SATURDAY 29 JUNE     BROKEN HILL

Up at 8.30 again. After seeing to dog with a walk around a large open area at the end of the park, followed by her breakfast, I drove to the Centro shops. Got papers, postcards and some food supplies.

This trip was going to be an exercise in fridge management, probably with frequent small re-stocks the norm. We would certainly see whether we could manage extended trips without the supplementary Chescold portable fridge that had travelled in the Landrover. Both of us now had bodies that could do without the lifting a heavy fridge in and out of the vehicle, every time we moved camp.

I had been making adjustments to the way I used the fridge, as we went. One of the two plastic containers I bought to go where there should be crisper drawers, now holds a night’s supply of beer and Zero cans for John – five or six all told. The other holds vegies – limited capacity here equals frequent shopping, especially as I like to eat salads most lunch times. John now had a small bottle of the tomato juice he liked to drink, instead of a two litre one. I had started to sometimes eat an orange for breakfast, instead of drinking juice. So far, so good……

John spent some morning time on his laptop. I read the papers I’d bought.

My step-daughter showed up after lunch, later than the mid morning we had expected. She brought her dog with her, who immediately tried to eat Couey, so had to be taken home again. Not going to be a friendship there.

Daughter really wanted us all to go out to Silverton, though we had been there lots of times before. We loaded her into the back seat of Terios, with difficulty – it really was not designed for a sizeable adult, and it seemed the seatbelt did not work – it wouldn’t stretch far enough. Couey liked having company in the back, though!

No problems parking in Silverton. As the name suggests, it was the site of a silver “rush” in the late 1800’s and quickly grew to a town large enough to have a rail connection and station. But the much richer finds in nearby Broken Hill caused people to leave, and it became an “almost” ghost town. A handful of people remained, some picturesque old buildings still stand, it became the base for a number of artists, and also some film making. So it continues to exist in all its quirky glory.

First stop was at our favourite Horizon Gallery, though we were determined not to buy anything. We already had four works from there – and no more wall space at home. The artist Albert Woodroffe was there and we talked with him about his work, for a little while. God, it was tempting to buy! There was very little of his late wife’s works left there now; I do treasure the two of hers that we have.

Daughter spent ages browsing and talking in another shop, 39Dips, so called because there are that many of them between Broken Hill and Silverton. I found it a bit kitchy.

Then we walked around the Silverton perimeter and Couey had an off lead run. She was not very good at being tied up outside shops while we all went in – that old separation anxiety.

Had a beer each at the Silverton Hotel which, like the rest of the village, had changed little since our last visit.

And so, back to Broken Hill. Daughter had invited us to tea, so we had to first go via the shops, so she could buy supplies to make us the roast dinner she planned. It was after 5pm by now, so it was clearly going to be a much later meal than we were used to. Deposited her at her place, then went back to Bus and relaxed for a while.

Back across town to daughter’s place at about 7.30pm. Left dog to sleep in Terios in the driveway, which she seemed to accept with no problems. On his own, we found the other dog quite a friendly, eager-to-please fellow, but he did need some consistent training. He was a strange mix of ancestry – beagle, red cattle dog and something else. Not long after we arrived, he peed on the carpet in the living room – then daughter realized that he’d been shut inside all day without relief.  Poor dog!

We ate about 8.30pm. Obviously, daughter had gone to some effort to produce the roast lamb and vegies, which were very nice. She then told us she doesn’t eat meat much as she no longer likes the taste…..hmmm, not sure how we were meant to take that.

We went back to Bus about 10.30, watched tennis on TV for a while before bed.