March 4th-6th, 2012- Boulders Discovery Caravan Park-Kalgoorlie

Sunday morning saw the Ransleys and the Bewells head North to Kalgoorlie. The Butlers decided to spend a couple of extra days in Esperance before meeting us near Norseman as we begin the Nullarbor. We didn't get away until close to 10am as the girls went for a walk down the Jetty and then wanted to check out the Esperance Markets before we left. Turned out they could have give them a miss as they weren't too big. They got a picture of the local celebrity "Sammy the Seal". He is a bit overweight and not too energetic as you can see from the photo.

This was one of our longer driving days for some time. We stopped halfway at Norseman for a break and some lunch. Pulled into Boulder Discovery Caravan Park around 4PM. We were pretty tired and I don't think my first beer even started to defrost before it was gone! We had a few drinks with Carol and Stephen after we had a great Skype visit with our two girls.

Monday was a holiday so some shops were still closed. We did a tour of some of Kalgoorlie's highlights in the morning. We first stopped at the Super Pit lookout which is quite impressive in size.
We got a few photos and watched the big trucks get loaded and slowly make their way up the windy road to the top of the pit.

Next lookout was the Mount Charlotte Lookout. This is the town's water reservoir and a good view of the town and surrounding area. Kalgoorlie and Boulder are basically joined together.

Next we took a drive down the main street of Kalgoorlie. Very interesting as a large number of buildings are from late 1800s and early 1900s. Huge amount of Hotels/Pubs and many of the newer shopping chains are housed in old buildings. We visited the Tourist Centre where Stephen and I signed up for the Nullarbor Golf Links. This is advertised as the world's longest golf course. You golf a couple of holes at Kalgoorlie and the rest of the holes at stops along your journey across the Nullarbor ending at Ceduna in South Australia. In each location you complete the 1 or 2 holes and have your scorecard stamped. Friends that have done it say some of the holes are fairly challenging as is finding the location to have your scorecard stamped.

Our next stop was the Western Australian Museum which turned out to be very interesting and well worth the price of admission ($5/person). They had a beautiful photography display on of wildlife and nature shots from Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. They were truly magnificent and very inspiring to keen amateur photographers like Sandra and I. I think a few of our pictures wouldn't have been too far out of place in the exhibit. The remainder of the museum was dedicated to Kalgoorlie area history and the gold mining industry. Very well setup and beautiful displays. A number of older buildings adjoined the main building where a number of old artifacts were displayed in their native settings.

We had a quick lunch before visiting one of the girl's cousins, Doug Smith, and his family. The girls hadn't seen Doug since they were teenagers so they had a bit to catch up on. Doug works in the mining industry which is the primary industry in the region. Very much like Fort McMurray from what we saw and what Doug told us. No shortage of employment but very hard to keep employees especially in the service industries. Had a good couple of hour visit before Doug had to go to work on night shift.

We returned to the caravan park and did some odd jobs and cleaning.

Tuesday morning Rans and I were up early and on the Kalgoorlie Golf Course to do holes 1 and 2. It was a beautiful golf course and we would have probably done a full round if we stayed longer. We both had a couple of good shots and ended up with scores that weren't as bad as they could be. I have a small lead over Rans heading off to the Nullarbor. Stopped at Bunnings on the way home for some plumbing supplies. Rans had a leak to deal with and I had an electrical problem with our pump. Fixed both of them easily. We also had to fasten our fridge back in as the two top screws weren't in and the top had popped out. Not sure if the screws had worked loose or hadn't been reinstalled last time fridge replaced. Regardless it is fastened back in with some longer screws.

Did some shopping in the morning as will be the last shopping centres for a number of days while we cross the Nullarbor Plains. Stocked up and ready to go; hopefully!

Afternoon was busy with laundry, cleaning, cooking, and computer work. Having another Skype session with the girls this evening, which will be good. We are not sure about mobile or Internet coverage over the Nullarbor but don't have high expectations. Talk to you again when we can. Cheers!