Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Kalgoorlie from
Charlotte Hill Lookout

The Super Pit.

Kalgoorlie, home to the gold rush that started in 1894, and is still going strong, 120 years on. It is just mind boggling, the amount of gold that has come out of the ground around here. It is a commodity priced by the ounce, but produced by the tonne. Thousands of tonnes each year. Today, it is huge scale mining. You only have to visit the huge hole in the ground, The Super Pit, to understand the scale of today's operations, but it wasn't always that way. The history of Kalgoorlie is amazing. Hardship on a scale that is unimaginable, fortunes made and lost, disease, and an endless search for precious water, are all part of that history.

Kalgoorlie Town Hall.

Boulder Town Hall.

Today, Kalgoorlie-Boulder as it is officially known, is a thriving country town of 32,000 people, 600 kilometres east of Perth. What had originally been two separate towns, became one in the early 1990's. It is a bit funny really, as there are two town centres, both with their own Town Hall. Both with a fantastic array of historic buildings, and most have been retained and restored. In fact, Boulder's main street, Burt Street, is currently undergoing a complete face lift, restoring the

Restored Boulder shops.

Restored Pub.

street scape to its original form. What has been completed is wonderful. Many of the restored buildings are pubs. In its heyday, this place boasted 93 hotels, and as you drive around the town and suburbs, you find that many are still operating. You may recall, that Boulder suffered a pretty big earthquake just back in 2010. A lot of the historic buildings were damaged. Insurance money, now followed by a boost from the Heritage Fund, will see the main street of Boulder restored to its original glory.

Old Post Office & Court House.

The York Hotel.

We called in at the Visitor Centre, which is in the Town Hall, and inquired about various activities and tours. They are very proud of all the history and heritage of the town, and offer a number of free walking tours, some escorted and some not. For those not escorted, there are excellent brochures to help you find the way and explain the many points of interest. It is a busy time in Kalgoorlie Boulder, with the annual "Race Round" happening. This is one of the biggest country horse

Paddy Hannan found the first Gold.

The Exchange Hotel.

racing carnivals in Australia. It is a real carnival week. It starts with the Boulder Cup meeting on the first Sunday, followed by Ladies Day and the Hannan Handicap on Wednesday, and finishes with the Kalgoorlie Cup on the Saturday. All feature races carry prize money between $120,000 and $160,000, so it is pretty serious. We are going to the Kalgoorlie Cup meeting, but more on that later. We took our time doing the

Inside the Palace Hotel.

An Institution in Kalgoorlie!

walking tour around Kalgoorlie, checking out the the 35 listed historic buildings. The Town Hall is a treasure, the old Post Office and Court House is very grand with its gold turret, and some of the hotels are real gems. The Palace, The York and The Exchange, have hosted some big name guests and events, and some of the timber work and mirrors inside these grand old buildings are magnificent. Monty's is an institution in Kalgoorlie. We had to call in for a coffee. It is a grand old building, but the coffee was just OK. Everywhere you walk, there are historical old buildings. It just shows how much money has been in this town.

We drove up and stood at the Super Pit Lookout, just staring down into this huge hole. All of the original mining was underground tunneling, and on separate leases. It wasn't until Alan Bond started to buy up all the leases in the 1970's, that open cut mining commenced. He never got to finish the job, but others did, and now the great hole in the ground is visible from space!! And there is a lot more to go!! A drive up to Charlotte Hill Lookout gives a good view out over town and much of the mining activity. It is

The water pipeline from Perth.

Nickel Mine on the edge of town.

also home to the water tank that supplies the towns water. There is no natural water supply nearby, and back when gold was discovered and 200,000 people arrived, water was more precious than gold!! It was claimed, that in 1896, 90 percent of WA's population lived within a 100 mile radius of Kalgoorlie! Water was a major problem. In 1905, the amazing plan to pipe water from Perth was hatched and the pipeline was built. It was, and remains, one of the world's greatest ever pipeline projects, and along with the Snowy Mountains Scheme and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is only the third Heritage Listed Engineering project in Australia.

Oldest brothel in Australia!

Madam explains the Bondage Room!

Wherever there are lots of working men, there are "working" women. Kalgoorlie is home to Australia's longest running Brothel, and would you believe you can do a tour. Sorry fellas, no free samples, but it was a scream!! We joined 15 other people on a tour. The madam, who runs the brothel with her mum, gave us a real hands on experience. She didn't hold much back, and I think some of the older folks on the tour needed extra heart medication when they got back to their caravan park!! There would be some interesting stories tonight at Happy Hour!!

Happy Hour with Sue & Alan.

On about our third day at the caravan park, someone new arrived opposite us. The bloke stared at me with that "I know you look", and it dawned on us at the same time, that we had shared dinner and many drinks when we had been on the Horizontal Waterfalls overnight tour, when Jill was holidaying with us. That was a night to remember. We all went to bed with sore ribs from laughing! Alan & Sue are great company, so we renewed our

Desert style layout.

