Day 102: Fri 28 Jun 24 - Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie

Fri 28 Jun 24 - Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie (226km)

7 Deg with moderate SE winds and raining most of the morning, to 18 Deg and cloudy at Kalgoorlie with a late evening thunderstorm.


With steady rain falling overnight and this morning, we lingered in bed a little longer than usual, then eventually got out to pack up and set off for Kalgoorlie at 09:10am.  The first 100km from Southern Cross was rough - the worst road we have experienced in WA. With steady rain overnight, and rain continuing to fall as we drove away, there was a lot of water along the side and across the road. With a lot of trucks driving towards us, it made for difficult driving conditions. After about 100kms, the rain started to clear, and the roads improved.We eventually arrived safely in Coolgardie where we parked and had a quick look around. Coolgardie once saw the biggest movement of people in Australian history when gold was found in 1892, and at the height of the gold rush in 1897, Coolgardie was WA’s third largest town, servicing a population of 25,000 residents and over 700 mining companies. Coolgardie doesn't look anything like that town anymore, but there are still several gold mining companies operating here.


Our short visit to Coolgardie probably didn't do it justice, but it's not too far back from Kalgoorlie if we decide we need to see more. Onwards we continued another 38km to Kalgoorlie where we arrived at the Discovery Parks Kalgoorlie Goldfields Caravan Park at 12:30. Our allocated site is quite large, but it has a fence running a few metres across the front with a light pole stuck about 3m in from the side, and I found it impossible to reverse the van around the pole without hitting the fence. Thankfully, the man parked behind us moved his Patrol so I could drive through from the back. Not sure how I will go getting out of here when we leave, but that is a problem for Tuesday. In hindsight, we should have asked for a different site.


After setting up, and having our caffeine fix, we drove into the Visitor Information Centre to plan our three day stay in Kalgoorlie. After arming ourselves with enough information to keep us occupied, we went for a stroll up and down the main street, then Noel set off to Coles to buy a few groceries, while I went exploring more and snapped a few photos. Just a short walk around today reveals a city rich with history, and some wonderful architecture and character buildings, contrasting with some brilliant street art and murals. We're looking forward to our stay here, unfortunately the Superpit Tour (the second largest working gold mine in the southern hemisphere) that we had planned here, won't eventuate because of current mine expansion works, so we will have to make do with views from the lookout. 


More on Kalgoorlie over the coming days.

Coolgardie -Town Hall

Coolgardie - Marvel Bar Hotel

Coolgardie - War Memorial

Coolgardie - Marvel Bar Hotel

Coolgardie - Main Street

Coolgardie - Main Street

Coolgardie -Town Hall

Coolgardie -Town Hall

Coolgardie -Town Hall

Coolgardie - Main Street

Coolgardie - Main Street

Coolgardie - Ben Prior Park 
An open air museum that gives an insight  into the history of Coolgardie.

Coolgardie - Ben Prior Park 
Named after Ben Prior a prospector who arrived in the area in 1932 before setting up a fuel and mechanical workshop

Coolgardie - Ben Prior Park

Coolgardie - Ben Prior Park


Kalgoorlie -Miner and Western Argus Newspaper Offices

Kalgoorlie - The York Hotel

Kalgoorlie - The York Hotel

Kalgoorlie - Hannan St (The Main St) 

Kalgoorlie - Hannan St

Kalgoorlie - Hannan St

Kalgoorlie - Hannan St

Kalgoorlie - Hannan St

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art

Kalgoorlie - Street Art


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 109: Fri 05 Jul 24 - Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta

Image
Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta (450km)  It was 8 Deg and feeling much less, raining on and off from 4:00am for the first 100km, then cloudy and very windy for the rest of the day. At Port Augusta it reached 18 Deg with strong winds gusting in excess of 60km/h. The past few days have been tiring driving in the wind and rain with lots of heavy transport travelling in both directions, so it was nice to have a quiet start to our 450km drive today. This post is a little light on photographic material, as we have now covered the stretch between Ceduna and Port Augusta three times in the past 18 months, so we kept driving with minimal stops.  Coffee was had at the Minnipa rest area, then lunch at the Kimba roadhouse, before arriving at 3:00pm at the Discovery Parks Caravan Park in Port Augusta for an overnight stay.  We have a drive through site for the night for a quick get away tomorrow. From here we have settled on a couple of nights at Clare for a bit of a brea...
Read more

Day 111: Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare

Image
Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare  The overnight temperature dropped to 6 Deg with 54km/h winds which eventually eased by the time we climbed out of bed. No surprise though when we woke, it was raining again, and it continued raining until mid afternoon, so it was a day of forced rest which we both enjoyed. The day comprised coffee in town this morning, then a visit to Hill River Wines to buy a few local wines. I chose this winery out of all others because t hey are a young cellar door and they are family owned. The wines also tasted nice. Back at the van, we had a quiet afternoon resting and watching a documentary series about one of Australia's biggest and strangest art heists on SBS.  It's about an investigation into the art heist from the New Norcia monastery where we recently visited - it's very interesting. Check it out.  The clouds cleared late afternoon, so I mustered the motivation to go out into the cold (6 Deg) for a late walk, before we drove back into town for an Indian ...
Read more

Day 11: Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) - Madura Pass to Norseman

Image
Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) Madura Pass to Norseman (530km) It was 14 Deg with a very slight SE breeze and a light dew, reaching 32, clear and sunny with no wind at Norseman. It was a lovely morning, and a nice change waking to early daylight, so we took the opportunity to get on the road earlier than usual. Today was a long haul, 530km along very good road, but with not a lot to see. We were amazed at how green the countryside was, and particularly so around Madura. This is clearly a reflection of all the recent heavy rain had in the region. One other observation from our trek across the Nullarbor, is despite the various Camel, Kangaroo, Wombat, Cattle and Emu warning signs, we did not see any roadkill. Disappointingly, Noeleene went another day without spotting a camel (dead or alive). The traffic today was well spread out, and the majority was Heavy Transport Trucks and caravans - all well behaved, and surprisingly a lot of three-wheeled motorbikes.  We also spotted a couple mor...
Read more