Blogs from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 7

We left Esperance behind us and started our drive up to Kalgoorlie and arrived thankfully just before a huge thunderstorm front rolled in. We found ourselves a handy campsite just on the outskirts of town and the following morning we started a very busy day at the tourist information centre. Kalgoorlie was different than other towns we had visited; it was a gold mining town. Everything was just a little rough around the edges, and while tourism was very well set up there was a big contrast with sightseers and the workers of the town. In addition Kalgoorlie is in the middle of nowhere, in a semi-arid climate, and nothing but bush all around with a few smaller towns dotted in between. While we were here we took in a tour of the mining hall of ... read more

We are back in Norsman after driving to Kalgoorlie yesterday and staying there overnight. The beautiful gums with the bronze trunks were quite prevalent on the way and everywhere as we came into the twin towns of Boulder and Kalgoorlie. This is the main area of the goldfields - and my primary school lessons of Paddy Hannan finding gold there in 1893 came flooding back. The main street in Kalgoorlie is Hannan Steet and there is a statue of the man himself in front of the town hall. There are signs of what a wealthy town it was in those days with many large and ornate Victorian buildings. It is still a huge gold mining town. Alan Bond himself was responsible for buying all the individual claims to join together and beginning the open cut mining ... read more

Monday 4th May - So guess which trip we chose?!! Up early to book tour for Super Pit which started at 1.00pm. Gave us time to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service for W.A. based at Kalgoorlie Airport. Had an excellent talk by one of the staff on the structure and work of the RFDS then went and saw the 2 aircraft in the hanger. Was amazed how little room there was inside the aircraft for stretchers and all the medical gear etc. The medical teams come from all over the world but recruitment and retention is an issue. There are 5 pilots, 6 doctors and 7 nurses who work on a 24hour rota system. Made a few purchases before leaving as monies received go towards the RFDS. As for the Brothel trip Tony was worried ... read more

Dear all, it would appear that TravelBlog have had some server problems and a lot of our images from the last 10 or so entries appear to be missing. Apologies but we will try to remedy that as soon as we can. Thanks KangarooJack... read more

DAY 160 Another warm night and we wake up to a beautiful morning here in WA (Western Australia or as some locals put it “Wait Awhile”). We were both awake fairly early, Andy made a cup of tea and I stayed in bed for a while drinking it, but then it was time to look lively. We were meant to be moving on today, but we found that we had a lot to do, one important thing was arranging for the Patrol to be serviced at the Nissan Dealer, which there was in this town. So as early as possible Andy telephoned the Nissan dealership to see if they could fit us in. The good news is that they can do it tomorrow, so that is another good reason for staying here another night, but they ... read more