Dust was blowing around when I woke and a decision was therefore made to skip breakfast. The clamshell rooftop tent is very easy and quick to close up and as I tend to pack everything after using it (a habit I don’t have at home) I was one of the first to leave Lake Ballard.
About 30km of unsealed road and then it was bitumen all the way to Menzies. However before reaching Menzies I stopped at a roadside rest area and cooked sausages and eggs for breakfast.
The rest stop had a small shrine where Australian humour was apparent. His mates had left a small collection of beer bottles at the base of the cross.
Menzies is a small former goldmining town established in 1894. At its peak the population was 10,000. However within a decade that rapidly declined when the gold ran out. Today the population is only a couple of hundred and we know, courtesy of Gormley 51 of them are skinny with droopy breasts. I was unable to confirm this latter point as there wasn’t a soul in sight.
No opportunity for a pie at the bakery
I do like Australian hotels
Menzies would like to be famous for it’s 100 year old clockless Town Hall. The Town Hall stood clockless for 100 years after the ship bringing the clock from England sank in the Indian Ocean. The town fathers decided against purchasing a replacement worried about the repetition. It wasn’t until 2000 that the town father eventually had a clock installed.
It is just over 130km from Menzies to Kalgoorlie. With a population exceeding 30,000 Kalgoorlie is the largest city in the goldfields region. Established in 1893 it was rapidly overtaken by the nearby town of Coolgarie where richer ore was found. However Coolgardie subsequently declined as a major population centre. In 1896 the railway from Perth arrived along with the water pipeline.
Kalgoorlie used to have a reputation as a “wild west” area with bandits and prostitutes. For many years the “Hay Street Stables” did a roaring business serving the needs of the miners. Illegal; but ignored by the law, the stables (brothels) existed for many years they have now gone (mostly). At its peak Kalgoorlie had 79 hotels and more than 30 breweries.
The Palace Hotel. Years ago I stayed in the hotel on the recommendation of a work colleague’'. The hotel held fond memories for him as it’s where he met his wife. No; she didn’t work in the Stables. AND NO! For the record I didn’t visit the Stables during that trip….. or on any other visit!!!!
From a tourism perspective Kalgoorlie is probably best known for it’s interesting buildings and the ‘Super Pit which is the largest open cut mine in Australia. Originally created as a number of underground mines which were consolidated and then converted into open cut.
I last visited the Super Pit more than 25 years ago and it keeps on getting bigger. Currently it’s 2.5km long, 1.5km wide and over 600 metres deep.
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To give some idea of the scale the tiny yellow excavators in the above photos have a bucket this size.
The bucket has a capacity of 70 tonnes and each dump truck needs four bucket loads to fill it. The huge dump trucks take a hour to move from the bottom to the top of the mine. Many of the drivers are female as they are (apparently) more reliable and less inclined to damage the equipment.
One of the main reasons for stopping in Kalgoorlie was to refuel the Isuzu and the five jerry cans as my next leg would be taking me back into remote country.
3 comments :
Well the lady hanging the washing looks better than the men in the lake, that's art I can understand
We stopped at that giant pit too, on our train trip, it surely is an amazing sight.
Sadly Brian I suspect you're very much like me and don't have much of an artistic eye. :-)
Jenny, I believe the pit can be seen from space. One question I have is "Where did they put all the earth that came out of the hole?"
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