The plans for Sunday were pretty extensive. We were going to drive out to Menindee Lake and explore the river and wildlife that they had there. However, when we all woke up it was raining, windy and cold. The river had actually rose past the shore and up onto many lawns, making our River Cruise impossible. (What's that saying in the events industry? Whatever can go wrong, will.) We made adjustments and found things to do with our time however.
We still made it out to Menindee and saw some portions of the lake. John (our bus driver) took us out to the "Sunset Strip" which is a pretty ironic place. Compared to the Strip in Vegas or Los Angeles, this strip is..different. There were about 60 houses (some falling apart, some in better condition) lining a single street. There were trees, bush and a long dirt road connecting them all together. Behind one side of the block was Lake Menindee. It was a pretty cool sight because there were trees fully intacted just sticking up out of the water, but I'd imagine it would have been much better and sunrise or sunset.
We then ventured off to Copi Hollow, which is a riverbank town. When we arrived, some of the guys were joking about how it should be called "Creepy Hollow" due to the 15 people that seemed to live there and how desolate it all was. Everyone was asking where the headless horseman lives, quite funny. There were people swimming in the river, which I thought was crazy because it was so incredibly cold out!
Finally we made it into the town of Menindee, where we ate lunch at the Albemarie Restaurant. It was pretty quaint, kind of like everything else in the outback. Afterwards, we drove back into Broken Hill and explored some local museums. We went into the Geo Center, which had information on the process of mining and what kind of rocks were surrounding Broken Hill. It was really cool to see what the town was built on and get a better understanding of their main profit.
Then we approached what was one of my favorite activities in the trip. We went to see John's friend, Kevin "Bushy" White. He built a mine museum off the side of his house. It contains scaled models of the mines and the processes they use. He used to mine himself, and he told us all about mining and the improvements that have been made throughout the years. He also uses crushed minerals (from the mine) to make artwork. It's amazing stuff, you can literally scratch at it without damaging a thing.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this being a college student, but my Sunday night was rather lame. We all were on our own for dinner, so I ordered a Domino's pizza and fell asleep at 8:00 watching tv. Made me feel like I was back home for awhile! Everyone else went out and had a good time, but I was sound asleep in my Broken Hill bed, waiting for the next day's adventures.
So Saturday is when everything kicked off. I got in the cab, leaving my ICMS home for my first real solo trip. The 30 minute cab ride didn't calm my nerves at all, but I finally arrived at the first hotel (where I was to pick up my first delegate). Being there early, I decided to walk down the street and get a coffee. It wasn't as good as it normally is, and me being Kelly Lucis, I thought this was a sign that I needed to hail a cab and head back to my warm, safe bed in Manly. Thank God I didn't.
As I was waiting at the Four Seasons, I found our bus driver for the morning and the first delegate in my group, a young woman from Russia. We hopped in the van and weaved ourselves through the streets of Sydney until finally we had all 9 delegates, all from across the Western Hemisphere, packed into a little van. We arrived at the airport and awaited our flight. By this time, it was obvious that my group was superb. They were all carefree, easy going and absolutely hilarious. To be honest, I don't think I stopped laughing all week...but there's more of that to come!
We all hopped onto a bus, which took us to a small plane. Back home, it's what we would call a "puddle jumper". There were 10 rows total, and the only thing separating us from the pilot was a curtain. This is when I knew I was in for a real outback experience.
I sat next to one of the delegates from England. He's an adorable, older man who was one of the real jokesters on the trip. We talked a lot about our hometowns, what kind of dogs we own, what sports we play, etc. It was really interesting to hear his lifestyle and experience what homelife is like in the UK. Definitely an eye-opening flight!
Finally, we arrived in Broken Hill. This was the airport. There were no baggage carousels or security stations to be found. Definitely a change of pace from Sydney! As we all collected our things from the cart that had our luggage on it, we set out for our tour bus that would lead us to take on the city of Broken Hill. John (our amazing bus driver) automatically began taking us around the town. He had lived there his whole life and seemed to know everyone that ever stepped under the big "Welcome to Broken Hill" sign. We saw four art galleries (although Broken Hill has 35 total!) just on Saturday. The art was really different, and each artist had his own unique take on what the outback really looked like. Many of them, like John, had lived there their whole lives and only got into painting/drawing because it was an easy hobby to pick up.
We also went to the Palace Hotel. It's currently come under new management, and is actually a pretty popular spot. The walls are gorgeous (they have all different scenes painted on them, with a very interesting story behind it, but I'll let you guys discover that for yourself), and they have live musicians playing a couple nights throughout the week. The real draw is the fact that a movie called "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" was filmed in that very hotel. I haven't seen the film, but they've kept the room in really good condition and offer it to guests to stay in!
Saturday was a great start to our trip, we got to know each other and set the foundation for a wonderful week of adventure. We woke up in the busy city of Sydney and went to sleep underneath millions of stars in Broken Hill, not a bad day!
We then ventured off to Copi Hollow, which is a riverbank town. When we arrived, some of the guys were joking about how it should be called "Creepy Hollow" due to the 15 people that seemed to live there and how desolate it all was. Everyone was asking where the headless horseman lives, quite funny. There were people swimming in the river, which I thought was crazy because it was so incredibly cold out!
