Blogs from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 9

What to top day today appears to be great as the sun is still out and the temp will be around 25 degrees, so we did some washing, took the dogs for a big run to tire them out so we left them in the van and headed off to the tourist info centre. 1st on the list was Mt Clarence lookout which is an ANZAC memorial. It was here the 1st ever ANZAC service in Australia was held here. King George Sound was where the ANZAC left Australia to sail overseas. This area is very beautiful and fantastic views of Albany through to the harbour then out to sea. After the lookout we drove to Princess Royal Fortress, this site is full of history with a guard house with a guard who you paid ... read more

Today is a nice warm one so we took a drive out to Whale World, but on the way we got sidetracked to the blowholes. What it is, is a small gap in the ancient granite rocks which is 25 mts drop to the ocean. The ocean currents were not pumping in the right direction as there was only noise but no water spray. Looked for some whales but none located. We went for a walk around Torndirrup National Park. Next was to Whale World were they showed how whales were hunted and killed then the bodies cut up for it’s oil and flesh. We decided not to stay too long here so off to Salmon Holes lookout but still no whales. We have been out for a few hours now so we went back to ... read more

A week of good progress and wonderful scenery down in the south of WA.We have spent some time on the coast(Albany,Bremer Bay,Esperance) and some at the inland notably Stirling Ranges National Park.On the coast we marvelled at the aquamarine blue of the southern ocean and saw whales at Point Ann near Bremer Bay-this time they were just 150m from our viewing platform.We also did some coastal walks but the biggest effort was scaling Bluff Knoll in the Stirlings-1100m elevation and for us a 3km walk that just kept going up.The photo from the carpark gives some idea of what we faced.The wild flowers have been on display and Janet has been ticking them off in her book.We came up to Kalgoorlie today from Esperance and will spend tomorrow looking around this mining city before starting on ... read more

We went to see Peter and Jo in Kalgoorlie for Easter 2008 weekend. Set off at Midday on Good Friday. Long drive..... T'was eerie at the place where the three truckies died. Fran was driving at the time and it was amazing how big an area the fire covered. It must of been 20 km at least. For some reason Fran turned the cruise control off at one point and 5 seconds later, there were the crosses marking the spot where they died. Eerie!!! Anyway, we arrived about 6:30pm. Next day we booked in for a poker tournament at the Metropole Hotel in Boulder for that night and then had a tour of Boulder and Kalgoorlie. Arrived back at P & J's right on time for the first game for Frans' beloved Dockers and the Mighty ... read more

Despite heavy rain last night we actually made it to Antony Gormely’s “Inside Australia” artwork, out on a “dry” lake bed in the middle of nowhere 180 kms north of Kalgoorlie this afternoon. Started east on the Indian Pacific train on Sunday, but after 11 hours got off in this large gold mining town for a few days and rented a 4WD land cruiser. We left our foot prints all across the lake bed as we tramped from one cast sculpture to another on the bleak but breathtaking landscape. In Kalgoorlie we looked down into the giant open cast gold mine “super pit”, went underground in another mine, took a brothel tour and visited several museums to learn just how full on gold mining still is here. ... read more