After a very enjoyable stay at Warrawong on the Darling we travelled 95kms North to White Cliffs opal fields.
Warrawong billabong.
Pelican flotilla.
Brown treecreeper.
Striated Pardalote.
The caravan park was good value at $20/nt powered site, as expected not one blade of grass just bare red earth, still a nice place to stay for 3 nights. We'd never experienced the cratered lunar landscape appearance of an opal mining area before, it was totally different than anywhere else that we'd been. The opal jewellery showrooms at the mines were great, friendly people with a no pressure attitude to purchase any of their hard won gains. We did a 2 hour tour of the Red Earth mine, good value at $20/head & very informative . Some lucky person got a beautiful white opal pendant as a token of their visit. LOL. White Cliffs is famous for its opal pineapples which are mainly bought by overseas collectors for hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
Open cut opal mine.
Mining landscape.
Fairy Martin nests in disused mine.
Opal Pineapples.
Excavator.
There was a pungent background smell of rotting flesh around town. The Kangaroo population was obviously suffering from the prevailing drought conditions & had come into town searching for food. The Reds seemed to be fairing much better than the Western Greys, it didn't seem to be affecting the Goat population at all. There were emaciated roos hanging around the caravan park, some campers were giving them water & scraps, we found that they enjoyed eating celery & shredded carrot!
Big Red.
A sad sight.
Besides the opal mining features there were plenty of other things to enjoy around White Cliffs, we visited the historic cemetery & the decommissioned solar power facility. There were also plenty of opportunities for us to photograph the wildlife in the surrounding bush. We were going to drive out to Lake Peery in Paroo-Darling National Park but decided that the 110km round trip on bone jarring corrugated road wasnt worth it.
White Cliffs Cemetery.
Decommissioned Solar Plant.
Australian Pipit.
Variegated Fairy-wren.
Our next stop was Spring Hills Rest Area on the Barrier Hwy 122kms East of Broken Hill. Unlike the other rest areas that we'd stayed at it doesnt have a lot of room but there is space for 4-6 rigs to stay, out of the way of the trucks. It's not popular with trucks mainly because Dolo Hill Rest Area 14kms away has large parking bays for road trains. The scenery in the Scropes Range is magnificent, similar to the nearby Mutawintji National Park, the birds & wildlife are prolific around the rest area. This was the 2nd time that we'd stayed there, its one of our favourites. It was a month since we'd left Melbourne's cold weather & temperatures were getting much warmer. There were lots of flies around at the rest area, things were not helped by an idiot that had emptied a cassette complete with solids without digging a hole to bury it, lovely! They could have used the toilet if they were desperate. There are a number of rocky peaks in the area & on a day of high winds & raised dust we set ourselves a goal of climbing two of them, the view from the top was well worth the effort.
What a view! Rest Area on the far right.
Male Mulga Parrot.
Male Crested Bellbird.
Our last stop before reaching Broken Hill was Little Topar Rest Area adjacent to the Topar Hotel 76kms East . We stayed for just 1 night, it was the Monday after the 3 day Broken Hill annual show weekend. We were hoping that the excitement had all died down before we arrived. A big truckie meal & a few beers went down well, giving our cook the night off. Typical friendly Outback hospitality, you cant beat it. As on all the other sections of our trip the hay loaded road trains travelling in an Easterly direction kept coming at regular intervals all day every day.
Topar Pub, great meals.
Thanks for reading/viewing. Part 4 to come.
Cheers Keith & Judy
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 06:16:46 AM
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 01:04:24 PM
Dougwe said
09:09 AM Sep 18, 2018
Another good look at your journey, thank you. I wonder if those solar dishes ever get 're-commissioned' in the near future? Seems a waste to have them there doing nothing.
Franji said
03:02 PM Sep 18, 2018
Thank you for posting, a wonderful journey.
aussie_paul said
03:10 PM Sep 18, 2018
Fantastic again DD.
The solar dishes look more like communication discs to me?
Aussie Paul, Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 04:19:55 PM
Desert Dweller said
04:58 PM Sep 18, 2018
aussie_paul wrote:
Fantastic again DD.
The solar dishes look more like communication discs to me?
Aussie Paul, Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 04:19:55 PM
Yes, they do look a lot like communications dishes. There's an information board explaining the whole electricity generation process & it says when they were taken out of service, from
memory it was around 2005. Apparently they're old technology these days & will never be used again. We agree with Dougwe, they're a bit of a waste just sitting there idle.
DMaxer said
07:41 AM Sep 19, 2018
Great photos and a good read. I have spent a fair bit of time out and around the far west of NSW and just love it.
rockylizard said
08:20 AM Sep 19, 2018
Desert Dweller wrote:
aussie_paul wrote:
Fantastic again DD.
The solar dishes look more like communication discs to me?
Aussie Paul, Paul.
Yes, they do look a lot like communications dishes. There's an information board explaining the whole electricity generation process & it says when they were taken out of service, from
memory it was around 2005. Apparently they're old technology these days & will never be used again. We agree with Dougwe, they're a bit of a waste just sitting there idle.
Gday...
White Cliffs Solar Power Station was Australia's first solar power station. It is located at White Cliffs, New South Wales, which was chosen as it has the highest insolation in New South Wales, and in 1981 when the station was constructed had no grid connection.
