Kalgoorlie, WA
It’s a town built on the discovery of gold. Anyone would think after more than 130 years of all types of mining, the gold would have all been found.
One day it will all run out.
What will happen to Kalgoorlie then? Based on the number of empty store fronts, that time is not too far away.
Our honest opinion
Gotta be honest, we didn’t really enjoy Kalgoorlie. Maybe it had something to do with a local wandering amongst the motorhomes and caravans at 2am but meh!
Both Steve and I have visited the area before and Steve multiple times when he was a mines inspector.
But this time it felt different, like people were just there to make money, in a hurry and not happy.
A tourist in Kalgoorlie
Despite our reticence, we made the most of our time in Kal. We had planned to stay a few days but only lasted 24-hours.
We visited the super pit and watched memorised by the mega trucks moving dirt. Then on to the Hannans North Tourist Mine where we climbed over machinery, peered in old mining sheds, machinery and homes and even panned for gold – didn’t find any but it was fun!
Next stop was to walk the length of Hannan Street from the Museum of Goldfields to the Paddy Hannan statue. The old building fronts and hotel facades are beautiful and fascinating and like I said, a lot of the shops are now empty. We skipped the pull in to one of the Kalgoorlie pubs and instead visited the Museum of Goldfields which was very interesting. Definitely worth a visit while there and the views from the tower were impressive.
Get me outa here
After a busy touristy morning we pulled the pin on Kalgoorlie and decided to get out. We headed south to Kambalda to check out where youngest daughter dearest Holly did her first teaching stint. We parked up at the free RV stop near the school and rec centre, walked past the school and toward where Holly had lived for her time there. Glad we saw the place and after a night we headed off again.
