Da da da da da ta, lets bring forward our intended exploration. So, we set off, on a Sunday 14th November, to hire a motorhome. Picked a 6 berth, with an outfit called Maui. Told them we would confirm the next day. Duly called them on the Monday morning, they told us that they had not the model we now wanted but did have an alternative. Hit the road, visited the hole in the wall, collected the deposit, we were all so excited, we are going camping, well sort of. Our Wend DDC (don't do camping), but even she was excited.
Arrived at the showroom, was shown our alternative, not as nice as what we had previously seen, but we all agreed that it would be fine. Set about sorting the paperwork, whereupon, the guy confirms the price, $950 more than they had quoted less than 24 hours before, for a lesser vehicle. Cut a long story short, we, and I mean we, all told them to shove it, and he did.
So, feeling somewhat hard done by, we left and decided we would return to an alternative Company called Apollo, who we had checked out on the same Sunday. But, as luck would have it, someone, can't remember which one of us it was, (but I know it was not me), spotted a sign Around Australia Motor Homes. Now, I gotta admit, I ain't the best Googler in the world (Sue, Steve & Matt can stop laughing), but I had Perthed everything "Motor Homes, Winnebago's, Camper Vans" this out fit had not once 'pinged up'. Everyone out there, you ever come to this part of the world DO NOT use anyone else. God did Maui do us a favour. Brilliant, brilliant Company. Something like 25% cheaper than the original price we had been quoted, all Winnebago's, no more than two years old, superb. So we did the necessary and returned on the 19th to collect.
After our initiation, we were off. Well, I was very daunted, this is a big old 'tub', not difficult to drive, but when Sylvia, tells you that although you have paid $500 dollars for insurance, you are NOT covered for any damage occasioned by hitting anything which would be considered low, it scares the s**t out of you. Particularly when she shows you a series of photo's depicting $12k's worth of damage done by a previous hirer to the roof. His concentration shortfall was v v expensive.
We picked our way through the Perth suburbs, very gingerly, heading for the coast road. Went through Freemantle, the first time we had seen it, its enormous Port with its massive liners and ships.
First stop, after an hour or so, was Rockingham, sleepy little place, but we just needed some lunch. Came across a Tapas bar, few folk in there so in we wandered. had a fab lunch, with a very nice bottle of Sangria. I know, I know, but I needed to settle me nerves!!! I was fine after the Sangria, it was the 4 stubbies of Carlton and the couple of glasses of red wine that made me feel a little tipsy.
Back in the van and off to our first stop, Mandurah, 101km for the day, ease ourselves in.
Pulled up at the entrance, hopped out, bugger me thats a very strong smell of fuel. Checked out under the vehicle, some liquid p*****g out from the engine compartment. At first thought it might be water from the AC system, did the James Bond test, two fingers in it, up to the nose, no definitely fuel. Followed the instructions in the manual, got a return call from Craig, a Geordie, he would be with us at 7.30am the following morning.
So, we set about getting ready for our very first, ever, night in a holiday park and motor home. Found our little spot, plugged in the site electrics and water, no probs. Kids were desperate for a swim, very nice pool and enclosure, had a nice hour or so in there. met a real nice Aussie guy, Warren, who was working the mines on the north west coast. Painted a pretty tough picture of conditions they were working in up there. Employers look after them but the heat and the flies sounds horrendous. Kids also hired some pedal carts for an hour.
Time to eat, 'cus of the fuel prob, we had to walk about a k to the local shop, The Spud Shack, best store we have been in, even to date. Proper, fresh everything, so much so, when we got sorted the following morning we revisited and stocked up for a couple of days.Back to the van, the odd dead something or other by the side of the road, one of which was definitely a snake!!
Weather was not to clever that night so we cooked and ate in the van. All in bed by 8.30, yeah I know, novelty factor you understand. Peter was in a compartment above the drivers cab, Niamh was midships in a double bed, and me and Our Wend in the double bed at the back of the bus. Bloody great fun, seriously. Took me back to me boating days eh Colo. Internally, very much the same as the Bayliner, just a bit bigger.
