Silver City Outback Adventure Tour Packages Broken Hill NSW

Day 1 Wednesday (Home/Dubbo) Travel from home to Dubbo via Countrylink. On reaching Dubbo we transfer to the wonderful Western Plains Zoo. This open-range zoo specialises in large animals which are separated from the public by creating raised earthen viewing areas below which is typically a ditch or moat with a small unobtrusive electric fence. This provides a feeling of naturalness. There are more than 800 native and exotic species dispersed over 300 ha of landscaped parklands. The park is divided into Africa, Asia, North America, Eurasia and Australia. Africa comes first for the obvious reason that it contains many of the most crowd-pleasing species - Cape hunting dogs, zebras, giraffes, hippos, elephants, camels, Barbary sheep, lions, cheetahs, eland, sitatunga etc. It is a treat to feed the giraffes and watch those incredibly long prehensile tongues come curling and grasping out of those remarkable necks. Rare and endangered species such as the southern white rhinoceros, Galapagos tortoise, the bison and the Przewalski horse are bred at the zoo. The Bengal tiger and white tiger and the extraordinary vocalising of the Siamangs are also highlights. Less dramatic but more endearing are the ring-tailed lemur, the meerkats, the echidna and the small fenced area where children can pat antelopes and other hoofed animals. Late afternoon we check in to our accommodation.

Day 2 Thursday (Dubbo/Bourke) Up bright and early as we depart Dubbo and travel along the Mitchell Highway through Trangie and Nyngan, situated on the Bogan River. Nyngan is a beautiful little town, with a population of less than 2,500 people. Continue on to Coolabah where we leave the highway and make our way to Brewarrina. There can be few more charming outback towns in Australia than Brewarrina. With a town population of about 1500 and a further 1500 living on properties around the town it has just the right number of people to give it a sense of purpose and stability without losing the lazy rural character which hasn't changed for decades. The wide main street, the old style pubs, the easy lifestyle, the beautiful parks by the Darling - Barwon River, the local newspaper produced fortnightly by the local Chamber of Commerce and the historic court house and Anglican Church make it much more than just another country town. Lunch and local guide at the Brewarrina Information Centre and then it’s off to the Brewarrina Fish Traps. Of all the attractions the town offers none can compare with the stone fisheries on the bed of the Darling River just downstream from the weir. The fisheries are pieces of masterful ingenuity designed to trap the fish and to be sealed off so that the fishermen can catch and kill the fish at their leisure. Early afternoon we make the trip into Bourke. Bourke is, by any measure, a thriving country town with a population around 3500 and a sense of prosperity which is the result of its geographic importance as the centre of a large wool, cotton and citrus area. The prosperity of the town belies the assessments of the first Europeans who travelled through the area. When Charles Sturt passed through the district in 1828 he thought that the whole area was 'unlikely to become the haunt of civilized man'. The area around Bourke has a strong grazing background producing some 55,000 bales of wool annually. After a guided tour of Bourke with a local, we set down at our accommodation.

Day 3 Friday (Bourke/Trilby Station) Bourke is a charming town on the banks of the Darling and was established as a paddle steamer destination. A modern day replica of a paddle steamer, the 'Jandra' gives us a chance during an hour cruise to experience the Darling of old. Following the cruise, we visit the Back o’ Bourke Exhibition Centre and historic cemetery. This is the burial site of the renowned Professor Fred Hollows. An hour or two here spent browsing the inscriptions will take us back into a world of bushrangers and drovers, cameleers and riverboat men, lost children and local heroes. Lunch at the Oxley RSL. From here we make our way through Gundamooka to Louth. Enjoy afternoon tea at the local Pub, have a look around then continue to Trilby Station. Here we experience a taste of life on a working sheep and cattle station in Australia's vast interior - the legendary NSW Outback.

Day 4 - Saturday (Trilby Station/Menindee) This morning we take a tour of Trilby Station with owner, Liz before heading to Menindee. Enroute we’ll stop off at the Tilpa Pub – a must see. This 100-year old attraction, made from corrugated iron and timber, is the place to come to meet the local characters and hear true stories and tall tales from this part of the world. The inner walls of this authentic bush pub are covered with the autographs, dry wit, and messages from the hundreds of people who stop there each year. For a small fee you can pen a message or poem too. The money raised goes to support the Flying Doctor Service, the medical corps of the Outback. After lunch we continue through Wilcannia. Wilcannia, once the ‘queen city of the west’, still has many impressive sandstone buildings. It was proclaimed a town in 1864 and was a key inland port in the days of paddlesteamers. Declining in the early 1920s with the advent of the car, today it is the service centre for a far-flung rural population. On reaching Menindee Lakes we join the 3.30 pm Wetlands Cruise on the Lakes. Dinner at the famous Maiden’s Hotel before setting down at our accommodation.

