Art Galleries and Mining Memorials: Broken Hill: 7/1- 7/3

7/2
Yesterday was fairly uneventful. I arrived to Broken Hill without much of a hitch and took a taxi into town. I think taxi was the way to go. It was definitely a walkable distance, but it didn't look like the greatest neighborhood. When I got to Broken Hill, I checked into the Black Lion. I disturbed the clerk from her early dinner/late lunch and she showed me up to my room. We walked across the drive through liquor that was attached to the hotel. The room is basic, but has a tv, so I was ok. I tossed my stuff down and crossed the street to the information center (Black Lion was selected mostly because it was right across the street from the information center). I gathered up all the brochures that looked of interest and asked someone at the desk to direct me to the nearest grocery. It was about 5 blocks across town, and I still had a couple of hours of daylight left, so I set out directly. I was a little weirded out because I didn't see a lot of people around on my walk, but I got there ok. I picked up some milk, bread, turkey, cheese, jelly, a banana, and farmer's union iced coffee. I walked home a different route and picked up a subway sandwich for dinner. Back in my room, I planned the events for the next couple of days while shuffling through the brochures from the information center.

Today, I called mom this morning (after realizing I would not be able to skype) and spoke to her and the Rudisills. We spoke about an hour and I was reminded again by Papaw not to get into any cars with strangers. After some toast with jam, coffee, and Doctor Quinn (followed by 7th Heaven- I think I found mom's channel, haha), I went across the street for my daily visit to the information center. I knew I wanted to see all the art galleries today and I got detailed suggestions on what route to take for my art gallery tour. I also called to try and schedule a desert sculpture tour for Tuesday evening, but was told they needed at least 2 people to go, so they took my information and said they would call if it happened. I think most people drive here, so they are able to drive themselves out to things like the desert sculpture display and the mines. I started off by walking down to the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery at the end of the main strip in town. It was a nice gallery- a mix of older and modern art with Aboriginal work sprinkled in. The featured gallery included a project where old pictured from Max Max films and the past of Broken Hill were held in front of the same location as modern day and a picture was taken to contrast now and then.

After the gallery, I stopped for lunch at Cafe Alfresco and got a chicken sandwich for lunch. Next, I went to Mining and Mineral Museum and took about a hundred pictures of minerals and saw a heavily guarded "silver tree" that is apparently famous and you are not allowed to take pictures of it.

My next location was meant to be The Bush n' Beyond gallery, but I walked to the very end of Argent where it was supposed to be located and ended up on the top of a dead end hill. I shrugged and decided to start my long trek to the Pro Hart Gallery. The gallery is located on the complete other side of town (I assume it used to be his actual house, as it is in an affluent neighborhood), but I decided to walk since I had enough time and I would have to get on and off 2 separate buses to get there. I began walking around 2pm, taking off my sweatshirt when I got hot and reapplying it in shady areas when the wind picked up. I went through various neighborhoods, sometimes getting nervous and planning escape routes should I be approached by someone sketchy or attacked by the occasional dog who barked at me through a fence. I now realize that I was never in any real danger, but I guess it's better that I am alert and aware than completely oblivious. It was funny, I would be walking into a sketchy looking locations, starting to get nervous, then I would see 3 girls on a swing set alone on a playground, showing me that 3 children were being more brave than me. They called hello to me and carried on a conversation as I passed. FINALLY, I reached the end of Kaolin street and the Pro Hart gallery was visible ahead. It had his cars out front, including the one he painted art on:

The gallery was three stories of his works, including a side room of his works and prints of his works that could actually be purchased at the modest prices of between $400 and $18000. After browsing all floors and purchasing a $5 magnet (more in my price range), I set out on my trek back toward the end of town I lived on. I walked down Chloride Street this time (all the street have names like this- Oxide, Iodide, Sulphide, Colbalt, I live on Bromide) because the street went all the way back uninterrupted (I had to cross over onto other streets last time as some streets were suddenly broken by random hills, haha) and looked for a gallery on Mica Street. I walked slowly all the way down Mica street, but did not locate this gallery! I took a brief seat on the curb and looked at my map. I decided, although there was one more gallery I had on my list for the day, that I had seen enough and needed to go home. I walked back to the information center and got a caffe latte before crossing the street to my hotel. I had turkey and cheese sandwiches for dinner and planned out my next day before passing out, exhausted!


