A local’s guide to Broken Hill: ‘Chances are, someone will spark up a chat’ | Australia holidays

My parents moved to Australia from Italy in the 1950s but they met here. I was born in Broken Hill, in far west New South Wales, on country that’s traditionally owned by the Wilyakali people. I left as a teenager but I came back in 2009 when my sister and I bought the Palace hotel (made famous in the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert). We started the Broken Heel festival in 2015 as a tribute to the film and last year it sadly hung up its heels.

Food

For breakfast, the Silly Goat is run by a family that’s passionate about food and coffee. They make a lot from scratch and have healthy wholefood alternatives. A great hot breakfast can be found at the Astra, also on the main street (Argent).

For dinner, I’d recommend the Old Saltbush. Chef Lee Cecchin serves a great saltbush lamb as well as kangaroo and emu meat. She makes excellent sauces using bush foods and it’s a cosy dining room.

Green spaces

Early mining in Broken Hill decimated what few trees we had. It caused sand and dust problems so in the early 1900s they planted a green belt. You can drive to the edge of town anywhere and, where the streets end, is the regeneration area. It’s red dirt and dense, arid scrub – mainly saltbush and mallee – but you can lose yourself in it, especially in wildflower season (September and October).

If you park at the bottom of the Living Desert and Sculptures Symposium, a couple of bushwalks go to some amazing rocky outcrops with extensive views. Browne’s mine shaft overlooks the city and has lots of mining infrastructure and remnants. Imperial Lakes is an original lake area recently handed back to the local landcare group. They’re creating some gorgeous walks and there’s amazing bird life. The Broken Heel festival is planting a rainbow garden and there will be a reptile park too. Currently, it’s member access only ($22 annually).

We have a bigger scale in the outback so the vast Menindee Lakes system, about 100km away, is a place we go. There’s free camping on the southern shoreline at Lake Pamamaroo. The Baaka (Darling River) has beautiful river red gums, heaps of wildlife and camping in Kinchega national park.

Nightlife