Rockhampton – Brisbane – Sydney – Broken Hill

The last week has been filled with travelling. 

I’ve travelled all the way from Innisfail to Rockhampton, then to Brisbane, Sydney, and now I’m in Broken Hill (or Silver City). As most of you probably don’t know that much about Australian geography (and why should you): it adds up to 2700km. To put it into perspective: that’s about as far as from The Netherlands all the way to Turkey.

The itinerary: A. Rockhampton, B. Brisbane, C. Sydney, D. Broken Hill

First of all Rockhampton; it’s a city that’s really been made for normal urban aussies. That having said, it’s not made for tourists. Looking back on it, I’m glad I only stayed there for one day, as it turned out there was little pretty or fun about it. There was a pretty cool zoo however, with all kinds of exotic animals. What was particularly cool was that the birds were flying all around the park, for some reason they didn’t have to be locked up (i’m guessing they stay for the food). When I was having lunch at the park they even came checking out my food, and I was happy to let them think I would let them have some for a second, so I could take a picture, as they were truly beautiful..

Exotic birds that were out to get my food - good luck suckers

Though I was in Brisbane, I haven’t really been there again: I was only there because there is no direct train connection between Rockhampton and Sydney, so I had to make a stop (just like on my way from Sydney to Cairns – Rockhampton is in between Cairns and Brisbane). I only stayed there for one night, and didn’t even have any daytime there. Sydney is a different story though, as I had three days there again. Since I’d already seen most of the touristic-scenic stuff, I decided to just enjoy the city as much as possible. This included going to Manly again, but now exploring the other side, which is again totally different. Though there wasn’t really a path, and it took ridiculously long, I had a great walk at the waterside and through the forest, and once again Manly proved to be quite pretty: 

It's not all beaches, but nontheless pretty

One of the postcard-like views

After, I went to see The Dark Knight Rises at the Sydney IMAX theatre at Darling Harbour, which boasts the largest screen in the world: it is massive. At the beginning of the movie I was actually a bit dizzy, and if the focus in a scene shifts from the left side of the screen to the right side, you actually have to turn your head a bit to be able to see everything. As a last, I payed a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe..

Couldn't not go there..

Too bad I couldn’t stay there til very late though, as the train to Broken Hill already left at 6:20 am. Though I had to spend 15 hours in the train, it doesn’t even feel that long anymore as I’ve gotten used to it for a bit; Middelburg-Borne (a bit more than 4 hours) won’t feel as bad as it did before anyways. Something pretty cool, which I hadn’t expected, is that the sand out here is all red, and not just a bit: 

The sand is red unlike I've ever seen before - this picture isn't bad-coloured

As for Broken Hill itself, it is a whole different Australia here than it is at the coast. Broken Hill is rather small (20.000 people) but it is the biggest town in a 350 km radius, which makes that despite its few inhabitants has most things you need. It is a typical western – desert town, the kind you see in the movies, and a lot of movies actually have been filmed here (pretty big ones too, such as Mad Max II and Mission Impossible II). Back in the old days everybody used to work in the mines; and even now there are still a couple mines open, although not as many as there used to be. They've been mining in Broken Hill since 1890 however, making it one of the longest continuing mining places of the world.

A closed mine - one of the many

I haven’t seen much of the place and the surroundings yet, but what I’ve seen so far is pretty impressive. There are vast open spaces where there is simply nothing, just desert. Though that sounds rather boring, it’s really got something to it. To stand in a huge open space where there hardly grows anything (however you do see kangaroos every now and then, and there are lots of snakes) without being able to hear traffic or see any civilization is really an experience,  there’s a certain peace to it. There are plenty of things to do too though; there are mines, art galleries, museums, national parks and plenty of history, so I don’t really worry about getting bored for the week that I’ll be here..