On the tee at Kalgoorlie GC

acquaintance over happy hour, with many more laughs as we compared travels since we parted company in Derby. They live at Engadine in Sydney, and we have found some new friends to keep in touch with. It was sad when we waved them good bye, but I'm sure we'll catch up again soon. To cheer ourselves up, we headed out to the golf course. Kalgoorlie now has a magnificent Graham Marsh designed golf course, rated among the world's best desert courses. It is a public course, with reasonable rates, and we

Oiled sand greens at Kambalda.

The gallery at Kalgoorlie GC.

 enjoyed a round on a beautiful sunny day. The Kalgoorlie Golf Club, is also the start (or end) of the Nullabor Links Golf Course, the longest golf course in the world, at 1350 kilometres. Yes that's right, kilometres! The final hole is at Ceduna, in South Australia. The course plays either way, and you buy a card, and get if officially stamped at each hole along the way. When you complete the course you present the stamped card, and head to the Ceduna or Kalgoorlie Visitor Centre, and get presented with your certificate. I have now completed 3 holes. The first two holes are the 1st and 2nd at Kalgoorlie, the 3rd is at Kambalda Country Club, about 60kms south of Kalgoorlie. This is going to be one hell of a game of golf!!!

Welcome to Coolgardie.

Old Coolgardie Court House.

We enjoyed a drive out to nearby Coolgardie, another of the gold mining towns. It is only 26 kms west of Kalgoorlie. There was another big gold find here in the 1890's, and mining continues around the region. It is a small town now, but there are some impressive buildings along the main street, which is the highway to Perth. We wandered into a second hand shop, and got lost for a while checking out the amazing array of collectibles and other prized junk!

Happy Hour with friends.

Off to the races.

Friday, we were all excited, as our Perth friends, Moira & Geoff and Di & Graham, were arriving from Perth for a holiday with us, before we leave the west. It is amazing how quickly our friendship has developed, and Carolyn & I thought it was wonderful when Moira & Geoff announced when we were up in Broome, that we couldn't leave WA without another catch up. So we agreed on the destination, Kalgoorlie for the Kalgoorlie Cup race weekend, followed by a few days in Esperance. Di & Graham were bringing their brand new Lotus Trooper caravan on its maiden voyage. A really nice rig, designed for serious off

Di, Moira & Carolyn.

A day at the races.

road, with a touch of luxury. Once set up, Happy Hour was huge, followed by a delicious dinner of Chili Beef that Carolyn had cooked up for their arrival. The weather was great, warm and balmy, and when Carolyn bought out the Millionaire's Pie for dessert, I thought Geoff was going to pass out from joy! The race weekend was a lot of fun. Everyone could get dressed up. The weather was hot, and the event was very well done. We headed out to the course early, collecting another couple

Orechiette Restaurant.

A huge crowd at the Cup.

of Moira's friends, Denise & Clive, who had come up from Perth for the Cup. As is usual, our betting was wide of the mark, though a few winners were backed, and a few champagnes were downed. Geoff and I as the drivers, were very glad of our decision to be cautious, as the police had half the exit street blocked and were breath testing every car that left the course!! My second breath test in 3 days!! For dinner that night, we had booked a night out at a lovely Italian Restaurant in Kalgoorlie. We had also booked taxis! Orechiette Restaurant, was lovely. Great food and friendly service. We were the last to leave, and when we asked them to book us a taxi for the trip home, were shocked to be told there would be a 45 to 60 minute wait!! The young lady maitre'd, solved the problem, when she told us she would drive us back to the caravan park in two lots! Talk about service!! We tipped her the taxi fare!!

Carolyn at the Mining Museum.

Bye Bye Kalgoorlie Boulder.

Sunday morning it was blowing a gale as we walked up to Boulder to do the markets. There was hardly anyone around. We thought it was the wind, but they told us that everyone was at Coolgardie for their markets and carnival day. So instead, we headed back to the caravan park, got the cars and went into Kalgoorlie for coffee. Good choice! That afternoon, Denise & Clive came around for Happy Hour. It was still windy but warm. We had packed most of the gear away, and when the park manager came by and invited us to a sausage sizzle they were putting on, we all decided dinner was solved! That night around midnight, the cold change hit! More wind and rain, and a huge drop in temperature. Sunday had been a record hot day at 35 degrees. Monday was forecast at 16 degrees and wet!! A good day for a drive to Esperance!! We had noticed a loose bit hanging from under Graham's Landcruiser, so took it up to Toyota to get it looked at. The diagnosis was slow, so we changed plans, and only us, plus Moira & Geoff headed for Esperance, while Di & Graham stayed an extra night at Kalgoorlie.

Esperance, here we come. Please get warm!!!