With the Nullarbor behind us it was time to head north to visit Australia’s largest open pit goldmine in the frontier town of Kalgoorlie.
Creatively known as the “Super Pit”, it produces 850,000 ounces of gold every year. Being a mining town it has a very colourful past with bikini bars next to high quality restaurants and is the only place in Australia (or at least to my knowledge) that conducts tours to working brothels! The Madam was an interesting lady and a fascinating host who told us very interesting stories about the history of the brothel.
Further north we entered the small town of Menzies where 51 brave locals were convinced to have their naked bodies scanned. These scans were then used to create steel sculptures which were placed in a large salt lake system called Lake Ballard. It was an interesting walk and a great free camping spot.
We then headed south and through the Great Western Woodlands which is the largest un-fragmented woodland left on earth (and larger in size then England) and discovered a 4WD short-cut (if there is such a thing i.e. three days in a 4WD) called the Holland Track which runs from Coolgardie (just down the road from ‘Kalgoorlie’ Ed) to Hyden.
By Gary Cooper
