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Kalgoorlie, we know we are getting close when we see all the mine sites along the highway, twin cabs race two and fro, passing our modern day caravansai of three vans, and the babble of voices on our two way as they pass by.
Then it sounds like someone is out the back of a mine site, looking for his own “nugget”. It's hard to imagine that out there in all that red dirt the gold is just sitting there, waiting to be found! Haha. Gold fever has set in.
(We tried out the metal detector, but no luck!)
We find our van park and settle in. First stop the laundry, we haven’t washed any clothes for a week so there’s plenty to do. The showers are great, the last one we had was on the Nullabor, do you know how precious water is? And what a privilege it is to turn on a tap? We certainly do after this trip, every drop counts.
With all the chores done, Greg and I head off to see Gerry, I had an accident with my camera, dropped it on the Nullabor! So I get an early mothers day present. They are on “special” and I am pleased.
Then
it’s off to The Super Pit, a huge hole in the ground that has produced around 50 million ounces since it was started back in the early eighties. To see those huge CAT 793 trucks reduced to matchbox size is a sight to see. That’s how deep this hole is!
Each truck carries 225tons of rock a load, and the gold that might be in a load is the size of a golf ball. Only one truck in six carries the ore, the rest is only waste, or low grade product. The trucks go up and down continuously 24 hours a day.
It’s only early and the wind up here on the top is bitter this morning, though it warms up later in the day.
The main St of Kalgoorlie has the best heritage style buildings that I have seen. Some are being restored to their former glory, it’s a very long street and a wide one. It’s like going back in time.
At Hammond Park there is a miniature castle made from local rocks and gems, and home to a range of native animals.
The Museum in Kalgoorlie, is very good, with four million dollars worth of gold in the vault. Nuggets and jewelery.
We took the lift up to the top of the building which is an original poppet head, there was a great view of the city. The buildings here are really quite magnificent, especially the hotels, they are so grand. And there are so many, one on nearly every corner.
Robyn and I went on the Bordello Tour of the oldest brothel in Kalgoorlie. It was well worth the $20 entry. The Madam, has a very cultured, and mesmerizing voice and she gave us the history of the brothel trade in Kalgoorlie. (I think she mesmerized us.haha)
There are no girls sitting in the windows here anymore. Containment as it was called, was lifted by the government in Perth, and now prostitution is not contained in Hay Street. Years ago when the miners flocked to Kalgoorlie the authorities wanted to make the town attractive to families, and all the brothels had to go to Hay St. It was a pretty tough life for the girls, in more ways then one, because they were never allowed to go up to the shops alone or go to any of the hotels. They were allowed to go to the Broad Arrow Pub, 23 miles out of
town, but they had to be back in the brothel between dusk and dawn. If they weren’t, the police would escort the girl to the train station and watch until she was out of sight. She could come back in two weeks, but if she did it again, she was banned from the town for good.
If you look at the photo, those pink doors would be open and the girls would sit inside a passageway, the customers would have to go into the passageway to talk to them, as they were not allowed out on the street.
We toured three rooms, and they all had a history,(of course) which we did hear about. It was really funny because she gave some pretty graphic scenes and the man behind me was taking some really deep breaths! Haha. If you want to hear the stories you will have to go on the tour it was really good.
Mothers Day turned out a very bad day for our fossickers though, while we were at the museum, one couple of our party had their car rammed by a Ute with a big bull bar. The car was damaged pretty badly, but thankfully the couple were safe
and there were no injuries.So now our friends have to wait there in Kalgoorlie to get the car back on the road. We have gone on ahead down to Cape Le Grande without them, they will catch up.
Cape Le Grande, what a beautiful sight driving in, home of the Nyungar people, with Mount Le Grande, the mountain spirit watching over us all. We climbed to the first lookout and what a view! From the red dust mining town of Kalgoorlie this morning to the pristine green waters and pure white sand of this lovely bay. Who could predict such a sight. The sunset was spectacular again, in a very different setting to The Nullabor.
Next day I am out on the beautiful white sand with the fishing rod, but only catch a crab and a baby whiting, no matter this view is wonderful, standing here is a pleasure. I go back to the van and pack lunch and we start up the 15 kilometre mountain walk. It’s not too hard going and there are some lovely wildflowers on the way, of course we only get about two kilometers up there and come to a deep valley, which was very steep, so
it was back to a big rock for lunch. Lots of little native flowers up here, and plenty of birds.
other nice beaches in this area and the Whispering Rock was great. It's a beautiful place to camp and plenty of walking tracks, someone saw the brumbies out on the beach the day before we leave, what a sight that must have been, but we are happy to see a little kangaroo.
Another great stay, from Kalgoolie to this paradise of Cape Le Grande, and tomorrow we are on the road again.
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