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. The fare from Sydney is A$564 (US$451/UK£226) for adults and A$473 (US$378/UK£180) for children in a first-class sleeper, A$375 (US$300/UK£150) for adults and A$283 (US$226/UK£113) for children in an economy sleeper, and A$225 (US$180/UK£90) for adults and A$120 (US$96/UK£48) for children in an economy seat. Contact Great Southern Railways (tel. 08/8213 4530) for timetables, fares, bookings, and more information. Greyhound Australia (tel. 13 14 99 in Australia, or 07/4690 9950) runs buses from Adelaide for around A$60 (US$48/UK£24); the trip takes 7 hours. The 16-hour trip from Sydney costs from A$96 (US$77/UK£38). Visitor Information The Broken Hill Visitors Information Centre, Blende and Bromide streets, Broken Hill, NSW 2880 (tel. 08/8087 6077; fax 08/8088 5209), 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 3144), conducts tours of the city and surrounding Outback. City tours take around 4 hours and cost A$45 (US$36/UK£18) for adults and A$20 (US$16/UK£8) for children. The company also offers a range of other tours of the area. Other good operators are Tri State Safaris (tel. 08/8088 2389) which runs many multiday tours into the Outback, and Broken Hill's Outback Tours (tel. 08/8087 7800). Hertz (tel. 08/8087 2719; fax 08/8087 4838) rents four-wheel-drive vehicles suitable for exploring the area. What Time Is It, Anyway? Broken Hill runs its clocks on Central Standard Time, to correspond with South Australia. The surrounding country, however, runs half an hour faster at Eastern Standard Time. | 
