Travelling Post 33 - Kalgoorlie and the richest strip of land in the world - a post without photos sorry

From Adelaide I jumped on the train, thankfully not missing it this time, for a very long journey across half a continent, a journey that includes the longest stretch of straight rail tracks in the world. The journey lasted around 26hours and was mostly uninteresting, I saw very little wildlife and the bush was new to me for around 10 minutes then the view got repetitive and boring, I also made a couple of new friends but I've still to email them several weeks later.

My destination for this journey was Kalgoorlie, a gold mining town around 600km East of Perth, in the middle of nowhere.

Upon my night time arrival I was a little wary of Kalgoorlie, currently being the only (or at least one of the very few) places where prostitution is legal and brothels are plentiful - you can even do day tours of some of the older ones. This detail lends itself to make a person think about the type of occupants the towns people are (not that I ever pre-judge people!) Add to this already wariness the information that my hostel was on the same street as the brothels - but it wasn't one in case you needed clarification - unless they changed the meaning of YHA without telling me. When I left the train my wariness was not appeased, I walked down a poorly lit road with boarded up shop windows searching, without success, for the correct street. After passing right by my street I had to ask for directions to the hostel from a visitor information centre security guard where my reason for missing the street became apparent. The police station and the brothels are all on the same road, which wasn't really suitable, and so they changed the name of the street halfway down and I read the sign for the road that the police station was situated.

Now, set on the right course, I entered Hay St, the brothel and hostel street, and started walking. It was then I saw a pink neon lighted building and thought, that's definitely a brothel, or the pope's not catholic. In the dark I saw what looked like a path that skirted the edge of the road and was a good distance from the brothel withthe large security guard manning its entrance. In the light, the following day, I realised it was a very wide storm drain. The security bloke obviously spotted me and shouted over to me explaining that I was on the right road for the hostel, quite obviously laughing at me on the inside and shouting to me to point out that he knew I was avoiding him and the brothel. I comfort myself by thinking I am not the only wimpy-ass backpacker and the security man was well trained at spotting backpackers like me(the backpack is a big clue.)

After finding my hostel and getting a good nights sleep I decided to look around Kalgoorlie, there isn't much to see. I had one and a half days to look around it and with only three sights that interested me, The Super Pit, the Mining Hall of Fame and the Flying Doctors Visitor Centre, I believed I could walk to them all. I was wrong.

The walk to the Super Pit took far too long, I can't remember exactly how long, but it as most certainly too long. By the time I arived back into town I only had time to visit the Western Australian Museum, which was OK but nothing exciting. A nyway back to the Super Pit. The Super Pit is publicised as the richest strip of land in the world and is a huge open pit gold mine, and when I say huge I mean really, really, big, the photos I have don't do it justice so I'm not posting them. The Super Pit was nice for about ten minutes and then I left, there were some displays about which i read but quickly forgot.

The next day I had to choose between visiting the Flying Doctors and the Mining Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame looked nearer on the map and so after about a 1-2hr walk I arrived. It was worth the walk, far superior an attraction than looking at a big hole in the ground, even if it was really, really, big. The Hall of Fame had an information centre with signs chronicling mining in Australia over the years with a look to the future (asteroid mining!) and situated behind that was an old mining village set up for tourists to stroll around. I got to see gold being poured, although it was actually copper as gold is too expensive to use, and I went down a mine shaft on a tour of an old mine. I could have spent longer there, panning for gold, reading more signs but the walk took longer than I anticipated and so had to be off for my bus to Esperence which will be next weeks chapter.

TTFN

Travelling Post 32 - Adelaide

Whilst I am in Margaret River I will endeavour to catch you up on what I have been up to since Melbourne. I am not sure what may parents meant by being 'otherwise occupied' but the main reason I have not updated my blog of late is that the Internet costs a pretty penny in places I have been staying at recently, and also I have been busy travelling - and travelling and updating is not always easy.

Now back from the defensive, my travels led me from Melbourne to Adelaide. After a night of drinking in Melbourne, causing me to miss my train I arrived in Adelaide at a ridiculously early 5.10am, the morning after I wanted to be there. Arriving this earlier meant I had to wait at the bus station for 2 hours before the any hostel reception opened. After checking in I went to sleep before enjoying a picnic with friends I had met in Mildura - the girls I am living with now.

On my second day I visited the pretty port of Glenelg where I got to stand on the site where South Australia was proclaimed a Province and visited Rodney Fox's fascinating Shark Museum. Rodney Fox is a shark victim turned advocate who is now a leading world expert on sharks, particularly the infamous Great White Shark, his attacker. Whilst the museum is not big it is great value and was cram packed with information and lots and lots and lots of shark jaws, plus an interesting video on the life and work of Rodney Fox.

Above, the jaws of Jaws himself, the Great White Shark,
Below, a close up of the teeth of a Shortfin Mako Shark.

My third day was spent on wandering around town where I took in the sites of the botanical gardens (I have made it my mission to visit the botanical gardens of all the major cities I visit.) I also visited the Tandanya Indigenous Culture Centre, this was an art gallery with documentaries on the modern way of life of some of the remaining tribes. The documentary was insightful into another culture's way of life and followed a Northern Territories Aboriginal man, looking at his life throughout the 5 seasons of a year.

Before I left Adelaide, I had to visit the Zoo (another mission.) Adelaide Zoo was not as large as its Sydney or Melbourne counterparts but was still enjoyable enough with an excellent nocturnal creature exhibit. I got to see lions and other big cats being fed as well as a Sea lion feeding, plus an interesting look at the history of Zoos. What was advertised as a display on why the zoo does not hold elephants - because of space - was in fact more of a brief development of zoos throughout history. Charting how they used to be cruel habitats created for the entertainment for humans to becoming educational tools and vital to research in the fight to protect many endangered species. Sorry no pictures of animals this time.

The City of Adelaide was, as the Lonely Plant Guide described, more of a big town without a whole lot to do, especially if you have come straight from another city. That said I did like it, and it was a friendly and relaxed city, but I don't think I'd like to return unless I had a car and could tour it's surrounding regions.

Coming up in Chapter 33 - Kalgoorlie and the richest strip of land in the world.

Travelling Post 31 - A continent mastered

It has been over a month since my last update, when I left Melbourne. Over the past month I have been to Adelaide, jumped on a 26 hour train West to the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, bussed it to South Esperence where I got picked up by a couple of girls, drove to Cape Le Grand National Park, headed to Albany then further West to Margaret River where I am now, working on the vines to save up money again. More on all that in later updates, I'm only using thw internet on weekends at present and this is merely a quick update. An update on the most important event, travelling wise, that has occurred since I first stepped foot on this mighty continent.

On May 24th a single event, with an importance that equals any of the great threequels out at the cinema this year, took place. I reached the most South Westerly point in Australia, the point where two Oceans meet and the point where I crossed a continent, from East to West, via land. Now how many people can say they have done that?

Above, at the top of Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, with the most South-Westerly tip to my left.

Below, stood in No Man's Land, with the Southern Ocean to my East and the Indian Ocean to my West.