Kalgoorlie

Wishing you all a happy Easter. Unbelievably Kalgoorlie was booked out for Easter. We did manage a two day stop at the end of the Nullabor but had to move on to Coolgardie by Good Friday when there was 'no room at the inn'.

This whole town revolves around a hole in the ground called the 'Superpit' - the mastermind of one Alan Bond to consolidate all mining leases into one. The resultant Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) didn't quite achieve its objectives but the  bloody big hole in the ground is testament to how close it got.

The Superpit [click to enlarge]

Look closely for the 'toy' cars to gain some perspective as to the size. Click to enlarge if you can't see them.

The visitor's centre lets tourists know of blast times. It was amazing to see fifty explosions in sequence - then hear the blast three seconds later (Luke jumped a mile).

Fire in the hole

 Some more shots of Kalgoorlie's new gold - tourism.

Scoop, Muck and Dizzy's big brother

Gold pouring

Mine head

Bucket boy

Alternative use of dump truck wheels

The Nullabor

The long, straight road from Ceduna SA to Norseman WA. Null Arboris (no trees) - we are so glad we are not heading home via the Nullabor.

The view for the next 1275 km. No much to see apart from the fuel gauge heading steadily southward. At $2.08 per litre - a very scary sight.

Some tricks to avoid white-line fever - share the driving.

Sharing the driving

As soon as you stopped driving you would be welcomed by a million flies - who favoured your ears, eyes or nose. Hence, given the option of continuing driving or flies the option was always driving. 

Nullabor sunrise

Eucla telegraph station

 Bunda Cliffs

There were some great sight despite the boredom. The 100m high Bunda Cliffs where we had the pleasure of camping one night. Eucla telegraph station now engulfed by sand - where the kids had such fun climbing and jumping from the roof.

We free camped across the Nullabor. We were so ready for a shower in Kalgoorlie.

Fraser's Range Station, Nullabor Plains

Eyre Peninsula

It looked more like a convenient stop rather than somewhere we would enjoy so much. We stayed on a sheep property Coodlie Park given the more popular Eyre Peninsula destination such as Streaky Bay were booked solid with S.A. school holidays.


The property had its own beach front albeit with an 80m cliff scramble for access.

Coodlie Park beach [click to enlarge]

Beach access Coodlie Park style

Apparently an area of natural risks. Some of the local tourist attractions included swimming with the sea lions or swimming with the great whites. Not sure if it was from the same charter.

The desert seemed to reach the beach and just fall away - often with a spectacular cliff or cave. We enjoyed the dolphins and sea lion colonies from these vantages.

Southhead walk from Venus Bay [click to enlarge]

Wilpena Pound

Thankyou all for your comments and emails. We love hearing from you.

Wilpena Pound [Click to enlarge)

Flinder's Range NP would have to be the most commercial NP we have visited. Eco-cottages, scenic flights (your choice fixed-wing, ultra-light, balloon), corporate challenge, mountain biking, 4WD tours and wine-and-cheese sunset tours. Despite the commercialisation Wilpena Pound would have to go close to being one of the natural wonders of the world. The only way to get a true perspective of the Pound is from the air. Thanks to corporatechallenge.com.au (getting the best from your human resources) for the use of the aerial photo.

Walks and 4WDing spectacular. Everywhere you look is a vista.

We needed to recover several Toyota Landcruisers from the above creek crossing.

The next photo shows the formation known as the Great Wall of China - built by emperor Nasi Goreng to keep the rabbits out of the Flinder's Range NP.

The Great Wall of China, Flinder's Range NP

Songs from the Big Chair

We have been offline for a while so time to update with a couple of posts.

Broken Hill was an oasis at the end of some very long stretches of the Barrier Highway. The town rejoices in having streets named after noxious compounds (Bromide Street, Chloride Street) and having a slag heap the size of five town blocks and one block from the CBD. However, it is a mecca for artists - Pro Hart being the favorite son (see flowers below).

The giant park bench atop the slag heap of Broken Hill.

We went underground - despite my warning. One word Caroline **Beaconsfield**

Daydream silver mine 100m below ground - apart from an MRI the perfect place for someone with claustrophobia.

The obligatory photo of the Interceptor - Silverton 40km from Broken Hill. Filming of the Mad Max IV has been postponed due to the recent rains and subsequent "greening"  of surrounding countryside.

The Warrumbungles

Thank you to all for your comments especially our our personal meteorologist (Hi Marg), our international observers (The Parkers) our international man of mystery (Martin please identify yourself). And thank you for all the birthday wishes - a point of note dear Penny, at this stage it is early-to-mid-forties - nothing more.

A wonderful night of hospitality with Michael and Rosemary (and adopted cousins) at Gunnedah preceded our trip to the Warrumbungles.

A couple of beautiful days in the Warrumbungles NP - between Coonabarabran and Gilgandra. Great Australian names for towns. A  fantastic bush camp and a couple of great walks.

A steep, long walk and a challenging rock scramble to the summit of Split Rock (see below) and afterward some very tired walkers.

The Land of Giants

It is hard to imagine we have probably seen the highlight of our trip on day two. The giant chicken at Moonbi and the Big Golden Guitar (somewhat more giant than the aforementioned chicken).

Finally on the road

Finally after so much talk and planning we have left Brisbane. Night one in Tenterfield some 450km from Brisbane.