With no real reason to leap out of bed this morning, we elected to slowly let the blood start to flow, and the morning warm up before sticking our heads out.
After breakfast G and Peter headed off to a caravan park for a day so they could do the washing, fill water tanks etc. Google did its usual trick and took us for a reverse lap around Kalgoorlie before dropping us off exactly where we would have been half an hour earlier had we just read a paper map.
The van park was standard fare save the multiple signs telling us to lock everything up due to the prevalence of stealing offences in the area! Welcome.
After chores we met Trevor and Sue in Kalgoorlie town centre for lunch. Trevor had earlier spoken to us about a phenomenon called ‘Skimpies’ that we just had to experience in Kalgoorlie. Peter looked forward to a tasting plate of Skimpies. They sounded like they were some form of juicy crustacean. Whilst waiting to catch up, G and Peter stuck their heads in the door of the Exchange Hotel and got a face full of a life size Skimpy. Standing behind the bar, it had flawless dark skin, was scantily clad in a lacy pink top with matching see-through knickers covering a skimpy G-String. After recovering from the sudden education, Peter was certainly glad he did not have a whole plate of these to eat for lunch! We later noticed billboards outside a number of hotels advertising the same menu.
In due course we had lunch at the York Hotel. Sitting on the upstairs balcony of this historic building we looked out over the city and ate incredible food. The sun was warm, the skies clear and life was indeed good. Inside the hotel, secrets of its past remained. Rooms adorned with carved wood, archways, massive leather lounges and ornate lighting were the order of the day. We agreed the days of the Kalgoorlie gold rush must have been heady times in Australia’s history.
The afternoon was spent visiting the Super Pit, being the Kalgoorlie mine site. We went without expectation. A big hole in the ground is a big hole in the ground. How wrong we were. This was not just an average backyard hole. It’s proportions are impossible to grasp. Massive 200-ton dump trucks look like matchbox cars. This is massive on any scale. We learned that they take about 500,000 ounces of gold out of the mine every year. Quickly calculating that amount at about $1800 per ounce, we realised it was…….a lot!
Lastly we headed to old Boulder town main street. Sadly the street is dilapidated with most shops closed and not much sight of redevelopment or a future. The old buildings however were amazing. The history literally dripped out of them. It was impossible not to be enchanted by the area.
Back at the van we did not much, still processing the massive lunch we had enjoyed. Dinner was a ridiculous thought we tried to avoid.
