A call from the recruitment company, Hays with a job offer for Shovel at the Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia had us back on the road heading east. This time our Nullarbor journey would be much quicker. The first day saw us travel approximately 730kms pulling into the Madura Pass Oasis at sunset. With Florence only rated for 80kph it made for a long day, one that would need to be repeated a further two days if were going to make it to Roxby Downs in time for Shovel’s start date. Some reviews I’ve seen online recommend not to stay at the Madura Pass Oasis Roadhouse, however we have actually loved the experience of staying here on both occasions. The feeling of complete remoteness, coupled with the thrill of the Nullarbor; there’s a simplicity and a rustic no frills charm that oozes from the dated décor and shabby demountable amenities. Our dinner of classic roast meat and three veg truly added to the ‘middle of nowhere’ ‘no bullshit’ vibe. A group of workers from a nearby sheep station, nearby I mean hundreds of kilometres away, visited the pub for dinner and a few drinks, they’d spent the day building fences in the scorching heat, yet filled the pub with a frivolity and appreciation for simplicity only outback farming people can possess. Despite travelling a long distance, the Nullarbor has an endearing power to make you stop, appreciate the simply things and smell the roses…
The township of Esperance was absolutely swelling with holiday makers, so we had to opt for a three-night stay in the overflow caravan park at $35 per night located at the show grounds with a communal kitchen and dingy flooded bathroom facilities. Before even making it to the grounds however we had to find Florence a new jockey wheel. Shovel is so amazing improvising and sorting out these kinds of things, then once she was settled in her new home for the next few days, we were off to explore. Like that of Kalgoorlie, Esperance, gazetted in 1893 was born out of the 1890’s gold rush and became a jumping off point for prospectors making their way to the Goldfields. Now the town is a jumping off point for tourists seeking the crystal-clear oceanic waters of the Southern Ocean and a sail through the Bay of Isles. In 2018 the town had a population base of approximately 12,000 with tourism, wheat farming and exporting through the port and fishing the main industries of employment. I was fascinated to read in 1979, Stan Thornton aged 17 flew to San Fransico with a few pieces of the space station Skylab for a San Francisco Examiner competition. He collected the $10,000 prize being the first person to present the newspaper with pieces of the Skylab that he had collected from the roof of his Esperance home. Furthermore, the Esperance council at the time fined NASA $400 for littering as fragments of Skylab had to be removed from the town. The fine was never paid by the US Government only being settled in 2009 by radio show listeners of the Highway Radio morning program. Also fascinating to learn was that Esperance was home to Australia’s first electrical wind farm, built at a research facility in 1987, and now boasts several wind turbine facilities that supply the town with electricity. Read more about the internationally famous Skylab incident by pressing the button above. The Esperance Look OutAround TownLucky BayWhilst sailing a treacherous route through the Recherche Archipelago in 1802, Matthew Flinders steered his vessel HMS Investigator into a cove to take shelter from a summer storm. He named this piece of paradise and his saviour Lucky Bay. Located approximately 60kms west of Esperance in the Cape Le Grand National Park, Lucky Bay is home to sunbaking kangaroos and the most spectacular beach of squeaky-clean sand lapped by magnificently coloured turquoise water. Frenchman Peak on the journey to Lucky Bay through Cape Le Grand National Park Mini Wave Rock We were back on the Kalgoorlie – Esperance Highway within a few days, eager to escape the red dirt and see the turquoise waters and white sands of Lucky Bay. The trip is approximately 390kms, passing back through Norseman and the end of the ‘Nullarbor’ heading south to the west Australian coast. Past the salt flats and into the wheatbelt region of Western Australia, this stretch of highway had us stopping at the small township of Salmon Gums. The salmon gum or salmonophloia is a eucalypt tree that grows up to 30mtrs and is used in farm forestry. This area because of the trees is known as the ‘Salmon Gums Belt’ and the township now with less than 200 residents was gazetted in 1925. We walked around the town whilst consuming our homemade caravan sandwiches and admired the Salmon Gum Hotel, a gorgeous thickset building with a stone façade. It was closed when we travelled through with an ominous or tantalising, dependent on your vision, For Sale sign collecting dust out front. I daydreamed of the pub’s potential - with the right renovation and marketing this place could be buzzing - at only about 100kms one way it could be a day trip perhaps for people holidaying in Esperance looking for a contemporary and gastronomic alternative to fish and chips and standard pub grub. Whilst I fantasised Shovel nodded dutifully… arh the potential I thought...