7/3 9:15 am
It's a nice morning this morning! Not overcast like the past week or so.

Ok, this hotel I am staying in, it's ok, but there are some serious issues (not like bedbug issues, but still issues) that keep me from wanting to stay here again if I were to ever come back to Broken Hill (unlikely.)

1) Their bathrooms: They are clean enough, but they are not in your room, they are down the hall (which is ok, I am only paying $40 or so for the room which is private and includes a tv, a kettle, and a toaster). Also, the toilet and the shower are separate, which I suppose would be a convenience most of the time, but I am the only girl staying here at the moment, so I have to keep walking in and out of different rooms to do different things. Also, the sink is in the shower area. And it's broken so I have to use the men's.

2) The "toilet paper:" It could be included under "bathrooms," but it's so wrong, I have to talk about it separately. So the reason toilet paper is in quotation marks is that in my opinion, this stuff is not toilet paper. It is very much like that waxy paper you use in the bakery at the grocery store to select pastries from the glass case- it actually might be that- this stuff is the exact same size and texture! You have to use at least 3 at a time, and even then, you mine as well just be using your hand. This was unacceptable. I wrote it on my list to get toilet paper at the grocery store, but after a visit to the information center across the street this morning, and seeing they have real toilet paper, even rather soft toilet paper, me being resourceful (and a healthy mixture of cheap and poor), I wound up a 3 day supply on my hand and put it in my bookbag. Yay, toilet paper!

3) The daily 8 am wake up call from room service: OK, it seems like most places at least wait until check out time to start cleaning rooms, to allow everyone to check out, you know, and others to sleep! Not here. Both mornings, they have been busting to clean rooms at 8 and 8:30. It seems like a place with a bar attached to it would at least let people sleep in until 9:30 or so, not that I have been to the bar at all, but I like sleep! I guess you could say I need to be up and out to explore Broken Hill each morning, but I say no. I have about 10 hours of sunlight, and only 5 or 6 hours of actual activities to do each day. I think I can sleep in and take my time in the mornings. I'm on vacation, dammit!

4) The bell: There is a bell I have to walk over to get to my room. It is a bell to notify them that someone is at the drive through liquor mart. It makes me feel dumb because sometimes they come out to service the car and there isn't one there, just me passing through.
Currently eating my toast and watching morning TV again. Sully on Doctor Quinn is a hotty.

15:30: Today I walked all the way up to the Miner's Memorial on the hill overlooking the city. It wasn't a bad walk; after consulting the girl in the information center about the best route up, I was convinced it would be pretty strenuous. But I did have to walk to the end of Crystal Street, cross the train track, then take the winding and occasionally steep trek up the hill to the memorial. I was passed by numerous cars, some going way too fast to be considered intelligent, so I felt like I had accomplished something walking all the way. I took some pictures with the gnome in various locations at the top of the hill (you have a marvelous view of Broken Hill) and then went inside to see the memorial.

I purchased a ticket and walked the boardwalk to the memorial site. I took some pictures from the overlook and read each name on the memorial wall (there was someone named Hines!) before going back inside to get lunch from the Broken Earth cafe. I order Risotto with King Prawns and ate my warm lunch overlooking the town. I began my walk back down the hill, taking my time as I didn't have much planned for this afternoon. As I approached the train track, a train showed up. It took 10  minutes for the train to clear the crossing, mostly because it stopped completely a few times. I actually took a seat on a side wall and waited until I could cross. Once the train had cleared, I got up, and thank goodness I looked back to see if I had left anything- I had dropped my gnome! I went back and got him, then continued through the town.
I went back to the room for a bit, then decided to seek out the other art gallery I didn't get to the day before. On the way, I located the library I would spend several hours in the net morning, getting updated on the world via internet. The gallery was nice, which included painting and jewelry and even a candy store. There was also a room with the "Big Picture," which is supposed to be the biggest painting on canvas done by one artist. I decided not to see it because it was $7.50 and the set up reminded me of those booths at the fair where you pay to see the "smallest horse alive," then it turns out to be really lame. I walked back to my side of town after the tour and got a chicken, bacon turkish sandwich for dinner from the coffee shop. Tomorrow I leave Broken Hill, but I am going to go to Bell's for lunch in honor of July 4th. I am also going to check out the Flying Doctor's at the airport before I fly out.