Kalgoorlie

We arrived just after lunch and booked into the Kalgoorlie Discovery park for 4 nights. We had some mail to pick up and not until we arrived on Saturday did we realise that Monday was a public holiday, WA Day!
This actually worked out ok as Helen had caught a cold and was in need of some rest to recover, so while Helen rested I ventured out.
I did the Super Pit mine tour and on the Monday went to the museum.  Monday was not the best choice as the WA Day celebrations were also being held at the museum, so there was lots of activities for the local children, painting, best dog parade, jumping castle and face painting. I did manage to have a look around and dodge the occasional child playing chasey!

The Town Hall, note the gold plating at the top of the tower.

The Exchange Hotel - Kalgoorlie had 91 hotels during it's peak.

The York Hotel

The super pit.

The Super pit mine tour took 1.5 hours and we went around the site in a small bus, particularly compared to the dump trucks working. Dan the tour guide was most entertaining and knew a lot about the mine as he was a 2nd generation miner and driven dump trucks and loaders during his career.

The super pit is expected to reach 3.5 km in lenght and 1.6 km wide and 700 m deep by 2029. It comprises of more than 35,000 hectares of lease and is made up of around 250 individual mining leases joined together.  Alan Bond was one of the brains behind the forming a single large scale operation which eventually became the super pit.

The Super Pit - a VERY big hole in the ground!

Face shovel loads a haul truck at the bottom of the pit, each bucket is 68 tonne.

Now thats how to change a tyre!

Through the bus window

The 225 tonne Haul trucks look so small in the mine

The museum showed some of the history of Kalgoorlie and had displays of gold, some which had been made into braclets and watches owned by some of the Kalgoorlie early "elite"

I couldn't believe this wooden bike

The entrance to the museum with the dominant head frame.