And the adventure continues…..
Just outside of Broken Hill, there is another outback town, known as Silverton. It is sort of a Mecca for artists that use old cars, truck, and bicycles as their medium.
This is what I call the Vegas jeep. It’s covered with bling.
Here’s more proof that this is Oz. Seems Almira Gulch parked this here, and went looking for Toto.
They had these “works of art” placed all over this little town, but you have to give them credit, they used what they had to try to fix up the place.
See what dry desert air can do to ya?
Not quite the Herbie the love bug I remember.
The most popular type of vehicle that was used was the VW beetle. I have no idea what the significance of the beetle is, or why they used them. All I know is they had a bunch of them.
They even had a used car lot. It seemed that all two vehicles that were for sale had seen much better days. Now don’t get me wrong. This tiny little town does have
more than just old cars. (Not much more, but more.)
There is a Silverton hotel, and they do sell beer, so you do have somewhere to go to have a drink after taking in all the art and purchasing your new vehicle.
I did not go into the hotel, but when I asked for directions to the restroom, this is where I was sent. Seeing how it was in use, I decided to wait until we came to the next town that had running water.
Now I am sure you are asking yourself, “Has Jay run out of things to write about? Why is she showing us photos of some small hick town in the middle of the outback?” Silverton is not just your average small hick town! It’s a famous town! It’s so famous, that they even made a movie there! For all you Mel Gibson fans, this is the place where the Mad Max movies were filmed. Seeing how they are considered “guy films,” I haven’t seen them.
Max must have forgotten where he park his car. It’s been here since the movie was finished.
From the look of Max’s car, he must have been a real manly man.
I am guessing that they didn’t want to pay to have them hauled back to Hollywood, and besides, they go with the decor of the town.
There was even a Mad Max version of a bug. I have no idea why there are two emus driving this vehicle, but then again, why not.
Here’s Gene reliving one of his glory days…
Now I must explain why it was so important for Gene to show me this car from this movie that I have never seen, nor will ever see. It seems that while Gene was living in Broken Hill, he was in charge of the roads in that area. When the movie people came in, Gene had to work with them to make sure there were no regular cars around. As a thank you to all the locals that helped with the movie, a picnic was thrown in their honor, and all the movie people (including actors) came to it. Gene became close personal friends with Mel Gibson, and even had an in-depth conversation with him. It was sort of like: Gene: “How ya going Mate?” Mel: “Good thanks.” Now keep in mind this was before Mel went off the deep end quite a few years later from women trouble. So yes, Gene has had his brush with greatness, and he would like everyone to know that he is available for autographs.
South Australia
We were very close to the South Australian border, so before heading back to Broken Hill, Gene decided to take me to the closest town in SA so I could say I have been there, but he didn’t say HOW small it was.
Must be another government job….
The whole town consisted of this one house that has sat unfinished since long before Gene lived in the area 30 years ago, 3 road signs, a pub (of course), a few other buildings, and a whole lotta outback. That was it. Period.
Here I am standing by one of their original road signs. It dates way back , because the distances are listed in miles, and not kilometers. (Australia used to use the same measurement system as America, but changed to the metric system in 1977)
Insert your own dirty joke here. There are just too many of them for me to list here.
Here is the last sign. It sort of says it all doesn’t it? All I can say is it must get reallly hot here during the summer, and I think it’s darn right neighborly that they let you know up front which parts of your body can get burned. My question is, if this is a taste of the outback, why don’t they have sunscreen stands all over the place?
All in all, this was a good trip, and I finally got to see the world-famous Australian Outback. In a nutshell, it’s nothing but a HUGE desert, with not much to see but a whole lotta nothing. If I have my way, I’ll spend my time on the white sandy beaches that are all over the place here in Australia. Besides, there aren’t’ as many VW bugs at the beach, and who knows, maybe I’ll even spot a roo taking a dip in the ocean one day. That will be the day I forget my camera.
American Aussie 