Kalgoorlie, WA, Australia

We had a bit of stuff planned for Kalgoorlie and we’d been careful to make sure we’d booked a caravan park and the mine tour as it was the start of school holidays over here and the WA Queen’s Birthday public holiday.

Patrick’s been making noises for three years about visiting the Exchange Hotel where the Skimpies work. Skimpies are the barmaids who serve you dressed only in Lingerie and if you’re generous enough, completely topless. It’s been interesting watching Patrick become increasingly anxious as we’ve got closer and closer to Kalgoorlie.

Whilst we’ve been travelling, I’ve also discovered that you can do a tour of Questa Casa (otherwise known as the famous Pink House), Kalgoorlie’s longest operating Brothel. Now I know this all sounds a little bit seedy but….. Kalgoorlie is a mining town that would have been, and may still be, a little rough around the edges. Regardless of what you may think, both of these “attractions” are part of Kalgoorlie’s history and character!

Who’d have thought that a town that allowed operating brothels and topless barmaids would close down on the Queen’s Birthday? You could have fired a shotgun in the main street, there was barely anything open at all so the Skimpy tour will have to wait for another day and unfortunately, our mine tour clashed with the brothel so we’ve missed that as well. I think Patrick was secretly relieved and I’m not sure that Lyn wasn’t as well.

Not to worry, we’ve still got the Super Pit to look forward to…

Paddy Hannan and his mates (the guy who first found gold here in Kalgoorlie in 1893), couldn’t have got it more right when he stopped under the shade of a tree just outside what is now the centre of town. He and his mates discovered what was to be until quite recently, the richest gold ore deposit in history with more than 57 million ounces of gold extracted from what is referred to as “The Golden Mile”.

After looking around town in the morning we got ourselves all decked out in long pants, long sleeves and closed-toe shoes for our visit to the Super Pit. The two and a half hour tour was to take us inside the mine, including a visit to a couple of lookout points in the pit itself. There were 33 people on the bus and Matt, our tour guide was a very interesting fella, having been a mechanical fitter working in the pit for several years.

Not only did Matt teach us about the mining operations of today but he gave us an insight into the history of the town and mining in general and whilst we’re no experts I can assure you, we know more about how they operate open-cut mines than we did previously.

Formed in 1989, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines operates 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The Super Pit as it stands now is 1.5 km across and 3.7 km long and a bit over 600 meters deep. There are lots of facts and figures for you if you want them, I’m sure that Patrick’s blog contains more than mine but I’m happy to publish them if anybody is interested.?

Suffice it to say, the tour was a great success and we all enjoyed it a lot. After the tour concluded we drove back up to the public viewing lookout as there was a blast scheduled for 5:30. Along with maybe a hundred others, we stood noses to the fence waiting patiently to see an area the size of two soccer fields blown up to a depth of ten meters. Not as impressive as I’d expected but pretty cool all the same.

Dinner at the Tower Hotel, the only one that seemed to be open and not one that has Skimpies, was great. A big meal to top off a terrific day and our last true holidaying day as tomorrow begins the journey home. Sad Face…….