Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

OUTBACK NEW SOUTH WALES 211
canceled in very hot weather. The NPWS office in Broken Hill (& 08/8088
5933) also has details. You can camp at the Homestead Creek campground for
A$11 (US$7.15) a night. It has its own water supply.
EXPLORING WHITE CLIFFS White Cliffs, 290km (180 miles) east
of Broken Hill, is an opal-mining town bigger than it looks. Unlike Lightning
Ridge (below), which produces mainly black opals, White Cliffs is known for
its less valuable white opals (as is Coober Pedy in South Australia). To escape the
summer heat, most houses are built underground in mine shafts, where the temperature
is a constant 73°F (23°C). Prospecting started in 1889, when kangaroo
shooters found the colorful stones on the ground. A year later the rush was
on, and by the turn of the 20th century about 4,000 people were digging and
sifting in a lawless, waterless hell of a place. White Cliffs is smaller than Coober
Pedy and less touristy—which is its great charm. You also have a lot more freedom
to wander around the old opal tailings here, whereas in Coober Pedy they
discourage it. However, given the choice between White Cliffs and Lightning
Ridge (below), I’d opt for the latter (though if you have time you should see
both).
If you fancy an after-hours round of golf in the dirt (and who doesn’t?), contact
the secretary of the White Cliffs Golf Club, John Painter (& 08/8091
6715 after hours). He’ll be happy to supply you with a golf club or two and a
couple of balls for A$2 (US$1.30). Otherwise, put A$2 (US$1.30) in the black
box at the first tee if you have your own clubs—but be warned, bush playing can
damage your clubs, and crows often make off with the balls. Visitors can play
day or night, but if you want some company, come on Sunday when club members
shoot it out.
Today, the countryside looks like an inverted moonscape, pimpled with bonewhite
heaps of gritty clay dug from the 50,000 mine shafts that surround the
town. These days, White Cliffs is renowned for its eccentricity. Take Jock’s
Place, for instance, an underground museum full to the beams with junk pulled
from old mine shafts. Then there’s a house made of beer flagons and a nine-hole
dirt golf course where locals play at night with fluorescent green golf balls.
ACCOMMODATIONS YOU CAN AFFORD:
ABOVEGROUND & BELOW
One option is to rent a local cottage from Broken Hill Historic Cottages
(& 08/8087 9966) for A$80 (US$52) a night.
Broken Hill Overlander Motor Inn This is my favorite place to stay in Broken
Hill, although admittedly that’s not really saying much in this Outback
town. It’s set way back from the road, has nice green areas and barbecue facilities,
and is very quiet. The more expensive four-star-rated rooms are much nicer
than the cheaper variants, and considerably larger. Two family rooms sleep up to
Finds A Fabulous Place to Enjoy the Sunset
Just outside Broken Hill in the Living Desert Nature Park is one of the best
collections of sculptures this side of Stonehenge. Twelve sandstone
obelisks, up to 3m (10 ft.) high and carved totem-like by artists from as far
away as Georgia, Syria, Mexico, and the Tiwi Islands, make up the Sculpture
Symposium. Surrounding them on all sides is brooding mulga scrub.
It’s fantastic at sunset.