Our original plan was to head straight to Esperance after the Nullarbor, but our plans changed. Instead we planned a little detour to go check out Kalgoorlie.
It added 4 hours extra to our trip but hopefully it was going to be worth it. The new plan was to spend 3 nights there, before a 4 hour journey down to Esperance on Thursday.
Monday, May 1st – (Day 25)
KALGOORLIE – Compared to the last few days, todays drive was a breeze. Just the 2 hours in the car today. We left Norseman around 10am and arrived in Kalgoorlie a little after midday.
It’s a red and dusty little town and our caravan park was about a 10 minute drive from town, but so far so good. Our caravan spot was in a lovely spot and right next to the amenities block which would be handy. They were like little ensuites.
We’d almost finished setting up before realising we’d left our hose connector in Norseman, the second time we’d done it this trip. So first thing on the list today was a trip to Bunnings to get a new one. It was handy, as we also got ourselves a little water filter as we were sick of the dirty water on the trip so far.
After that we headed into town for a look at the main strip. Kalgoorlie reminded us of a mini Ballarat, with the main street looking like a poor mans Sturt Street. I guess they are both famous old mining towns. We grabbed a pastie at a nearby bakery then stopped for a beer at the Kalgoorlie Hotel in the outside area.
On our way back we stopped at Coles to get some stuff for tea, but noticed a home wear shop. Turns out we got a killer bargain on a new 4 piece cookset. They were selling for $159 down from $589 and it came with some bonus knife that as valued at $259.
After tea we got chatting to some random bloke for nearly an hour who used to live in Ballarat and knew Adam’s uncle and aunty. That was about it for today.
Tuesday, May 2nd – (Day 26)
First thing on the agenda today was a 2.5 hour tour of the Super Pit, a giant open mine that is meant to be the largest in the world.
The tour was pretty fantastic. They took us for a detailed look throughout the facility including where they do all the maintenance on dump trucks and throughout the areas where they separate rock waste from the gold.
A whole dumptruck load which is a few tons will only create about a golf ball size of gold, so there’s a bit of work that goes into it.
But the best part of the tour was overlooking the super pit from the top. All in all, it was well worth it and was made even better by an awesome tour guide named Wes.
After the tour we went back to the park for a bit of a chill. Adam had a swim and we caught up on some work. Later on in the evening we finally got to see the John Wick 4 movie we’d wanted to see all the way back in Ballarat but never had the time for.
Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment, but it was good to experience it in a little boutique cinema. Tomorrow was going to be our last day in Kalgoorlie so we got an early night after the movie.
Wednesday, May 3rd – (Day 27)
Today we spent most of the morning in the caravan. It was time to do some trip planning and book some places in for the next few weeks, before we caught up with our friends Belinda and then Geoff. Albany, Denmark and Margaret River were to be our next stops.
Better view of the pit 
The dump truck trays are huge!
After a quick bite to eat, we headed into town for one last explore. First up was a view of the Super Pit from a different viewing angle from yesterday. This was definitely a good idea as the view today was a ton better than yesterday. This mine was much, much bigger than we thought.
Next up was a short climb to the top of the Mount Charlotte lookout which is the highest viewing point of Kalgoorlie. Then we headed in to town to grab a drink at the highly rated Beaten Track Brewery. Unfortunately it was shut and didn’t open to 5pm so that stopped us in our plans.
We got ourselves a little souvenir at the gift shop across the road, headed to Coles to get some stuff for tea and then went back to the caravan to do more trip planning. We’d heard a whisper that Broome can book out quick and sure enough, there was barely any spots left up there, which meant we better start planning the rest of our WA trip properly.
Around 5pm we headed back into town to go to the brewery. It was a good idea as this place was nice. We got a few beers, had some tea there and played some boardgames. A nice end to our trip to Kalgoorlie.
Tomorrow was a 4 hour drive to Esperance and hopefully back to civilisation.