Next day, up and at 'em, 6am, ablutions block, WOW, cleanest shit house I have ever seen in me natural, Mike Davies and his Missus, John & Jane would have been proud. Wanted the shampoo, couldn't find it anywhere, not until PJ told us he had put it in the FREZZER. Rock solid "well I didn't think it was working'. AHHHHHHHHHH, kids. The old ablutions block had the most powerful showers I think I have ever been in, took us all by surprise, how clean and well presented everything was.
The breakdown guy arrived, he did all his training as an INVECO truck engineer in the UK, he had been here about 3 years. Effected a repair, then told me how he has a Seedoo jet ski, which he uses to ferry his mates to an island 2k from shore, the dimensions of the island are ten feet by 8 feet, its basically a sand bar, where they drink beer for hours on end. Sounds a bit scary to me with all them sharks about.
Just before we moved out a couple from the van across the way came over, she was from Alum Rock, he was from Erdington!! Well he said he was from Erdington, he had never heard of New Oscott Priests College, The Lyndhurst or The Yenton pubs or anything else I mentioned. There must be an Erdington somewhere else on the planet!!
are for sale at 88,000 pounds each!!)
and proceeded to deafen us with a remote control toy monster truck! Peter thought it was great, but this guy looked a dumb as box of rocks and was the ringer for the jokeThe Hill Billy bloke who asked his mate what his impending divorce meant. His mate said that he would sit before a judge and the judge would rule that the marriage was over and he was legally divorced , and his wife was no longer his wife . The Aussie bloke said, "Oh that fine but she will still be me Sister wont she !" (Thanks Nige)
Whilst he was doing that, another few guys in another A frame chalet were blasting out a Guns n' Roses guitar rift that made your hair stand on end. Our Wend was not comfy, I can tell ya, not least because we were booked in for two nights!!
Bunbury is a favourite stop off point because it has a a school of dolphins that for some reason visit a particular peice of shoreline everyday. Don't know why and its not because they feed them. We visted first at about 2pm but there was no site of them, they suggested we come back the next day at 8am as they most often turn up at 8.30am. So thats what we did, and bugger me at almost 8.30 we spotted about 100 yards off shore the dolphins fins surfacing every so often. After about 5 minutes it reached the shore and we were all told to walk into the water, only up to our knees, (we must have looked as though we were all going to be baptised!!) and not to put our hands in the water. Well Levi, that was its name, basically went along the line for about 15 minutes, it was surreal, this animal from the wild within touching distance.
Dolphins done, next up we had breakfast on the hoof beside a fabulous lake, alfresco you might say, then next stop was Black Swamp Nature Reserve.
This, we were told, was were you could hand feed kangaroo's, and as we hadn't seen any yet, we thought this is a must. After having been to Ashend Farm in Middleton, God knows how many times, this was a breath of fresh air. All sorts of stuff I had not seen before, including a sizable and very aggressive goose, which managed to get all of the kangaroo feed of Peter within 2 minutes of us starting our tour, a very amorous Emu, which tried to keep, what looked like, kiss Niamh, a duck which bit Peter, yep and the kangaroo's which did let you feed them by hand. We still had not seen any WILD 'roo's. Early days in the trip though.
Back to the billet we decided we would try doing our first barbie. All the camp sites, in fact all grasses/family play areas in Oz have barbies which are gas fired and free to use. When you've finished you clean them as best you can but in any event, the Council clean them again over night, really spotless and they are ready to use again the next day. There was the usual strange looking people gathered around the BBQ area, this particular lot were in an archery tournament, I wouldn't have let them play with a tooth pick, never mind bows and arrows. One guy who seemed particularly pissed, asked what sport I did, I told him golf. He thought that was a strange sport. WHAT, and running through the woods a 6 in the morning firing bow and arrows at each other is normal? The only thing that made sense looking at 'em, was that they were playin' in the woods! I asked if we could come along and watch, PJ loves bow nad arrows, no way, it wasn't a spectator sport. You can draw your own conclusions.
