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Published: August 9th 2007
Arriving back into Kalgoorlie after nine years was very exciting! We couldn’t wait to take a drive around the whole town and see what had changed. What had changed? Nothing! Well actually, that’s not true. The outskirts of town had become more populated with various businesses. There were now more clothes shops and at least 3 coffee shops making flat whites and lattes! But generally it all looked like it did when we left it.
However last time we were here we had a big group of friends who were now all gone (except for Dion and AJ, a kiwi couple we made friends with from our previous work here. They have had 3 kids since we left!). So it is a weird feeling coming back because it kind of feels lonely. My brother was here last time, so I miss him not being here.
This time around there are also more girls, and girls wearing clothes other than work wear - so I don’t feel like I stick out when wearing my civilian clothing (we wear fluro orange work wear most of the time!). Also, we both agree that it has lost a lot of the wild, rough
edge that it use to have. You can still find skimpies (women in undies!) serving at the usual bars, and the brothels are still here - although one has gone upmarket and is made of bricks as opposed to fibroboard with a corrugated iron roof! The same company offers tours of the brothel and is listed at the tourist centre as one of the town’s attractions!
There are heaps of kiwis over here. Reported to be a population of 30,000 in Kal with 10,000 of those being kiwi!
A few Irish too! Damien got a job working for Mick from Wexford in his electrical company 'Eircom' (the name is taken from the Irish telecoms company).
One ‘must have’ in the music collection before the trip across the Nullarbor was Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds are Burning’! I love that song. As a youngen, it was always one of my dreams to drive in the outback in a Holden Kingswood stationwagon with that song blarring as they do in the music video! Nine years ago, part of the realisation that Damien was my ultimate-dream-man was that he owned a Holden Kingswood stationwagon! It’s not quite the same this time around
in a Ford but we still cruise around pretending to be Peter Garrett and trying to get ‘the four wheels scarring the cockatoos’!
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Angus Galloway
non-member comment
Hey!
Great to hear from you guys - glad the romance is still alive! Especially in the back of that wagon... :)