Newman to Kalgoorlie

Thursday, 3^rd July – Newman was very cold early in the morning, but it quickly warmed up with clear, blue skies making for a very comfortable day’s drive.   Less than 20 k’s south of Newman we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, and during the morning’s drive we saw many magnificent wedge tail eagles on or near the road.    They don’t leave their feast of road kill until vehicles are very close to them, sometimes being a bit too slow to fly off as we saw several dead birds.  The countryside was much drier, with spinifex looking like fields of wheat, then mulga scrub, red dirt and gibbers.  We had planned to overnight at Meekatharra, but at our lunch stop at Gascoyne South a fellow traveller told us about a small caravan park at Karalunda.    It was in fact a boarding school for indigenous youth run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, with two cabins and space for about 8 vans – a great overnighter – and locally grown oranges and pumpkin for sale.

Friday morning we travelled 60 k’s to Meekatharra for fuel, then headed off on the first major dirt road of the trip, the Goldfields Highway, 180 k’s to Wiluna.   The road was in very good condition, with up to 50 k’s of bitumen, which was a pleasant surprise.    Our lunch stop was at Wiluna, which was the end of our Gunbarrel Highway trip in 2011.  It is also the start/finish of the Canning Stock Route.    We continued south to our overnight stay at Leinster, a BHP town for their nearby nickel mine.    It was established in the late 60’s and reminded me very much of Weipa the way the town centre, etc was set out.  We were surprised by the number and size of gold and nickel mines along the way today.

Start of the Goldfields "Highway"

Lunch stop at Wiluna

The drive south to Kalgoorlie was quite picturesque, passing through the historical gold mining towns of Leonora and Menzies. 

Main street of Leonora

Menzies

Town Hall, Menzies

The landscape nearing Kalgoorlie was very green woodlands with beautiful gums, wattle, grevilleas, and other species.    

We chose the Top Tourist Caravan Park at the end of Burt Street, the main street of Boulder, which is really an extension of Kalgoorlie.    The epicentre of an earthquake was in Boulder in 2010, and buildings are still being restored, though some will not be rebuilt.

The very cold south-westerly winds from a storm front were with us on Sunday, but we did visit the public lookout to the Super Pit, then had a walk around the streets of Kalgoorlie (very quiet, with no Sunday trading here).   Except for the wonderful bakery!   A good view of the town was had from the Mt Charlotte Reservoir, which holds water which is pumped from the Mundaring Dam in the Perth hills.

View from Mt Charlotte to Super Pit

Main street of Boulder to Super Pit

The Kalgoorlie Super Pit

Kalgoorlie Town Hall with gold-leafed dome

Part of Hannan St, Kalgoorlie

View towards town from Mt Charlotte Reservoir

The alarm was set on Monday morning so we could be at the office of the only company which conducts tours of the Kalgoorlie Gold Mine Super Pit – the office was not open on the weekend to book a seat.   It was an excellent tour, with lots of information and views from 2 lookouts within the Super Pit.   The mine has approval to continue until 2021, not sure what will happen after that.  The population of Kalgoorlie/Boulder is about 32,000 and there are new suburbs being developed, which would seem to indicate a long life for the town, with or without the mine.   It was interesting to learn that apart from mining in the pit, there is mining 1.2 k’s underneath the main street.    Tonight we had heavy rain with thunder and pea-sized hail – not something we have ever experienced in winter.

Tuesday was windy and very cold, so a visit to the Museum was a great indoor activity.   It was very informative, with lots of old photos and stuff.    While watching one of the TV screens, there popped up a photo taken in a Kalgoorlie office on the 4^th June, 1909 – just 1 day after Grandma was born.   

Today has been spent on van maintenance, washing, etc.    We were able to get our permits for the Great Central Road here which was very helpful.   Not sure where we will be tomorrow night, maybe Laverton,  but most certainly will be on the road to Uluru by Saturday – a 3 day drive on what will most likely be a very dusty, corrugated road – we won’t be in any rush.