Thursday, 8 July 2010

Kalgoorlie

Here I am again...
Time is running so fast and internet is not always available, so there is a lot to tell what happened since my last post.

The trip to Kalgoorlie was quite cool, except the ending, but about that a bit later.
On Wednesday we (Danny and me) set off early in the morning to drive the 600 km to Kalgoorlie. There is an amazing pipeline all along the road from Perth to the goldfields to supply the area with drinking water. Besides there is not much to see, or we had at least not much time to stop but for coffee breaks.
In the late afternoon we finally arrived there and after a first stop in the visitor centre we had a first look at the stunning Super Pit which is almost 4 km long, 1.5 km wide and up to 500m deep. In the evening we had dinner and a couple of beers at the Wild West Saloon.

On Thursday we joined a tour in the Mining Hall of Fame where we went down to the former shafts on narrow ladders down to 72m below the surface. It was quite impressing, getting a feeling of how the working conditions must have been years ago. In the afternoon we made a scenic flight with a helicopter around the Super Pit. From the air we finally became aware of the real dimensions of the whole area. After a short visit to Boulder, the neighbour town of Kalgoorlie we went for dinner at a Thai restaurant.

Friday was the day of our journey back to Perth, but before we joined another tour to the Super Pit. Unfortunately we were sitting most of the time in the bus, but at a few stops we could get out of it and get some insights into the Super Pit with the huge trucks which extract every day gold with worth 2 million AUD. After lunch we left Kalgoorlie, driving another 600 km back to Perth. Entering Perth, we were involved in an accident, as Danny oversaw a car while turning right. The car hit ours and ended up in hospital. Luckily I got only bruises and my back and neck were quite sour, but I wasn't seriously hurt. My hosparents finally picked me up late at night and drove me back home to Dianella.

The next day I didn't do much but trying to recover as I wanted to start my big trip through Australia on Monday. However, on Sunday I had to get all my stuff ready and then it was time to say good bye to my host family. Jim was so kind and took me first to town to the hotel where we would stay to leave the baggage there and then we went to the airport to pick up Sibylle.
In the evening we went to Subiaco to an Italian restaurant for dinner.
As I had decided to leave Perth one day later than initially planned, I had time to a doctor again on Monday to get the OK for my journey. The rest of the day we spent with shopping in town and a short visit in Kings Park before we had dinner at a Chinese.


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