After two years of travel drought, fasted to the limits, longing for the unknown, for the inconvenience and adventure, we were finally able to set off on a journey longer than a weekend trip out of town. I was planning this trip for several months. We were supposed to start in the second half of January and with a larger team. Direction - the desert and the distant town of Broken Hill, and there booked charming house with a swimming pool, located in the middle of nowhere. It was supposed to be total relaxation and "nothing-to-do" time. However, at the last moment, a force majeure in the form of the employer changed all our days off and the whole plan fell apart. But I didn't give up. We simply deserved this vacation. Therefore, after a short reflection, we decided to go anyway. No friends, no booked nights, no plan. Just a trip ahead up to Broken Hill. And why exactly there?
We were looking for the sun.
This Sydney summer is terrible. The previous one was very rainy (on FB I described to you the biggest floods in 70 years that have occurred in our area), but this year's is simply tragic. La Nina is taking its toll on us. At the beginning of November, the sky opened above us and it has been pouring since then!!! There are temporary sunny moments, but it's only a short rest between rainfall. Everything is wet and damp, we have a plague of mosquitoes and funnel webs (the most poisonous spiders living in burrows in the ground - in our backyard I counted 30 of them!) And in general everyone is a bit nervous about both the weather and the situation with the virus and this lack of Australian sun.
That's why we decided to go to the desert. Generally, you don't go to Australian outback in summer, because the temperatures can literally be lethal, but we were so longing for warmth that we decided to take a risk. Oh there, what can happen ?! After all, people live there too, right?!
Broken Hill itself is nothing special. Oh, a mining town in total innerland. It is home to Australia's largest and one of the world's largest zinc and lead ore mines, established in 1883. The city is a service center of the region, specializing in sheep breeding, and since 1939 it has been an air base for the medical service. Well, a rather moderately interesting place ...
But we were more concerned with the ride this road by itself. This ride in the wilderness, this springboard, loneliness, wildness and harshness of the surroundings, and simply - an adventure!
We wanted to get away somewhere, change the environment, see something, and since we had two weeks of vacation, we decided to take our time and use the remaining days for a carefree wandering, i.e. Australia with Campervan Without a Plan, where the Yakuza wheels will carry us.
We set off on an expedition right after Christmas on Tuesday evening. Because of course we couldn't set us ready earlier, but hey ... we were in no rush. We packed as simply as we could. We took standard mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and a blanket just in case. Kitchen equipment in the form of a gas stove, gas cartridges, some pot, plates, cups, cutlery. Stock of freeze-dried meals, the necessary sausage and canned food, pate and ketchup, some cheese, vegetables, coffee, tea and jam. A table, two chairs, a sunshade. A change of clothes, a ton of sunscreen, a liter of bug spray and a good supply of water. And that's it. Ready!
How were our first three days?! On driving. So in this episode I will show you mainly the road shots. We drove 1,200 km, slept on two free campsites, we almost ran out of fuel, but we reached our destination on the way, changing the time zone and a few climatic ones :)
See it by yourself! Enjoy!
(english subtitels avaiable)