Day 5 - Sunday (Menindee/Mungo NP) After a tour of Menindee we make our way to Mungo National Park. Lake Mungo is one of 17 dry lakes which constitute the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, declared in 1981. The stark, silent, desolate and sometimes eerie landscape of sand, sparse but resurgent vegetation, and spiny, hard, pitted, crinkled and fluted dunes and ridges can look more like a moonscape. 25 000 to 45 000 years ago the lake covered 135 square kilometres and was about 10m deep. It was one of a series of freshwater lakes along Willandra Creek, which was then a major branch of the Lachlan River. The lakes dried up about 14 000 years ago. They are, however, an extraordinarily rich source of fossils. Prior to being declared a National Park in 1979 this land was part of Mungo sheep station, created when the Gol-Gol station was subdivided in the 1920s for returned soldiers. The park still contains a 45-m woolshed, built by Chinese labour of local pine logs in 1869. There are other buildings, including a former homestead, relating to the sheep station. Squatters first arrived with their sheep in 1840. Considerable conflict ensued with the indigenous tribes - the Barkindji, Ngiyampaa and Mutthi Mutthi, descendants of the area's ancient inhabitants. However, many were decimated by European diseases and forced to live on a mission at Balranald. Today they are involved in the management of the park and their wishes concerning the handling of their dead ancestors are now respected. Today the vegetated dry lake basins are situated within a dunefield stabilised by mallee-type vegetation. Tall, steep escarpments abut the western perimeters of the lakes with crescent-shaped dunes called lunettes to the east, formed by quartz sands and pelletised clay, blown from the lake by the westerly winds. The most famous example of a lunette in the park is the 'Walls of China' which rises to 30 m above the plain and runs for some 30 km around the old lake's eastern shore. After arriving and settling in to Mungo Lodge, we’ll spend some time exploring this wonderful area with a local whilst watching the sunset.

Day 6 - Monday (Mungo NP/Wentworth/Broken Hill) After breakfast today we make our way into Wentworth, situated at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers. Captain Charles Sturt arrived at the junction in 1830 and Europeans first began to settle here in the 1840’s. For over 70 years Wentworth was the nucleus of river trade between New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Today, Wentworth still exudes an ‘old town’ atmosphere. During a tour of Wentworth, with a local guide, we stop briefly at Fotherby Park to view the monument to ‘Possum’, a legendary character, who spent some 50 years of his life living along the Murray River. After lunch we continue to Broken Hill.

Day 7 - Tuesday (Broken Hill/Home) (B)All good things must come to an end and our Darling River sojourn is no exception. Transfer to the Broken Hill Station for our Countrylink journey home.

Inclusions:
6 nights accommodation. 6 dinners. 6 light breakfasts. 5 lunches. All touring and transfers.
Designed around rail travel from Sydney to Dubbo on CountryLink and return to Sydney from Broken Hill on CountryLink Explorer but rail fare not included.

Cancellation and Indemnity
Conditions *Road conditions and weather may necessitate variations to itinerary *No smoking no alcohol on bus/coach *All tours are subject to alteration or cancellation without notice *All tours are subject to minimum numbers *Cancellation Fees may apply

Packages

Silver City Tours - Outback Spectacular (ex Sydney Package)

Silver City Tours - Outback Ultimate (ex Sydney Package)

Silver City Tours - Outback Adventure (ex Sydney Package)

Silver City Tours - Outback Break (ex Sydney Package)

Silver City Tours - Outback Wanderer (ex Sydney Package)

Silver City Tours - Outback Adventure (ex Adelaide Package)

Silver City Tours - Taste of Outback (ex Adelaide Package)

Silver City Tours - Mungo, Menindee & Broken Hill (Ex Melbourne)

Silver City Tours - Mungo, Menindee & Broken Hill (Ex Sydney)

Lake Eyre Tour:

Silver City Tours - The Darling River Discovery Tour
The Outback Experience of a Lifetime

Classic Corner Country Adventure Tour:
4WD fully-accommodated soft adventure tour