8 hours in Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie is ‘famous’ for having the largest gold mine in the world, and yes it is incredibly big when you stand next to it and see the bucket scoop capable hauling 100 tonnes of rubble per shovel full and trucks lugging 350 tonnes per load on the 1 ½ hour trip to the top using their massive diesel engines (returning to the bottom they run on electric motors which is a nod to sustainability). The husband of the lady in tourist information was kind enough to grant us a personal tour and then drop us at one of the visitor attractions were you can pay $30-60 to go underground into the tourist mines… Bit off my budget… So ended up walking back into the city with a lovely Swiss couple who are on a similar round the world journey to myself :) They were equipped with the Lonely Planet and so we visited another museum in the centre where it was possible to see $1m worth of gold in a vault and then view the life of the average miner and their cottage. Fab little museum well worth a visit if your passing through and the entry price is a donation…
Walking around the city you are struck by the lack of people out and about and the shear number of bars some advertising gentlemen’s entertainment. An interesting settlement closely linked to the prospects of the mine, which is certain until at least 2018 and is thought to have at least another 100 years of extractable gold before requiring to mine underground for deeper seems.
At the end of the day an announcement was made that the train would not depart until 10pm so Greg commented that we should have an evening in the pub - well within minutes we were all under way and had settled into a local bar until 9pm… Great company (A personal thank you to the two Danish ladies who shared their dinner of bread, tuna and vegemite :)).