One of the Living Desert sculptures. Not my photo, I lifted it from Google images, but I did take some photos, just can't find them!
Between Silverton and Broken Hill is a reserve called the Living Desert. It's on a hill with majestic views over the desert landscape and has a number of impressive sculptures. We parked the bike in the car park and walked up to see the colours of the sunset illuminate these works of art. It was quite a long and steep walk given that we were in the desert. As the sun set, the colours changed through various shades of amber and red. Breathtaking! And then the stars appeared. It was a moonless night and this made the Milky Way clearly visible. We laid on the ground and pondered the meaning of life, our place in the universe.......and how good the chicken parmigiana was at the pub. Then we got up to leave and I started to realise we were the only people there and it was very dark.
I couldn't find the track. We walked for a while heading downhill but then it flattened out and still no track. Just rocks that we kept tripping over. There was a faint glow in the sky so I reckon that was Broken Hill, but it was getting very cold and I didn't like my chances of wandering through the desert towards that far away glow. Panic started to set in. No phone. No torch. Just us.
Eventually I walked into a chain strung between posts and followed it. After an hour, we found the carpark and the bike and it was ever so comforting to hear that big boxer engine fire up and the lights come on. It could have been a very different outcome.