Day Two - Indian Pacific

After the worst sleep ever, we arrived in Broken Hill at 6:55 am. The ground is red with green bushes everywhere. It reminds me of a red Saskatchewan. It is very flat with random hilly areas. Just before we got to Broken Hill it started raining. Apparently, it never rains here. The outback is supposed to be really dry and our first experience of it is pouring rain. David and I hopped off the train and got on a coach to get a tour around the town. It reminded me a lot of Moose Jaw. The size of it and the buildings and their history. The town has a lot of history with the war and mining. They mine silver and zinc. They have two high schools here. One is called Broken Hill High School and by it they had fields of different plants and cows. The students are taught agriculture and how to take care of cows. It seemed random that there were 3 cows just sitting in a school ground in the middle of the town. I had a little giggle at that. Then we got to the other high school in Broken Hill nicknamed “Alcatraz.” It started off as being built as a correctional center and then when they were half way done they decided they didn’t need another one in the city and turned it into a high school. So, you can imagine what the school looks like. It has no windows. Apparently, they have the top marks in the state, though.

Our last stop of the trip was at the Art Gallery that is the home of “The Big Picture.” It is the largest acrylic painting in the world. It took up the walls of a huge building. Krisin got a painting for her birthday of a town by Broken Hill called Silverton. We found the painting in this gallery. I would have liked to get one of the paintings in that gallery. Very beautiful.

Until it got to dark to look outside we saw a few kangaroos hopping a long, LOTS of sheep, cows and crops. Very much like Saskatchewan minus the sheep and kangaroos. Took a few picture to show the similarities but I didn’t go overboard because I thought I would get teased. “Holly, you don’t take pictures of the scenery like this back home.” There have also been some proper outback houses along the way. Unfortunately, I never got good pictures of them.

After what felt like forever we made it into a sunny Adelaide at 3 pm. I realized that this was only a hiccup in the journey that is yet to come. We got off the train and hopped onto our tour bus. The tour guide told us it never rains but like Broken Hill had been raining all day! Luckily, we got some sun, otherwise we would have seen this area like it’s really supposed to be. Adelaide is beautiful and full of parks. I remember going by one park and seeing that it was Park 14. I am sure it had more than that though. When Adelaide was first built they made lots of parkland around the city so that during the war it would be hard to get to and people would get caught before they actually got there. It is interesting to me how war has shaped the history of all of the towns and cities in Australia. The past two towns had huge histories built on war. Adelaide is a lot more friendlier than Sydney. You can actually smile at people on the street and they will smile back. We saw the Adelaide Oval - largest cricket oval in Australia. I would like to come back here and see it some more. When we got back to the train station ( a bit outside of Adelaide) David got a taxi ride to go grab some food quick. Because he nor the taxi driver knew where to go for food the taxi driver gave him a free taxi ride to where they found a store. Another thing we noticed would never happen in Sydney. While waiting for our train to be ready to board we chatted to an older couple who made the train lively the night before with their jokes and laughter with fellow men. They were a really nice couple. Everyone on the train stops at their seats for a quick chat when they walk by. Apparently they have done this trip a few times as they enjoy the scenery. I do not know how people older than me can sleep three nights on a train. My body definitely feels it!