Itineraries Home » New South Wales Itineraries » Sydney to Broken Hill Road Trip (NSW Outback) » Out & about in the NSW outback
This post is a continuation of Sydney to Broken Hill Road Trip and covers what you can expect & experience while in the NSW outback. In our previous post, we reached White Cliffs from Sydney and settled into our hotel, The White Cliffs Underground Motel.
Sydney to Broken Hill Road Trip
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Day 4 - White Cliffs to Broken Hill
Being famous for opals, there are a handful of shops that sell opals & opal jewellery in White Cliffs. Check with your accommodation for possible recommendations and after breakfast, head to your chosen opal shop for an opal shopping spree! We visited Red Earth Opal and their collections were fantastic. Following that, we headed to the White House Dugout Tour.
Tours are at 11AM and 2PM daily and we chose the 11AM tour for the day. No pre-booking is necessary for the tours. More details on the tour can be found here. Please note that taking photos of the White House and its belongings is strictly not permitted! The dugout tour was unique and the hosts were very proud of the decorations and renovations that they have undertaken in the dugout. We then headed to White Cliffs Solar Power Station, which is Australia's first solar power station.
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It was then time to leave White Cliffs to head to Broken Hill. There are two road options to go to Broken Hill from White cliffs:
- Continue on the well-paved Opal Miners Way for 92.5km until Wilcannia (the same road you took to come to White Cliffs from Wilcannia) and then connect to Barrier Hwy/A32. This trip takes 2 hr 50 min.
- Otherwise, from Opal Miners Way at approx. 65km from White Cliffs, turn right onto Dry Lake Rd, drive for 27.9km, and then connect to Barrier Hwy/A32. Note that Dry Lake Rd is an unsealed road but will give you a unique driving experience! This option still takes the same time as option 1 above however, taking this option will help you get a feel of what it’s like driving on an unsealed graded road as this will be extremely helpful for your visit to Mungo the day after, even though Dry Lake Rd is not really as bad compared to the roads to and in Mungo (more on this further below).
Regardless of your choice, please be aware that Broken Hill, located in New South Wales, operates on Adelaide's time zone, which means it is consistently 30 minutes behind the rest of New South Wales. While you will gain 30 minutes upon entering Broken Hill, you need to also be conscious of the fact that you'll lose 30 minutes of your travel time upon leaving the town the next day.
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Our next stop was our hotel, Broken Hill Outback Resort. We checked into our hotel and then headed into the town for a late lunch. After lunch, we visited The Living Desert State Park to witness the spectacular sandstone sculptures. More about the sculptures as well as information such as park entry fee etc. can be found in Broken Hill City Council's official website.
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The sandstone sculptures are a feast to the eyes! We walked through the site witnessing these marvels and of course, taking heaps of photos! On the way back, we visited the Big Ant, which symbolizes the hard work and commitment of the Broken Hill miners.
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We then picked up some pizza for our dinner and headed to the Big Bench. The Big Bench is 2.5 times bigger in size than the regular park bench! Do note that climbing on The Big Bench is not allowed.
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We had our dinner there and headed back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep.
Note: If you missed the observatory tour in Mudgee earlier (Day 1), give it a try at Outback Astronomy in Broken Hill for an unforgettable stargazing experience.
Day 5 - Broken Hill to Mungo
Today will be the longest drive of all the days in this trip and we will be on the road for around 6.5 to 7.5 hrs! After breakfast, we headed to Historic Daydream Mine for their underground mine tour.
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Pre-booking is essential so please contact them a few days prior to your visit to avoid disappointments. More details on the tour can be found on their website. The underground mine tour was mind-blowing, honestly! Do note that you will be walking through a real mine where you will pass through confined dark spaces with headlights and stairs to climb, so be prepared for some real adventure! After the tour, we were served delicious hot fresh scones with cream and jam as well as tea in their tearoom. Trust me, they were the best scones I have had in my life! Their Quandong jam was delicious as well.
After enjoying the scones, we headed to Mundi Mundi Lookout to enjoy the spectacular view over the seemingly endless Mundi Mundi Plains. From here, you can see the earth's curvature!
Our next stop was Silverton. We spent some time in Silverton exploring its streets and visited Silverton Gaol Museum and John Dynon's Art Gallery.
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We then had our lunch at Silverton Hotel and headed to The Big Picture, the world’s largest acrylic painting by a single artist, that’s housed in the Silver City Mint and Art Centre. The Big Picture is 82 times larger than the replica shown below!
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It was then time to leave Broken Hill to head to Mungo National Park, a world heritage-listed national park that is home to the famous Mungo Lady and Mungo Man. There are two road options to go to Mungo from Broken Hill:
- Take the Silver City Hwy/B79 all the way to Mourquong and turn left onto Arumpo Rd (near Buronga Rest Area) where only the last 85 or so kilometres of the drive will be on an unsealed road. The total distance will be 396km and this trip takes 4 hr 21 min. We recommend this route if you only have a 2WD and would like a comfortable drive.
- Take the Menindee Rd to go via Menindee. This will give you an opportunity to visit the famous Menindee Lakes before heading to Mungo. However, note that once you pass Menindee Lakes, the road will then predominantly be unsealed! The total distance will be 366km and this trip takes 4 hr 27 min, as per Google Maps. However, this will take much longer if this is the first time you will be driving on an unsealed road especially with a 2WD, as you will be driving on a badly corrugated road. Go ahead if you only have a 2WD and would like some real adventure! On the other hand, 4WD vehicles will seamlessly handle this road.
As mentioned earlier, due to timezone differences, when you depart Broken Hill, you will lose 30 minutes of your travel time. Please take this into account while planning your departure/arrival times.
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As we wanted to quickly visit Menindee Lakes on our way to Mungo, we took route #2 stated above and headed to Menindee Lakes.
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After exploring Menindee Lakes in the short amount of time we had, we then started to Mungo National Park. This drive ended up being one of the most memorable for us! As soon as we entered the unsealed road, our car started playing up due to a minor tire pressure sensor issue and we ended up being stuck on the road for a couple of hours. When we resumed our journey, we had lost much of sunlight, so not only did we have to handle the rough road with a 2WD in pitch dark, but also had to handle kangaroos and rabbits frequently crossing us on the already heavily corrugated road.
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But, despite all the challenges, we did thoroughly enjoy that drive! We safely reached our hotel, Mungo Lodge (a bit late in the night though!) and checked into our glamping tent comfortably for the night.
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A note about Mungo roads: The roads to and in Mungo are unsealed and may be badly corrugated depending on when they were last graded. There are NO fuel or service stations within the national park so make sure that you fill up before heading to the national park and carry a portable air compressor with a built-in tire pressure monitor, a car emergency kit, and a tire puncture kit so you can manage in an emergency. Also, carry surplus water with you.
Day 6 - Mungo National Park
We spent the entire day in Mungo National Park with a self-guided drive tour of the national park followed by a guided sunset tour. We have covered Mungo National Park in detail, in our Mungo post below.
A Day In Mungo National Park
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This marks the completion of this post!! Please read our post below for our itinerary to return back to Sydney.
The Return Leg To Sydney
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