoff 'n jude

[brenten]

one more sleep we are leaving in the morning staying over night at robynvale see you monday about lunch time brenten and robyn

[willow5075]

On the way to Broken Hill

Riverton


On the way by Willow5075, on Flickr

Burra


On the way by Willow5075, on Flickr

[tooleyau]

Sunday, our final 200k to Broken Hill.
UP early in anticipation, then waited for the others that we were travelling with to get ready, and as some were slow Ken and I decided to put the lead out.

We left the caravan park, through Wilcannia the headed west. We had an uneventual run, but the landscape changing all the time made it interesting.

200 ks later...

Attachment Deleted

We found the information centre and picked up a few brochures, then drove to the caravan park where most of the Vintage Van group had already set up.

The local car club was also on display, but by the time we parked, set up the annex they had gone. So we just wandered around and renewed old acquaintances.

We went down town for a coffee and found a nice shop on the main street, which was rather quite, but it was a Sunday.

On dusk we drove up to the lookout to see the sunset.

Attachment Deleted

Thus ends the saga of the trip from Canberra to Broken Hill

[tooleyau]

Broken Hill, Monday
Up bright and early and after breakfast we drove out to the airport where we located the Royal flying Doctors Service hanger and office. We entered right on schedule and were shown a very interesting video, then a quick perusal of the hangers and then back to the gift shop. Since the RFDS is paid for by donations we felt that we should do the right thing and spend up big in the gift shop.

We then drove back to the main street, found our favorite coffee shop, where we enjoyed a nice cuppa and watched the world go by. We then had a leisurely walk down the main street looking at the shops.

As lunch time approached we felt like a hamburger so we visited the BELLS milk bar and found two other Fairlanes parked in the front.

Attachment Deleted


The only disappointing thing about the shop was that you could only get milk shakes or soda. The ice cream machine was broken, and they had run out of hot dogs, otherwise the laminex and other stuff was certainly 50's. It's just that I can remember going to the same sort of shop in Forbes in the 50's and 60's and you could get burgers, fish and chips etc.

We had lunch back at the caravan park, then went grocery shopping. We then joined our friends for a drive out to Silverton, and if you go there then the old goal museum is a must.

One of the most interesting thing is an aerial photo of Silverton in the early 1900s and every street is full of houses. If you drive through Silverton with your GPS on then you will see a large number of streets displayed, but if you lookout the window there is just paddock. Apparently, when Broke Hill was being built, many materials from the derelict homes was used.

We then drove out to Murra Murra, a lookout 5k from Silverton and saw the sunset from an excellent lookout.

Attachment Deleted

After a romantic sunset we drove back to the Silverton Pub, which has been featured in many movies and had an excellent feed.

Then back to the caravan for a early night.

[shesgotthelook]

Thanks for keeping us updated Tooley. I love how you can see the curvature of the earth from the Murra M. lookout. When we went to Bells milkbar last year, we bought our lunch at the corner shop & took it back to Bells to eat. They don't really do food unfortunately.

[boots]

Thank you tooleyau for sharing your pic's to us people that so wanted to attend Broken Hill but could not.
Was hoping there would be many a post, ::)Perhaps everyone is having such a good time and busy.

Anyways a big thank you greatly appreciated.
Boots and JBJ.

[humpyboy]

Thanks to those who have kept us up to date with happenings at the Nationals, can only hope for more as people get home.

[tooleyau]

Tuesday,

A lazy day as I did not take any photos.

We got up early so we were at school on time. The school of air is an interesting concept as it allows far flung students access to a quality education and as a person who likes to know how things work, it was very interesting to see this technology in action.

There were no students at school today because it was the first day of term and the interaction was between the teachers and the parents and the teachers were explaining what the term held.

After school we went to the shops and restocked, then had a cup of coffee.

We then drove to the Railway museum, where we got the pensioners discount of $4:00. It was certainly worth the visit.
We then went to the Art gallery and mint, that also included a chocolate factory. We looked at the pictures, brought some trinkets for our daughters, and then spent up big on chocolate.

We then went back to the van for lunch as it started to rain. It was a steady down pour all afternoon. Thank you sikaflex as there were no leaks.

Anne and I can now say that we were in White Cliffs, AND Broken Hill the day it rained.

At 6 we drove to the Palace Hotel where we joined the rest of the crowd for a meal. The menu was extensive, but it took 90 minutes for the meal to be served.

The meal was expensive for a pub meal, and I think they are trading on the fact that Priscilla, Queen of the Desert had some scenes filmed in the pub.

The meal was good, but the Silverton Hotel did the same mean for half the price.

Please note that the comments are a reflection on my part of the experience and are in no way a critisicism of the excellent organisation and the extreme efforts that our forum organisers have made in managing this part of the event. The pub was certainly worth going to for the experiences, as there is some interesting paraphanalia, and some magnificent paintings around the walls. Hint look at the ceiling....

We did not stay for the two-up as I have seen the game before.

We went back to the caravan park where I shared a bourbon with Koala.

[aquamum]

Here are a fews photos

Road sign with my Gypsy on the trip from Sydney - Ootha to see the Utes in the Paddock near Condobolin - McFeeters Motor Museum in Forbes - Narrandera to see friends - Lockhart to the Museum however I could not visit the vintage caravans due to renovations - Hay - Balranald - Mildura - Broken Hill - 1498kms ish, my 1963 Holden EJ ute is going strong.





The Silverton Hotel where many had lunch today, and quite a few visited the Mad Max Movie Museum.



The view from the Mundi Mundi Lookout, it overlooks the Mundi Mundi Cattle Station. SA is 80 kms in the distance. It's lonely country.



We had an inhouse photos shoot of all the pre 70's Holdens this arvo,....I'll let the pros post photos here !!