Back to Wentworth then on the road to Broken Hill. Plains, plains and more plains.   Long, long straight roads with a lot of kangaroos dead.   The crows flocking to do the tidy up.   Feral Mum, Dad and 4 kid goats crossing in front of us. Keeps you on your toes, always scanning for roos and anything else you must avoid hitting!

So many more feral goats, as we motor on, and some emus.   An awful lot of kangaroos killed on the last stretch.   Every 10 – 20 metres there is road kill ranging from well-picked bones to fresh kill.   As you can imagine, crows abound!    This is the outback!   This is the cycle of life!

A glorious day, and I am pretty excited with the prospect of going to Broken Hill.   So here we are, just coming into the city limits, slowing down to about 70kph ready for the 60kph coming up, when two emus ran out from the side of the road, straight into the right hand front guard.   Bill's reflexes were so fast as he turned the car away from them to avoid an actual collision.   In doing this of course, he needs to make sure not to put us in danger with the van on the back.    The road was totally clear in front of us and with the smoothness of his actions, steering smoothly away and then back, he expertly, and narrowly, avoided hitting them with the car.   Bill was watching the van in his rear view mirror and saw that one of the emus brushed the van which sat him(the emu – not Bill) literally on his bum in the middle of the road.   Thankfully, he got up and ran off with his mate.    I am sure their hearts were going 90 to the dozen as was Bill’s.    It was all over in a split second and a great outcome thanks to Bill.   Having witnessed his driving abilities over the years I know they are second to none and this incident, again, proves he is the best!

The caravan park is centrally situated which is good, as I had a long list of things to see and do.  

First stop was Pro Hart’s gallery.   I didn't quite know what to expect as I am not an art buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I have seen docos and some of his work over the years and was really keen to see more, considering Broken Hill is where he was born and raised, worked and died.   A true home-grown, home-town hero.   I also wasn't sure how Bill would take to this either, but then he can always sit in the car I suppose :)

The gallery was excellent, not overly huge but three floors of his works and his collections of old Rolls Royce’s outside, including the famous one he painted.

He was an extraordinary man with great insight and capability.   He was very clever in his use of colours, textures and the diversity of what he painted was incredible.   He was always experimenting and using different methods to get an effect.   Always reinventing his talent and learning!  He earned his nickname Pro, when he was working down the mines as a very young man.   Pro was short for Professor and his fellow miners gave him this name due to extensive knowledge and worldliness even at such a young age.

I had to buy a little something, which will be posted home as the last one on the shelf was gone when I went back to get it!

We both loved this gallery, reading the blurb on what inspired him to paint some of the pictures, and spent over an hour soaking in the atmosphere and vibe that seemed to be here.   There was so much of Pro Hart’s life depicted in these paintings, his presence could almost be felt!   It was a great experience.   I actually went back and bought a lovely (small) original signed etching.   It will always be worth something and what the hell!!!   He did a lot of these prior to his death – they will run out of them one day!