Kalgoorlie, the south west outback!

To make my travels in South West Australia a neat little loop I took a bus up to Kalgoorlie on Wednesday January 16^th. That is where I wrote my last two blogs, while traveling north. Once arriving to town I made my way to my hostel and set out to see what I could see in the early afternoon. The town is situated in the southwest outback. The town center has one main street where most of the stores and attractions are located. I headed to the Museum of Mining to get a better idea of the history of the area. The museum was well presented, housing equipment used when the mines started in the late 1800’s. One of the main issues when the first gold rush hit was the lack of water in the area, it is the outback! It was easier to get whiskey then water! After spending some time in the museum I wondered down Main Street, the buildings date back to the late 1800’s and have beautiful decorated trimmings. The bars are open 24 hours and filled with girls in next to nothing ready to serve the miners at any hour of the day. After picking up food to cook for dinner I was walking towards my hostel and was caught off guard when I noticed that the building across from my hostel was one of the oldest Brothels in town. In all towns of industry it does exist this we know, and Kalgoorlie has just kept a few establishments going to keep it as safe as they can.

Once I was in the Hostel I was talking to some of the men while I was making my dinner and they asked if I was there to find work, and were telling me how easy it was to make a lot of money as a girl in the bars, just a nice smile and the money will pour in. I politely said no, I was just passing through town. I met one of the girls in my room; she comes to town to Dance on the weekends. Lovely people, making fast money. The hostel was comfortable and after dinner I chatted to some Irish guys who were traveling through looking for work at the mines. I turned in early to bed as I had to be up early to catch my train back to Perth. 

On Thursday once I was all packed and ready, I sat down to eat my breakfast and chatted to a nice miner coming of night shift. He was working at the Super pit. (A company in the 90’s took over many of the smaller mining sites and has combined all the sites to make one massive pit, it will be 3.6km long by 1.8  km wide and 500 m deep by the time they are done mining the site in 2021), He was from New Zealand and was a Butcher by trade. He came to make fast money. He said there are no unions out at the super pit, and the bosses enjoy firing people for the littlest mistake. Breaks are never seen, and days are always 12 hours. In the pit the temperature is 10 C hotter at the bottom. In Kalgoorlie the temperature ranges from 36-48 C during mid-day on average. Add 10 C to that and that’s the temperature the men are working in. I wonder if it’s better working in the cold oil fields or here at the Super Pit? It was great to be able to learn a thing or two about his job before heading off to the train. 

The train ride to Perth was uneventful. It was similar to the West Coast Express. The landscape as we left Kalgoorlie was rich red dirt and a forest of Eucalyptus trees. As the red dirt changed to beige sand the trees were replaced with short shrubs. Arriving into Perth I hopped on the city train and then walked up to the Littler’s house (Rolfs sister and brother in-law who hosted the wedding). I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and reading and visiting with the family.