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from. Hundreds of ocher outlines of hands and animal paws, some up to 30,000
years old, are stenciled on rock overhangs. The fabulous 2-hour Outback trip
from Broken Hill to Mootwingee is along red-dirt tracks not really suitable for
two-wheel-drives and should not be attempted after a heavy rain.
Mootwingee Heritage Tours ( & 08/8088 7000 ) organizes inspections of
the historical sites every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 10:30am Broken
Hill time (11am Mootwingee, or Eastern Standard, time). The tours may be
canceled in very hot weather. The NPWS office in Broken Hill ( & 08/8088
5933 ) also has details. You can camp at the Homestead Creek campground for
A$11 (US$7.15) a night. It has its own water supply.
EXPLORING WHITE CLIFFS White Cliffs, 290km (180 miles) east of
Broken Hill, is an opal-mining town bigger than it looks. Unlike Lightning Ridge
(below), which produces mainly black opals, White Cliffs is known for its less
valuable white opals (as is Coober Pedy in South Australia). To escape the sum-
mer heat, most houses are built underground in mine shafts, where the tempera-
ture is a constant 73°F (23°C). Prospecting started in 1889, when kangaroo
shooters found the colorful stones on the ground. A year later the rush was on
and by the turn of the 20th century about 4,000 people were digging and sifting
in a lawless, waterless hell of a place. White Cliffs is smaller than Coober Pedy
and less touristy—which is its great charm. You also have a lot more freedom to
wander around the old opal tailings here, whereas in Coober Pedy they discour-
age it. However, given the choice between White Cliffs and Lightning Ridge
(below), I'd opt for the latter (though if you have time you should see both).
If you fancy an after-hours round of golf in the dirt (and who doesn't?), con-
tact the secretary of the White Cliffs Golf Club, John Painter ( & 08/8091
6715 after hours). He'll be happy to supply you with a golf club or two and a
couple of balls for A$2 (US$1.30). Otherwise, put A$2 (US$1.30) in the black
box at the first tee if you have your own clubs—but be warned, bush playing can
damage your clubs, and crows often make off with the balls. Visitors can play
day or night, but if you want some company, come on Sunday when club mem-
bers shoot it out.
Today, the countryside looks like an inverted moonscape, pimpled with bone-
white heaps of gritty clay dug from the 50,000 mine shafts that surround the
town. These days, White Cliffs is renowned for its eccentricity. Take Jock's
Place, for instance, an underground museum full to the beams with junk pulled
from old mine shafts. Then there's a house made of beer flagons and a nine-hole
dirt golf course where locals play at night with fluorescent green golf balls.
WHERE TO STAY: ABOVEGROUND & BELOW
One option is to rent a local cottage from Broken Hill Historic Cottages
( & 08/8087 9966 ) for A$80 (US$52) a night.
A Fabulous Place to Enjoy the Sunset
Just outside Broken Hill in the Living Desert Nature Park is the best col-
lection of sculptures this side of Stonehenge. Twelve sandstone obelisks,
up to 3m (10 ft.) high and carved totemlike by artists from as far away as
Georgia, Syria, Mexico, and the Tiwi Islands, make up the Sculpture Sym-
posium. Surrounding them on all sides is brooding mulga scrub. It's fan-
tastic at sunset.
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