The Big Lap - minus Qld!

The trip up to Kalgoorlie saw us finally get out of the drizzly weather, though the wind was still fairly strong. Luckily it was behind us. The land between the coast and Kalgoorlie is farming land, alternating between wheat and canola fields. They have obviously got lots of rain here as the paddocks are full of crops. As we approached Kalgoorlie though the landscape changed again and became almost fringe desert. We passed lots of mines. We set up camp then went into town to the visitors centre to find out about Kalgoorlie. The next day we visited the Super Pit. This mine is owned by KCGM (Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mine) and employs only residents of Kalgoorlie, no fly in fly out workers. KGCM was once a series of individual mines but they joined into one to create the super mine. The size of the mine is unbelievable. The main open cut pit is 4km long, 1km across and 600m deep.  It makes the huge trucks which can carry 250 tonne look like toy trucks. T...

Well the rain and wind continues! Welcome to WA (Windy Always). Albany is a very different place built around a series of inlets and harbours. The view from the lookouts is fantastic – even through the driving rain. You can see why people first settled here. Albany is WA’s oldest town as it was first settled by whalers. When gold was discovered inland at Kalgoorlie, Albany became a major landing place for many would be gold diggers. The granite mountains surrounding the area seem to pop up out of the water and land. We drove out to the ocean side and visited some famous landmarks such as natural bridge, the blowholes and stony hill. Natural bridge is formed by the relentless pounding of the wild ocean on the granite landmass. The day we visited the surf was pounding with almost gale force winds. There is also a structure built suspended over the ocean where the waves pound in, splashing up the Gap. The blowholes was a good couple of km walk from the carpark. Th...