Archive for October 19th, 2008
We headed off from Busselton and headed to Albany. The drive from a little town called Nanup to Bridgetown was one of the nicest drives we have done on this entire trip. Huge trees and a carpet of wildflowers underneath, we didn’t take the cameras out at all I’m afraid so we can’t show you just how magnificent it was.
Here on the south coast of W.A. in Albany and it is one of the most picturesque places we have seen. The weather has improved although it is very windy every day. We booked into the Middleton Beach Caravan Park. We had a wonderful site right next to the beach. Just down the road was the Dog Rock, in fact the whole place had huge rocks dotted around with houses built around them. All of the towns here in the south have beautiful buildings and have retained their heritage as much as possible.
The ship Doulos was in harbour and we went on board for a look around. The ship is staffed almost entirely by volunteers and travels as a floating bookshop. The profits are used for charitable projects throughout the world. We thought it would be a great thing to do for a year or two. About 300 people live on board from all different countries and backgrounds.
The coastline here is rugged and beautiful. We went for a drive to see The Gap and The Natural Bridge and went for a wander around the rocks. The roads are great, there are lookouts everywhere but unless you are in town there are no public loos anywhere.
They have a really good war museum here and a lighthorse section ( a friend of ours has written a book on the 8th Lighthorse) so we went to have a look at that and the impressive statue that stands on top of the hill. This is the view from the base of the statue, isn’t it just wonderful? In the middle of town, on the waterfront, is this replica of a brig. We went on board here too and you just can’t imagine sixty people travelling on this little thing. Down below you couldn’t stand up at all and 60 people plus animals and all the provisions sailed in this to Tasmania.
Our next stop was Esperance, again we were right on the beach but it was wet and windy. Gale force winds in fact. Again the coast road here, called The Great Ocean Drive, was pretty spectacular. We stopped to have a look at this lookout but it was so windy that only Motley1 made it to the top. Our next stop there was a climb down rather than up but sad to say neither of us was game to have a go as we would have had to come back up.
Every morning the sealions came up unto the beach and just lazed around. It was quite amazing to watch how graceful they were in the water and then how clumsily they moved on land. Esperance is quite a large port and we watched some ships to come in to load up with grain at the jetty. Pity about the weather as it wasn’t too good at all, the cold wind was the main reason we decided to move on so soon.
Boulder was our next stop and we booked in to the park here. The buildings in this area are wonderful, most of them restored to original condition and well looked after. Gold, of course, is what this area is famous for. Mines abound everywhere. We visited the War Museum here too.
This shot is of one of the numerous pubs, mines and pubs as far as the eye can see 
Skimpies are topless barmaids for the uninitiated but my favourite was the sign about the tropical beergarden, something not quite right there I think! Here is another of the pubs in town. What do you think this outstanding building is? Yes you’ve guessed it, another pub.
We went to the railway museum for a visit. They used to run a little train around what was called the Loop Line but the mine has taken some of it to transport their hauls.
Kalgoorlie is just next door to Boulder, twin towns really, you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
On our way into town we came across another one of those crossings where the road is tooooooo near the railway lines. I really don’t like being so near the train but the drivers aways give you a friendly wave as they know you will be sitting there for about ten minutes while miles of carriages go past. Kalgoorlie is also a town full of historic buildings and pubs. You can see where the money goes from all these high wages in the mines though. Alcohol pays well ! The pubs are very grand.
This year marks the centenary of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall. We went for a wander through the inside too. It was very impressive with its grand staircase and council chambers as well as a huge auditorium. You can see the steeple for miles and the clock chimes on the hour.
No visit to Kalgoorlie could be complete without a look at the mine. This is the superpit, the largest goldmine in W.A. Apparently, Alan Bond bought up a lot of little leases and combined them together to come up with the superpit. It stretches for kilometres and you can see here how deep it is. You can watch for hours all these “little” trucks trekking up the sides laden with rock. Here is one of the shovels on the fron of the diggers and what looks like a dinky model from on top is just huge.
Motley1 says as my picture at the W.A. border gave everyone such a laugh (he’s cruel) then we intends to take one regularly so everyone can see just how much fatter I am getting. Standing at the little path leading down to the beach the other day he told me my backside blocked his whole view of the ocean, I think he’s trying to tell me something but I can’t quite work out what it is.
We thought today we would go for a drive to Coolgardie thinking it would be much the same as Kalgoorlie but worth a look see. It was slightly quieter than Kalgoorlie although still had those impressive old buildings. I don’t think we saw more than four other people the whole time we were there.
Motley1 liked his visit to the park and meeting up with a kindred spirit there. We drove out and had a look at a small unused gold mine, I do wish I had a gold detector in case they had left some behind.
Last but certainly not least, here for Bev are some closeup shots of the wonderful wildflowers that cover grass verges, paddocks and forests wherever you go.
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