We arrived in Kalgoorlie with the intention of perhaps obtaining work and staying for a while, however after Shovel experienced the run around by workpac, a recruitment company, we made the decision to abscond a few days later. Never ones to miss an opportunity to explore, we made the most of being in town and ticked a visit to the ‘Super Pit’ off the list. Kalgoorlie’s main tourist attraction is of course the mine, one of the largest open pit gold mines in Australia. Also known as the Fimiston Open Pit, due to the style of mineralisation that is of abundant sulphides and tellurides, the rectangular or oblong shaped mine is approximately 3.5km long and 1.5km wide and 600m deep. Gold was first struck in Kalgoorlie in 1893, with Thomas Flanagan, Patrick Hannan and Dan O’Shea discovering the first alluvial gold on the slopes of Mt. Charlotte. Their find resulted in a gold rush with several independent mines tolling away on the ‘Golden Mile’ some unsuccessfully until 1989 when Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) bought out the mines to create the super pit we now see today. Production results published in 2018 stated about 800,000 ounces of gold was produced per year with mine life expected until 2021. The intention then is to process lower grade previously extracted ore until 2031. Earlier in 2018 the open pit mine experienced two substantial landslides in the space of 12 hours that ultimately resulted in the temporary shutdown of operations and a reduction in output, with joint venture partner Newmont Mining reassessing production life. Months prior to the landslides 36 employees were made redundant and more endured the same fate months after the landslides. This upheaval of production targets and uncertainty amongst the workforce could potentially have been the reason why the recruitment company was noncommittal, first saying there was work, then giving us the run around... Now known as the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder the two separate towns amalgamated in 1989 and boast a stunning array of architecturally designed civic and commercial buildings in their main streets. When people flooded to the region to secure their futures in the late 19th century many came ill prepared for the harsh outback climate, hot dry summers with low rainfall. Much of the success of the two towns is owed to CY O’Connor, an engineer who was responsible for the design and construction of a freshwater pipeline from Mundaring Weir near Perth to Mount Charlotte Reservoir in Kalgoorlie. The original pipeline first constructed in 1903 is still in use today and remains the lifeline for the region, without this pipeline the town would not be viable. HEART WALKPhil & Emily Braham Streets paved in Gold 2017 Buodoon Edie Ulrich Going out Bush 2018 Andrew Frazer Unraveled 2018 Stormie Mills Drowning Within 2017 Jason Dimer Kgungka Thurtu (Sister Girl) 2018 Rosie Woods Untitled 2018 One aspect we enjoyed immensely about Kalgoorlie Boulder was the large-scale public art displayed through out the town and revealed by undertaking a 4.5km self-guided walking trail. Known as the ‘heART walk’ and designed to promote liveability and social cohesion the project incorporating 60 contemporary murals was concluded in 2018 and showcases local and visiting artists.
After the journey across 1200 kilometres of Nullarbour plain heading west, it was time to take a right turn in Norseman and head north to the town of Kalgoorlie Boulder. This journey is a short one ranging in at 188 Kilometres. Although a short journey it is filled with vast views of iconic salt lakes in the region. The Kalgoorlie – Esperance highway takes you over Lake Cowan and runs parallel with it while taking you past the abandoned town of Widgeemooltha, then past Kambalda and Lake Lefroy.
