Start of Journey & Nullabor

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Our change of direction in life started on the 22nd March when we said our goodbye's to family and friends and headed north to stay with Rachel & Randal Edson at Pt. Augusta. From their we headed west and with marvelous weather we headed for Nundroo to stay on a huge property called Paxton Ag. The owners, Dianne & Brian Smith, are friends of Jen's (and now mine) from way back from the good old Laura days. They are a delightfull couple and after choking down a couple of beers and some wine along with a great meal, we headed for the caravan to enjoy some well earned sleep. The following morning we again headed further west and stayed at Baladonia and ejoyed a meal at the pub. A huge road gang was in town and this further added to the ambience of what would normally be a quieter stopover place. From there we headed for Kalgoorlie and booked into what is now an ex Big4 park. The following day we went for a tour at the mine and went down under to see how miners strut their stuff....very interesting indeed. We saw some gold being poured but in reality all gold is sent to Perth and made into ingots for security reasons. One of the great sites in Kalgoorlie is The PIT which is simply awesome. The attached photos show you a bit but the trcks which look like ants carry 250 tonnes at a time. New trucks are now able to carry 100 tonnes more. We also visited the mine at night and it is certainly something to see. We also visited the street where "ladies of the night" work, but all was quiet on that front. The "ladies" were nothing to write home about....but at least we have seen that side of Kalgoorlie. I am not sure if I would like to stay there for long but one coffee lounge we visited was of a good standard. We then headed for Perth after the mine tour mentioned earlier in this bulletin and arrived at about 7pm after yet another exhaustive day of travel.

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Photos

Family & Friends
Bob & Marg Smith hosted a farewell cuppa with family & friends prior to the \"big Trek\"

Our Nundroo Hosts
Brian & Di Smith with Jen at the 40,0000 acre property prior to our departure west.

Head of the BIGHT
The Australian bight comes to within a few hundred metres of the road. Small flies were a real nuisance.

The Great Austtralian Bight
The Bight is truly fantastic with the cliffs quite dangerous. The water really looks so blue

The Mine at Kalgoorlie
The tour underground was a real experience and it easy to see why so many miners lost their lives over the years.

The Mine Site
This is the mine site where Jen & I braved the lift and went down for a gander at the workings below.

The Gold Pour
A demonstration gold pour was very interesting but all gold is melted and poured in Perth for reasons of security.

Super Pit Kalgoorlie (Enlarge)
The Kalgoorlie Super pit is simply awesome with the trucks looking like ants. The new trucks can carry 350 tonnes.

Comments

[Marg]

Great
Very interesting, keep the journals coming luv Maggie

[Tan & Geoff]

Wow!
What great pics! Sounds like you are having an awesome time! Keep the news coming! I have yoru site on my favourites at work and will check regularly! xxx

[Anna]

mine
Good to see the mine and learn a little more. I have never seen one!