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 2^nd 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