Next morning we are off to Busselton, Our Wend was gutted, she was just getting used to Deliverance Holiday Park. We left in the dead of night, and we didn't bother asking the owners if they could recommend a camp site for our onward journey, we thought we ould just take our chances. Drop offs on the way, Harvey Dam, yep you've guest it, a dam, water in it, pretty much like any dam we had seen before, although it could have done with a little more water! The Taute forest (its the name of the indigenous tree, popular word here indigenous), apparently this is the only place in the WORLD you can see these trees, so we gave them a bit of a hug. What about them legs eh? Yeah I know, if it wasn't for the stomach I could have given it a proper hug, yeah yeah.
Had a bit of lunch in the forest, the we were off again and we then spotted a sign 'Historical Site', ok lets go check it out. It turned out to be a wooden building, called Wannerup House. Just as an aside, there are shed fulls of places with up at the end in WA, here are just a few, Yallingup, Manjimup, Nornalup, Boyanup, Quinnninup, yes I have spelt that right, Dardanup, Jerramungup, Gnowangerup, Porongarup, Myalup, Binningup. And no, I haven't seen anything which resembles the one you are all thinking of, specially you Palmer!!
Anyway, this HISTORICAL house, turns out to be somewhere and Englishman, set up home to farm. He employed at lot of local's and one night the Abo's started fighting in the dorm where they lived on his place. He got up and went over to sort it out and in the process got speared and died. His wife then had to bring the kids up on her own including schooling them. HISTORICAL, these Aussies just don't get it or they are desperate for a bit of culture, of any sort. There must be hundreds of HISTORICAL houses in Handsworth, Bradford and Leiceser. What about South Africa, eh, millions. It was 5 bucks to get in, I'm glad me and Peter stayed in the van, saved us 10 bucks. Bucks, van, eh learn quick dunn I?
Arrives in Busselton and checks into The Mandalay Holiday & Caravan Park, the opposite end of the spectrum to Deliverance. Indoor & outdoor pool, games room, with pool table, table tennis, basket ball nets, GRASS, giant jumping pillow and only about a 100 yards to the beach. Felt a lot busier than where we had already been, but apparently this was down to the'Schoolies' week. This, we were told, is where all kids who are leaving secondary school, have a full week of drinking, drugs, sex, vandalism and general bad behaviour. All the locals, stay in doors pretty much the whole week, whilst the cops try and keep law and order. Sounded bloody fab to me, but Our Wend says I gotta grow up and made me stay in and do the dishes!!!! Whilst the kids were having a swim, late, circa 8.30pm, we spotted what looked like a large rat, climbing about in the roof trusses of the pool area. It turned out to be a Possum, a first.
Can you see it?
Wish I could rotate these pictures!
From our base in Busselton the local sights are the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste, proported to be the tallest lighthouse in Australia. Its about 45 feet high! Yes, thats what I said, but apparently the cape that it sits on together with its height makes it the tallest. Well it was worth the trip anyway, as whilst we were up there a whale breached about 200 yards off the coast, if you look real close you can just see it. There was only five of us on our tour, the other guy I swear was Keanu Reeves, he asked if he could have his picture with us, I said "piss off Keanu and get your own camera"
Useless fact number 1,006. The lense on the top was made by a Company called Chance Glass (I remember them, they were a big out fit that Johnny Blackwell did some work for), another UK Company who used to be in Smethwick. The lighthouse guide had a very very bad lisp, we were all pretty much soaked by the end of tour!!!!! Kept us all cool though and the flies away.
Useless fact number 1,006. The lense on the top was made by a Company called Chance Glass (I remember them, they were a big out fit that Johnny Blackwell did some work for), another UK Company who used to be in Smethwick. The lighthouse guide had a very very bad lisp, we were all pretty much soaked by the end of tour!!!!! Kept us all cool though and the flies away.