With the extra knowledge gained here I remember not that long ago a TV segment on that installation. The guy who managed it was interviewed and would like to do it on a larger scale. Yes, sentimentality and old technology. Gotta luv these old bush codgers.
Aussie Paul.
Possum3 said
01:49 PM Sep 19, 2018
As per usual bloody great.
STRETCH ARMSTRONG said
02:59 PM Sep 21, 2018
Nice one DD
Mez said
04:46 PM Sep 23, 2018
Thank you again for the beautiful photos , always looking for your next blog.
After a very enjoyable stay at Warrawong on the Darling we travelled 95kms North to White Cliffs opal fields.
Warrawong billabong.
Pelican flotilla.
Brown treecreeper.
Striated Pardalote.
The caravan park was good value at $20/nt powered site, as expected not one blade of grass just bare red earth, still a nice place to stay for 3 nights. We'd never experienced the cratered lunar landscape appearance of an opal mining area before, it was totally different than anywhere else that we'd been. The opal jewellery showrooms at the mines were great, friendly people with a no pressure attitude to purchase any of their hard won gains. We did a 2 hour tour of the Red Earth mine, good value at $20/head & very informative . Some lucky person got a beautiful white opal pendant as a token of their visit. LOL. White Cliffs is famous for its opal pineapples which are mainly bought by overseas collectors for hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
Open cut opal mine.
Mining landscape.
Fairy Martin nests in disused mine.
Opal Pineapples.
Excavator.
There was a pungent background smell of rotting flesh around town. The Kangaroo population was obviously suffering from the prevailing drought conditions & had come into town searching for food. The Reds seemed to be fairing much better than the Western Greys, it didn't seem to be affecting the Goat population at all. There were emaciated roos hanging around the caravan park, some campers were giving them water & scraps, we found that they enjoyed eating celery & shredded carrot!
Big Red.
A sad sight.
Besides the opal mining features there were plenty of other things to enjoy around White Cliffs, we visited the historic cemetery & the decommissioned solar power facility. There were also plenty of opportunities for us to photograph the wildlife in the surrounding bush. We were going to drive out to Lake Peery in Paroo-Darling National Park but decided that the 110km round trip on bone jarring corrugated road wasnt worth it.
White Cliffs Cemetery.
Decommissioned Solar Plant.
Australian Pipit.
Variegated Fairy-wren.
Our next stop was Spring Hills Rest Area on the Barrier Hwy 122kms East of Broken Hill. Unlike the other rest areas that we'd stayed at it doesnt have a lot of room but there is space for 4-6 rigs to stay, out of the way of the trucks. It's not popular with trucks mainly because Dolo Hill Rest Area 14kms away has large parking bays for road trains. The scenery in the Scropes Range is magnificent, similar to the nearby Mutawintji National Park, the birds & wildlife are prolific around the rest area. This was the 2nd time that we'd stayed there, its one of our favourites. It was a month since we'd left Melbourne's cold weather & temperatures were getting much warmer. There were lots of flies around at the rest area, things were not helped by an idiot that had emptied a cassette complete with solids without digging a hole to bury it, lovely! They could have used the toilet if they were desperate. There are a number of rocky peaks in the area & on a day of high winds & raised dust we set ourselves a goal of climbing two of them, the view from the top was well worth the effort.
What a view! Rest Area on the far right.
Male Mulga Parrot.
Male Crested Bellbird.
Our last stop before reaching Broken Hill was Little Topar Rest Area adjacent to the Topar Hotel 76kms East . We stayed for just 1 night, it was the Monday after the 3 day Broken Hill annual show weekend. We were hoping that the excitement had all died down before we arrived. A big truckie meal & a few beers went down well, giving our cook the night off. Typical friendly Outback hospitality, you cant beat it. As on all the other sections of our trip the hay loaded road trains travelling in an Easterly direction kept coming at regular intervals all day every day.
Topar Pub, great meals.
Thanks for reading/viewing. Part 4 to come.
Cheers Keith & Judy
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 06:16:46 AM
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 01:04:24 PM
Fantastic again DD.
The solar dishes look more like communication discs to me?
Aussie Paul, Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 18th of September 2018 04:19:55 PM
Yes, they do look a lot like communications dishes. There's an information board explaining the whole electricity generation process & it says when they were taken out of service, from
memory it was around 2005. Apparently they're old technology these days & will never be used again. We agree with Dougwe, they're a bit of a waste just sitting there idle.
Great photos and a good read. I have spent a fair bit of time out and around the far west of NSW and just love it.
Gday...
White Cliffs Solar Power Station was Australia's first solar power station. It is located at White Cliffs, New South Wales, which was chosen as it has the highest insolation in New South Wales, and in 1981 when the station was constructed had no grid connection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cliffs_Solar_Power_Station
Worth the read ... and the visit to White Cliffs.
Cheers - John
With the extra knowledge gained here I remember not that long ago a TV segment on that installation. The guy who managed it was interviewed and would like to do it on a larger scale. Yes, sentimentality and old technology. Gotta luv these old bush codgers.
Aussie Paul.
Nice one DD