There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills

There is gold in them thar hills andunfortunately

for us its still there. We’ve been down Kalgoorlies Super Pit the world’s largest open cut gold mine and on a gold prospecting tour but all we’ve got to show for it are a rusty nail and pieces of bullets.

Tonight is our third night in Kalgoorlie, an interesting place. We’ve walked the streetsincluding those of the neighbouring town ofBoulder inspecting heritage buildings, heard tales of the old timers and what they got up to and even toured the oldest still operating bordello.

The Super Pit is a massive hole in the ground about ½ a kilometer deep and 2 long covering

much ofthe golden mile. You can see openings to some of the old mines in its wall and they descend a further km below the current pit floor. It has been estimated that the old mines comprised about 9000km of tunnels. (That’s long enough to get from here to Tasmania and back!)

PS Those little Tonka trucks hold 240 Tonnes and take 2 shovelfuls to fill

Across the Nullarbor

Don’t let anyone tell you there are no trees on the Nullarbor Plain. That’s what Adrian thought and he failed to look up when he parked at the Nullarbor Roadhouse campground. Fortunately there was no damage done by the branch scraping across the roof.

We started our trek across the “treeless” plain on Sunday. The road signs in SA warned of Kangaroos, Wombats and Camels. When we made it to WA on Monday it was Kangaroos, Emus and Camels. We did see some dead kangaroos providing eagles and crows their dinner but none of the other warned creatures. There were dingoes at the Nullarbor Roadhouse, a sea lion at thewhale viewing platform at the head of the bight and a whale at another scenic lookout.

We inspected an opening in a cave system called the Caiguna blow hole, but it wasn’t blowing. After about 500k of straight road there was a sign advising we reached the 90 mile straight, Australia’s longest straight road, this was pretty exciting. It was along this section of road that Adrian remarked on a rocky outcrop on the side of the road. Joy made him turn around so she could see it too. On closer inspection the outcrop was the side of an old quarry which is now a rubbish tip! Anything seems interesting after two days of salt bush.

Some time on Tuesday morning the plain ended. Unlike at the start there was no sign to tell us it had ended. But there were progressively more and bigger trees and these turned into a forest. At the Norseman Visitors Centre we were issued with a certificate to commemorate our journey.

Tuesday was our 30^th wedding anniversary so Joy asked at the Visitors Centre where a good spot for dinner would be. Consensus was the best was the workman’s club but it didn’t open on Tuesday. The pub and the BP were the best options they could think of. When we arrived at the Caravan Park we noticed a nice looking restaurant at the Motel next door. The Park staff recommended it if it was open. Just check for lights at 6pm if they are on its open otherwise the chef is having a sickie. The lights did come on and we had an enjoyable meal served with a nice Margaret River clean skin.

Rocketing West to South Australia

It’s been a week since we left home. After a night of partying in Melbourne and mothers day lunch with the mothers we headed off on our adventure. The Pet Shop Boys sung “go west” and we did. With a stop-over in Horsham we made it to Adelaide on Monday for a pleasant evening of catch-up with old friends Joe and Helen.

Tuesday we headed north toWoomera, stopping off in Port Augusta for lunch and a walk aroundthe Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. Wednesday morning was spent exploring rockets and then we headed on to Coober Pedy for a night underground.

Talk about shop till you drop, Joy must have perused the wares of

20 Opal shops before declaring that she had seen enough.Adrian’s sigh of relief was premature because she found another 3 on the way to the Visitors Centre. We toured a couple of mines (one of which is still operating), an underground church and then did some noodling for, you guessed it, opal.

After spending a second night in Coober Pedy we traveled back to Port Augusta and then on to Kimba. No white lions, but it does claim to be halfway across Australia. Tonight we are in Streaky bay, having spent the day exploring interesting rock formations and a seal colony.

Loaded, Packed and Ready to Go

Everythings in including the kitchen sink. We head off tommorrow for Melbourne where Joy's neice Emily is throwing a going away party for us. She's calling it her 21st birthday ... but we know