Next stop Ngilgi cave, pronounced Ngilgi, just a cave but pretty spectacular. At a point in the cavern, you were asked to close your eyes and to lie down on your back, wait a minute or so then open your eyes. WOW, its one of the things I shall remember for the rest of me natural, just amazing. It looked like an aerial view of a futuristic city, just incredible.
Struggling now to fit the days events in, but next up is the reptile zoo. Not something I was looking forward to, but hey ho. Just before we got there needed some motion lotion and at this particular station was a butchers. Lets get the barbie gear for tonight, glad we went in. Sausages, yep, kangaroo, emu, alligator, eat your heart out Poxy. Wondered what they would taste like with a bit of black pudding with them? PJ made us buy kangaroo, that night he bloody well eat them, yack, made we wanna chuck.
Struggling now to fit the days events in, but next up is the reptile zoo. Not something I was looking forward to, but hey ho. Just before we got there needed some motion lotion and at this particular station was a butchers. Lets get the barbie gear for tonight, glad we went in. Sausages, yep, kangaroo, emu, alligator, eat your heart out Poxy. Wondered what they would taste like with a bit of black pudding with them? PJ made us buy kangaroo, that night he bloody well eat them, yack, made we wanna chuck.
Nothing too scary at the reptile house, a lot of Black this, King that, Tiger the other. They did have a python that you could molest if you wanted to, no thanks, I'll stick with the one I've got, its not that long or thick, but it does the job, said Our Wend.
The snakes sense of smell had picked up that PJ had not had a shower that morning!!!
How can you smile when you got that thing around your neck?
The one tourist spot that unfortunately was not open was Busselton Pier. This was our main reason for stopping here as it has an underwater observatory at the end of it. It is currently undergoing a major refurbishment that should have been complete mid November. The construction outfit responsible went bust at the beginning of November and they have yet to find a replacement. expected to be complete now Feb 2011.
The one tourist spot that unfortunately was not open was Busselton Pier. This was our main reason for stopping here as it has an underwater observatory at the end of it. It is currently undergoing a major refurbishment that should have been complete mid November. The construction outfit responsible went bust at the beginning of November and they have yet to find a replacement. expected to be complete now Feb 2011.
Next stop, Walpole 550 km's away. Great drive though, through the Margaret River area, which vineyard do you stop at, there are millions? We stopped for breakfast at a place called Canal Rocks, truly breathtaking, it was a glorious morning, sea and sky blue like I've never seen. We also spent a good hour messing about in the rock pools.
No No its ok, its just that the shirt got shrunk by Our Wend
Other stuff on the way was The Gloucester Tree in the Karri Forest at Pemberton, they like there trees. This is a 200 foot high and Peter climbed it twice! It was originally a look out for fires across the forest. One guy sat up there for 8 hours everyday for 20 years. There are another 3 dotted about over the God knows how many square miles. Here comes some more useless info, Peter climbed it twice in probably 20 minutes, the first guy to climb it, Jack Walton, to check if it was a suitable look out, took 6hours, to climb it once. Hardy soles back then.
Peter is on this picture, somewhere!
Peter took this from the top on his second climb
Niamhy went further up than I would
Over night stay at Coalmine Holiday and Caravanning Park, very nice too. We met a couple of Swiss, who had been on the road for 6 months in an Astra van! Honest, an Astra van.
I took a photo in case you didn't believe me.
We set off the next morning bright and breezy along a tourist route right by the camping site, it just went around in a circle from the entry/exit. As we got half way around we came across the Swiss couple out for an early morning walk, well thats what Our Wend thought. I reckoned they were out looking for a spot for a bonk. You ain't never gonna get away with a shag in the Astra in the middle of a camp site are ya?
Full speed ahead Albany, pronounced Albany. We had only been on the road about half an hour when we spotted it, yep. a wild kangaroo, "stop, stop, stop" they all shouted, we were in the middle of nowhere. We all jumped out, "slowly" I said. Me, Peter and Niamh made our way slowly across the road towards it, blimey it was a big 'un, must be a male judging by the size of his didgery. Speaking very softly and in a whisper, Niamh asked if she could try and stroke it, I said you best not Niamhy, they are normally full of fleas and stuff, plus, we ain't really sure how long its been dead!!