The start of the drive takes you across Lake Cowan, giving you a first view of the wide open salt lake bed. The road continues on giving you more glimpses and photo opportunities of Lake Cowan, we were lucky to catch a train heading along the tracks that rest right on the fringe of the Lake, a view that would feel very iconic for this region. Passing Lake Cowan, more vegetation appears on the side of the highway giving you signs that you’re moving away from the Salt Lake. Driving further north on highway 94 takes you past Widgeemooltha, a town that started with a discovery of gold in 1890. The aboriginal word Widgeemooltha meaning is thought to be the name of a nearby rock hole or possibly the beak of an emu. Widgeemooltha was made famous to the finding of the largest gold nugget in history of 32.2 kilograms in 1931 turning the town population of 100 people to 1000 gold fever sufferers. The town is now well past its gold glory with the remains of the old pub and some active mine sites in the region. The next stretch of road takes you past Kambalda, a more recently discovered town in the 1960’s. This part of the region was known for Gold prior to the town existing but large quantities of Nickel encouraged the Western Mining Corporation to build a town in the region. Kambalda provides a great opportunity to get a view of Lake Lefroy before the next 60 kilometres into Kalgoorlie. The longest straight road in Australia was beckoning today on our epic 530 kilometre roadtrip adventure to the end of the Nullarbor and the Eyre Highway. The Eyre Highway is 1,664 kilometres long, bookended by Port Augusta in South Australia at one end and Norseman in Western Australia at the other. We were dreading the longest straight section, but to be honest it didn't actually feel long or straight as it's peppered by many risers with changing terrain. The museum at the Balladonia Roadhouse was interesting, as we learnt about Skylab, an American Space Station launched unmanned into space in 1973 with a mission to prove if humans could live and work in space and expand knowledge of solar astronomy. Until 1974 various crews of three men stayed between 28-84 days living and working at the Space Station. Then in 1977 after only four years orbiting earth, Skylab was decommissioned and the Space Station's systems were shutdown. Skylab became a rogue spacecraft floating through space. It was undetermined where or how Skylab would come to land. That is until 12th July 1979 when Skylab re-entered the atmosphere, spraying fiery metal fragments upon the earth. Pieces landed at Balladonia station and as far south as Esperance. Balladonia and Esperance became instance international news headlines and the owners of Balladonia station even received a telephone call from the then American President, Jimmy Carter, who rang to apologise for the inconvenience, offering to pay for any damage to their property.
"The mountain of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use." John Steinbeck Gold was originally discovered in 1894 by Laurie Sinclair and the deposit was named after his horse, Hardy Norseman. The subsequent township fluctuated in population until 1935 when Western Mining invested heavily in the town's development. The Norseman Gold Mine, owned by Western Mining until 2002 when it was sold to Croesus Mining, which consists of the Central Mine closest to town and the Harlequin Mine, was sold to Central Norseman Gold/Tulla Group for $60 million in 2007 after being in administration for eleven months. In 2014 the Central Mine was placed into a state of Care and Maintenance. The Central Mine, which is currently for sale is now a waste land of discarded mining equipment and the town remains dominated by a massive tailings slump. It's a bit strange driving past the disused mine as you make your way to the town's lookout, with information boards erected in 2001 promoting the economic viability of the town and its prosperous future. After the closure of the Central Mine and the death of a miner at the Harlequin mine in 2014, many of the residents abandoned the town leaving a current population of only about 500 residents. We also ventured to nearby Lake Cowan, an extensive salt-pan that was impressive to see, before having a dinner of red emperor at the local Norseman pub.
We crossed into Western Australia today, presenting for a Quarantine Inspection before venturing onto our next Roadhouse destination, Madura Pass Oasis. The trip of 378 kilometres had has drive along side the Bight admiring from various angles the Bunda Cliffs and stopping regularly to take photos at the designated lookouts. Once in Western Australia the treeless Nullarbor Plain gave way to the Hampton Tablelands and Roe Plains. By night after a posh dinner at the Roadhouse of Roast Beef and Sparkling Water served in wine glasses on a linen tablecloth we ventured on foot to the top of the hill to watch the sunset together over the plains. It was a really special experience.
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November 2023
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