Day 119 - 121, Kalgoorlie ( Fri 23rd Oct - Sun 25th Oct )

Kalgoorlie

Arriving at Kalgoorlie i was surprised, I did not expect such a large town, I dont know why but I expected a little old mining town.

We decide to stay at the Aclaim caravan park which is just a little way out of town, its a very nice park and reasonably priced with all the facilities we need, we got a site near the Camp kitchen was is always a bonus.

Kalgoorlie Tram Car

To see the sites around the town we decided to utilise the tram car that picks you up at the caravan park and goes to all the major sites, you can get on and off as you please so its pretty flexible.

Two day pass costs $80.00 for a family of four, pretty good I thought.

Kalgoorlie Buildings

As we drove through the town it was amazing to see the number of beautiful old buildings, a lot of them happen to be pubs as there was a lot of pubs operating in Kalgoorlie in the old days.

Kalgoorlie Clock Tower

The clock tower in town is one of the many beautiful buildings, the golden top is actually real gold, shows how much money there was in the town.

The British Arms hotel, not operating except that it is part of the museum which you can see in the back ground.

No body seems to know why it is so narrow considering it has a lot of room around it.

Hotel Foyer

An example of a foyer in one of the old hotels, all the ones we went into where like this one.

York Hotel Kalgoorlie

The York Hotel in Hannan street, built in 1901, now heritage listed and operating as a hotel and restaurant.

Kalgoorlie City Market

WA Museum Kalgoorlie

The museum showcases the Eastern Goldfield and the city's mining history, admission into the museum is donation only.
The museum was great, well worth a visit, and a drop off point for the tram.

Kalgoorlie brothel workers tools of the trade.

Brothels

Kalgoorlie Brothel

Along with pubs, brothels played a big part in the history of Kalgoorlie, they arose from necessity because of the fact that in the town men vastly out numbered women, some of the "Tin Shed" brothels still stand and there are still some working brothels.

A lot of the brothels have been turned into back packers accommodation.

One in particular runs tours in the afternoon before opening for business of another kind later in the night.
They say that the tour is suitable for all ages but we decided that the boys didn't really need to learn about the workings of a brothel just yet.

The Super Pit

The "Fimiston Open Pit", or the "Super Pit"is actually up the road at Boulder and not in Kalgoorlie, it is Australia's largest open cut gold mine, 3.5 kl long and 1.5 kl wide and 750 mt deep.

The mine produces 28 tonnes of gold per year.

From the lookout you get a pretty good view and an appreciation of its size when you see the trucks which are gigantic looking like match box cars.

Kalgoorlie Super Pit

Trucks In The Pit

A Photo For Scale

Hannans North Tourist Mine

Hannans North Tourist Mine is just out of town, there you can learn all about open cut mining in the old and modern times.
There is mining equipment to climb into, and other various displays around the site.
Entry fee was $30.00 for the family.

You can see the size of these loaders when you step into the bucket of one.

The wheels of this 793C haul truck are huge.

Within the site there is a very nice Chinese garden to walk through.

You will also see recreations of prospectors camps and huts, and see how they lived back in the 1800's.

We had a little go at panning for gold in the man made creek that runs through the site, surprisingly we found no gold but never mind they do sell small nuggets at the kiosk just in case !


Hannans is worth a visit, but when we were there a lot of attractions within the site were not operational, also if you go on a Sunday there is no food available.
Another word of advice, you are better of going there in your own car not the tram, as the time you are left there is a bit too long.



Kalgoorlie was a great stopover, we all enjoyed the attractions and the town history is fantastic.