Planning a Trip

Getting There

By car, take the Great Western Highway from Sydney to Dubbo, then the Mitchell Highway to the Barrier Highway, which will take you to Broken Hill. Southern Australian Airlines (book through Qantas, tel. 13 13 13 in Australia) also connects Broken Hill to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Mildura.

The Indian Pacific train stops here on its way from Sydney to Perth twice a week. It takes nearly 16 hours, leaving Sydney at 2:55pm on Saturday and Wednesday and arriving in Broken Hill at 6:40am the next day. You only get to stay a very short time in Broken Hill though. A 1-hour whistle stop tour is available. The fare from Sydney is A$680 (US$612/£306) for adults and A$513 (US$461/£230) for children in a first-class sleeper, A$485 (US$436/£218) for adults and A$353 (US$317/£160) for children in an economy sleeper, and A$295 (US$265/£132) for adults and A$133 (US$120/£60) for children in an economy seat. These prices regularly go up though. Contact Great Southern Railways (tel. 08/8213 4530; www.gsr.com.au) for timetables, latest fares, bookings, and more information.

Greyhound Australia (tel. 13 14 99 in Australia, or 07/4690 9950; www.greyhound.com.au) runs buses from Adelaide for around A$60 (US$54/£27); the trip takes 7 hours. The 16-hour trip from Sydney costs from A$96 (US$86/£43).

Visitor Information

The Broken Hill Visitors Information Centre, Blende and Bromide streets, Broken Hill, NSW 2880 (tel. 08/8080 3560; www.visitbrokenhill.com.au), is open daily from 8:30am to 5pm. The National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) office is at 183 Argent St. (tel. 08/8088 5933); and the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, which offers reciprocal services to other national and international auto-club members, is at 261 Argent St. (tel. 08/8088 4999).

Note: The area code in Broken Hill is 08, the same as the South Australia code, not 02, the New South Wales code.

Getting Around

Free, volunteer-led tours lead off from the Visitor's Centre at 10am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from March to October. Silver City Tours, 380 Argent St. (tel. 08/8087 6956; www.silvercitytours.com.au), conducts tours of the city and surroundings every day apart from Monday. Half-day city tours take around 4 hours and cost A$62 (US$56/£28) for adults and A$35 (US$32/£16) for children. The company also offers other tours of the area, including a Saturday tour to White Cliffs costing A$160 (US$144/£72) for adults and A$90 (US$81/£41) for kids.

Other good operators are Tri State Safaris (tel. 08/8088 2389; www.tristate.com.au), which runs many multiday tours into the Outback, including 1-day tours to Mutawintji National Park for A$165 (US$148/£74) and White Cliffs for A$168 (US$151/£75); and Broken Hill's Outback Tours (tel. 08/8087 7800; www.outbacktours.net), which offers several multiday tours of the Outback. It's well worth doing some solid research on their websites before you leave home.

Hertz (tel. 08/8087 2719; fax 08/8087 4838) rents four-wheel-drive vehicles suitable for exploring the area.