Seriously we did see the arse end of one as he hopped off into the bush, the only one we saw all trip ALIVE.
On the way to Albany, we stopped off at The Tree Top Walk, one of the things we had all been looking forward to. Just briefly, this is a walkway, very similiar to the ones you see on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, suspended about 100 foot above the ground. Well, the pictures of Our Wend do not do it justice, she was cacking herself, not least when the walkway starts to swing, we only made it swing a little bit more! Its designed to swing, to give you the sensation of walking across the tops of the trees. It was everything that we expected, great fun. They love their tress don't they.
I think I'm getting slimmer.
Plenty to do in Albany, The Amity Brig, an old supplies ship, the guy handing out the tickets etc said he had been to Brum and loved the old trams, he asked me had I been on them recently, I told him they ain't there any more. He didn't believe me, said they were there the last time he was, I said when was that, he said thirty years ago!! He wouldn't have it that they had gone, I told him Admiral Nelson had died aswell, he was unconsolable. These Aussies keep you entertained I can tell you. We had a good look around, just as I was leaving he asked me if i could help him lock up as he was disabled and couldn't manage closing the hatches. "yeah no worries" as they say over here. "can you just go below and check there is nobody down there?", this is a wind up me thinks, he's still pissed off about the trams and Admiral Nelson, better not tell him about John Lennon!!
The Brig done, sharp exit to the Whale World, and ex whaling station. Did the ship, and the exhibits, didn't realise how many different types of whales there were, or how big a real whale actually is and we only saw a skeleton of a Pygmy Blue Whale
This is a Pygmy Blue Whale!!!! (The one at the back, ok?)
A true Blue Whale is 3 times this size.
Its funny how some things make you chuckle, but there was a German doing the round whilst we were there. He had a motorhome in the carpark, 50 yards from the site, but he was carrying all his worldly positions either in the rucksack or in his arms. Must be my sense of humour.
Early night needed as we were off to Esperance next day a 350 miles drive .
I was a bit daunted by the length of the drive but the roads are just brilliant and nobody on them really. You just get the bus up to 70 m/ hr and hit the cruise control. Some of the straight stretches of roads were beyond the horizon, what would that be, 25 miles? Then you get to that point and there is another 25 miles of DEAD straight road. Your neck starts to ache from just looking straight ahead. Little Niamh would massage the back of me neck every so often, bless her.
Absolute nothingness all the way to Esperance, didn't matter which way you looked. Had a quick pit stop at half way. The girl at the service depot was from Waterford, wouldn't tell me who she was hiding from.
Arrived in Esperance at 4.30pm, checked in to the Holiday Park, absolutely shite, nearly 'Deliverance' standard.
Main attraction here is the trip out to Woody Island. We had to be up nice and early to catch the ferry.
Whilst in the ablutions block that morning, I engaged in a conversation with a local chap, he was probably about 65/66, rather got the impression that he lived on the caravan park
"Morning"
"G'day"
"ho you doing"
"Good mate tar" These opening lines were being exchanged whilst he was, effectively having a bath in the sink, why he didn't take a shower I shall never know. My first glance at him I immediately noticed he had a 'Bobby Charlton' type shock of hair, hanging down his left hand side, with the tip nearly at his waist. He was squeezing a tube of something into his hand and rubbing it between his palm. The next line probably wasn't the most appropriate
"Bloody windy mate isn't it?"?"
"Windy?, windy?, nah, ya know its windy when you camp in the beach and you's wake up next day and yur tents gone. Windy?, windy? Nah, all you's terrorists think the same, get a bit of breeze and you fink its bloody windy" I think he meant 'tourists'
I glanced across again, and the hair was in a perfect 'Bobby Charlton' position, with little glimpses of his scalp in between, he then packed up his stuff and pissed off without a bye or leave.
