Julie's Travel Journal: Kalgoorlie to Kookynie

Let the Holiday Begin

Day 5 1^st May
Kalgoorlie to Kookynie

Odometer 16494 Temp 24
Following 3 ½ long days of driving today was the first day we could slow down and start to enjoy our holiday. First order of the day was fuel at the Shell ($1.59.9). I hadn’t pre booked our accommodation in Newman so whilst Mark was filling up I made phone calls about our accommodation. There was no accommodation available in Newman which meant we had to drive to Meekatharra so we could get past Newman the next night. I was happy once I had confirmed accommodation in Meekatharra and Munjina. We went to the tourist information centre to enquire about a pit tour as the Mining Hall of Fame was still closed. They directed us to another office two blocks up the road. Mark went to enquire about the tour and I took photos of the Paddy Hannan statue.

Paddy Hannan discovered gold in Kalgoorlie 18th June 1893

There were no spots available to do the tour that morning and they were charging a hefty $70pp. After a big shop at Woolworths we continued up to the super pit lookout where we had amazing views of the pit.

They also had a dragline

and a truck tipper tray at the lookout

We were heading north to Menzies at 11.50, where we planned to have lunch. Menzies was a lot smaller than I expected, little more than one street. I expected to be able to order lunch from the pub. What was available was hot food like you would find in a take away store and pre packaged roast dinners in a plastic container. I had roast beef for $12.50. We went for a walk down the main street and took some photos of the buildings in town

before heading out on the dirt road towards Lake Ballard at 1.45pm.

There were several salt lakes on the way out to Lake Ballard they could have used to house the sculptures. It took us 1 hr to drive the 52kms on the corrugated road. We only passed one vehicle on the way out to the Lake. They have a notice board just inside the turn off to the lake which we should have stopped off at first then we would have known NOT to climb the small hill on the edge of the lake. We spent an hour wandering around looking at a handful of sculptures.

Julie climbed the hill

and took photos across the lake.

south

west

south west

On our way back to the car we spotted this cutey

and these beautiful native plants

By 3.30 we were back on the road again heading back to Menzies before continuing on to Kookynie via Niagara Dam. I would have liked to have had more time at the dam. We only had sufficient time to take some photos before continuing our journey.

Niagara was a very popular spot to free camp. We continued on to the pub at Kookynie which we found with little difficulty. The 100 year old pub is one of a handful of surviving buildings from the gold rush.

Our room was small with a double bed, a single and a wardrobe.

The shower and toilet were out the back but under the main roof. Despite the cook being out of action following shoulder surgery, we enjoyed a perfectly cooked steak, salad and chips for dinner cooked by our host and proprietor Kevin. Mark and I chatted about our travels in the USA the previous year, whilst Kevin spoke of his travels to the Sturgis Car Rally. The only downside was the pub is powered by a diesel generator which is turned off every night so Mark was unable to use his CPAP overnight.