Our mode of transport to Woody Island
Great morning, we saw seals, sea eagles, goats all sorts of other birds. When we got to the island you could either go for a stroll amongst some more 'effin trees, done enough of them, or go on a glass bottom boat. Me and the kids opted for the second one. Never been on one of them before, a real treat. The only other folk on the boat, other than the guy driving it, was a New Zealander who had couple of young ladies with him. He started asking the driver about a certain type of fish and whether they had them around there, yes he said. I asked him if he went fishing for them, he said sort of, "what d you mean, sort of? "Back home we go fishing for 'em, when they get near the surface we blast 'em with a 12 bore". He said followed by a maniacal laugh. Didn't seem fair to me! "how long does this trip last I asked the skipper?"
Rest of the day we spent just chilling, went to a fab beach, read books, kids went for a swim. We had a little chap come and visit whilst we were chilling. The sand on these beaches down south is so white and texture is more like cement powder than sand.
Lizzie or little visitor
We had to be up early again the next day as we had another 350 mile drive to Kalgoorlie, so we had ANOTHER barbie,and hit the hay, as I wanted to have brekkie at a fab point along, yet another, Great Ocean Drive, before we left Esperance.
The road to Kalgoorlie was pretty much like the drive from Albany, long straights and nothingness all around.
We stopped half way at a place called Norseman, just about caught the supermarket, got stocked up and experienced our first barbie in a public place, no its not classed as a sexual offence.
We had a mixture of bacon, chicken and beef steak, yum mee.
All fed and watered I wanted to go and find the golf course, as I was told that the 1st tee for the longest golf course in the world was in this town. Found the road, but the last third of a mile of it was on, is what they term here as 'unsealed', not tarmaced to you and me. This caused a bit of a problem, because, if we have a problem with the van along this stretch, we ain't covered. Sod it, I really wanna have a look, what can happen?
By the way if you are still checking where the whale breached on that photo, it ain't, it was a wind up!! It did breach but we didn't photo it.
We arrived at the clubhouse, very loosely termed, more like a shack, it made Pype Hayes look like Sunningdale. I sauntered into the place, there is one guy behind the bar, and two guys drinking at it, casually dressed!!!!, Shorts, vests, flip flops drinking from bottles with stubbie holders on, telly high up on the wall with the test match on. (The two Normans, thats Russell and Pimm) would have had heart attacks.
"Awright Guys, how you doing, I'm looking for the first tee of the longest golf course in the world"
'Nullarbor"
"A? I'm looookingggg fooor theeeee firsssssst..............."
"yeah, we heard, the course is called Nullarbor"
" I thought this was Norseman Golf Club" I said.
They looked at each other, thought they got a right one here. "The name of the worlds longest course is Nullarbor Links, thats because its played across an area known as the Nullarbor, which stretches from here to Melbourne, 4375 miles away. Holes 4 & 5 are here at Norseman Golf Club, holes 1 & 2 are at Kalgoorlie"
Well I didn't f*****g well know did I?
"Oh right. Is it all played on grass?"
They looked at each other again. "no not here Cobber,tees and greens are mostly astro turf or sand, the fairways have a little bit of grass on them"
"Is that because the course is so new?"
They looked at each other again, almost fighting each other to deliver the answer. "No mate, thats because we haven't had any facking rain for 8 months!!!"
I wasn't doing too well, but I think I was leaving a lasting impression on them!!
"Course doesn't look to busy for a Sunday morning"
"Well spotted mate"
"You got many members?"
"18"
"Oh right, you've each got your own hole then?" Well I thought it was amusing!!
Good as gold they asked me if I wanted a beer, better not I said, I'm driving, we were on the way to Kalgoorlie. They then pointed me in the direction of the 4th tee and I set off for a picture take.
Nullarbor Links tee box. Same tee just opposite side to the other tee board.
The clubhouse in the back ground
Just quickly going back to the subject of long straights, but there is a 90 mile stretch of road across the Nullarbor which is arrow straight. Yet another peice of completely useless info.
Whilst we were doing our photo shoot, a guy actually arrived to play the two holes here. He's on a golf course that stretches 4,000 miles ish, walks onto one of the tees and there are four other people there! He had taken 6 weeks to get from the 1st to this the 4th tee. I didn't ask.
Anyway, his first went along the ground and left, his second went up in the air and right, you wouldn't have caught me looking where he had hit them I can tell you.
A local rule on the Norseman score card, 'Avoid slow play, call others through' I kid you not, and also 'Last person to putt out, empty the cup' I have know idea. Last one 'A penalty of TWO strokes shall be incurred when a ball is holed out after it has been deflected by the sides of the players scrape'. ?????
Kalgoorlie here we come. Arrived about 4.30pm, headed straight for the caravan park, we were all desperate to get in the pool, moving inland the temperature had come up a long way, it was circa 32 now.
Kalgoorlie is a gold mining town, with some of the strangest folk I have ever seen.
Some of the folk here make folk from Tamworth and Coleshill look positively ordinary. The interbreeding that must have gone on over here way back is REALLY scary. A massive town has sprung up due to its gold reserves. A top attraction, as listed in the tour guide, is a visit to the whore house. I reckoned that was out of bounds to me.
Anyway, the first gold was discovered back in 18 hundred and frozen to death, by three irishmen, O'Shea, Hannon and Byrne. Well, blimey, they have got a lot to answer to. You have never seen in your whole life, some many people who can only just talk, walk and breath in your natural. I dread to think what those irsh fellas starting off shagging to produce this lot. Walking up the main street, it was like being on the set of "Thriller", if someone with two heads had been walking around I swear no one would have batted an eye lid.. It started to get funny in the end.
Most of the stuff that goes on here is centred around the gold mining industry the main attraction being the 'Super Pit', basically a large hole in the ground.
Some facts and figures for ya.
There are 2 no face diggers at $10m each, 35no trucks which haul the rocks to the top, they weigh 250 tonnes and can carry 600 tonnes each, $4m each to buy, they use $6k in deisel each, each day, 1no replacement tyre is $30k,The Pit made $1 billion net profit last year, its currently 500 mtrs deep, it will eventually be a least 1000 metres.
We hung around this place to long, as they said there was to be two explosions to break up the rock face, but they didn't happen.
Next up Kalgoorlie Golf Club, only opened in July, designed by Graham Marsh, $28m! Right smack in the middle of the desert. This has the first two holes of Nullarbor Links, which is a $60 dollar green fee.
Second green Nullarbor Links
Back to the pool and ANOTHER barbie. Whilst we were talking to a guy at the barbie, he told us that a Tiger Snake had slithered between his two kids over night, they were in a tent, he'd spotted it as it came out and bashed it with a spade. Got me some of that Carlton Mild now, don't have the same effect on me though!!
Our trip was at an end now, next morning we hit the road at 6, for the 488 mile drive back to Perth.
Tale of the Tour
Days on the road - 11
Total miles - 1848
Litres of fuel - 523
Best caravan park-Mandalay
Worst caravan park - Bunbury aka 'Deliverance'
Best experience - Lying on me back in the cave looking at the roof.
2nd Best - Sea eagle flying alongside the boat at Woody Island. It was that close could have almost reached out and touched it.
Live wild kangaroo sightings - 1
Dead kangaroo sightings - dozens
On the road comfort breaks for Our Wend - 0
Ditto Me - 0
Ditto Little Niamh - 0
Ditto Peter - 93. He is gonna need an new water squirter before he gets to his teens.
Wrong turnings - far to many to admit.
Accidents - 1 (hit a sign post in Kalgoorlie, minor shunt! Well thats what Our Wend said I was anyway
On board toilet use - 1. Wouldn't be fair to say who it was really. Can only give you a clue, it was a number two and not by me, Little Niamh or PJ!!
The Skerritts
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