East to endless epic adventures

We’re out of the city, over the line, boots in the red dirt — and we love the endless options and freedoms that come with road trips around Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields. Pick a theme — natural landscapes, indigenous history, goldrush history, or its modern story … or just fossicking around and meeting fellow travellers and locals. Road trip time of year is coming in Australia’s Golden Outback. GETTING THERE Most of us simply head for the rising sun, along Great Eastern Highway from the metro area. And, in WA terms, it isn’t far — a pretty leisurely day out and you’re in Kal, ready to explore Kalgoorlie Boulder and then launch further afield. Midland to Southern Cross — 350km Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie — 225km Stop at Coolgardie, 40km before Kalgoorlie. The Prospector train runs between Perth and Kalgoorlie every day. It used to be an overnight sleeper, but now the run takes about seven hours (or so), with air-conditioning, power points for charging, buffet service and on-demand entertainment systems, complete with new movies. Return tickets start from $93.70. transwa.wa.gov.au and search for Prospector. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia fly between Perth and Kalgoorlie. Airfares recently have been from $149 each way with Virgin, but I’d usually hope for about $450 return. Kalgoorlie Driving into the heart of Kalgoorlie tells its story. Prospector Caravan Park and Goldminer Caravan Park Golden Village. Miner’s Rest Motel and The View on Hannans motel. A sign announces “Kalgoorlie since 1893”, when Paddy Hannan found gold near here. His statue is outside the Town Hall, which was built in 1908. There used to be a pub on every corner, and at the big crossroads at the top of Hannan Street, the Exchange Hotel still faces off with the Palace. I look out over the city from Mt Charlotte, near where Paddy with his mates Dan Shea and Thomas Flanagan found their first alluvial gold. It is also where the water pipeline from Mundaring ends. And from here there’s a good view over this boom-and-bust, wild west town. The Golden Mile of Kalgoorlie is one of the richest gold deposits in the world. There are “gold town” discovery tours, Super Pit tours, and more. Or see KCGM’s Super Pit, one of Australia’s biggest open pit gold mines, from the air with Goldfields Air Services. Super Pit is approximately 3.5km long, 1.5km wide and 370m deep at the moment. Blasting occurs regularly and can be watched from the public lookout, which is open from 7am to 7pm daily. Hannans North Tourist Mine mixes gold rush history and modern day mining. I’d chat to the helpful folk at the Kalgoorlie Visitor Centre, who can advise and make bookings (including for accommodation and caravan parks). kalgoorlietourism.com and 9021 1966 History Hannans North Tourist Mine, Kalgoorlie. Museum of the Goldfields, Kalgoorlie. Goldfields War Museum, Boulder. Walk Karlkurla Bushland Park. Goongarrie National Park. Heartwalk (60 street murals in Kalgoorlie city). Name The name Kalgoorlie is derived from the Wangai Indigenous language group’s word Karlkurla, meaning “place of the silky pears”. explore Sport The Nullarbor Links is the world’s longest golf course, with 18 holes spread over the 1365km of the Nullarbor Plain. There are three holes near Kalgoorlie — the par 4, 356m, CY O’Connor; par 5, 502m, Golden Mile; and par 4, 392m Silver Lake. Take the clubs and theme a bigger trip. nullarborlinks.com Art Menzies is 130km north of Kalgoorlie, and 50km west of Menzies is Inside Australia, UK sculptor Antony Gormley’s 51 figures in Lake Ballard. Local people were scanned and their bodies reduced to a proportion, and then cast. They now stand like mirages, out in the space of the salt lake. Antony says: “The insider reveals an attitude in a taut abstract shape formed by the passage of the person’s life. Out on the salt lake they become antennae in space in relationship with each other but also with the land and the limit of our perception: the horizon.” Pub My signature is on the walls of the Broad Arrow Tavern, north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the Goldfields Highway. After decades of signings, the practice was stopped in September 2020, with the pub’s management commenting: “Not only are some people writing and drawing inappropriate things but they are also writing over all the old signatures too and we want to try and preserve as much of the old stuff as we can.” It’s a piece of history worth seeing, and the beer’s cold. (Back in South Boulder, there’s Beaten Track Brewery.) some of MY HIGHLIGHTS TOWNS Coolgardie Don’t just drive through. Stop and walk the wide street (built for camel-train U-turns). Better still, pull up and picnic outside the cemetery and then wander round. It was commissioned in 1894 and there are more than 3000 graves, telling the story of the place, its history and its challenges and successes. Graves, of course, lead us into human stories, and those of Ernest Giles (who led five major expeditions to parts of WA and South Australia), and Victor Streich, the geologist on the 1891 Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition (the “Lindsay Expedition), can do just that. A plot with a number label is $650 and I’m thinking about it. Kookynie It once had a racecourse, shops, factories, and even a brothel. But today the heart of what’s left of Kookynie is still the Grand Hotel – one of my favourite haunts over the years. About 130km north of Kalgoorlie, every time I get there (often on the way to the Great Central Road) I wonder why I’m driving on. I’d be happy to spend a week around here, as I have in the past, with a day trip over to Antony Gormley’s Inside Australia sculptures at Menzies. Leonora Driving into Leonora on Goldfields Highway as the afternoon turns into night, I happen to pass a pony... not a kangaroo, cattle, train, even wedge-tailed eagle, which I’ve seen on warning signs... but a little Shetland pony. On the roadside in Leonora. It is fitting enough, as this small breed of horse was used as a pit pony for some 200 years, from the mid-18th century, particularly in Wales. And, of course, I am just a stone’s throw from the ghost town of Gwalia. Gwalia is an ancient poetic Welsh name for “Wales”. Gwalia The little town grew in the 1890s in the early heyday of the Sons of Gwalia Mine. But the mine closed in 1963 and Gwalia’s population fell from more than 1000 to about 40 in not much more than a fortnight. Today, its abandoned buildings have not only earned it the title of “ghost town”, but offer a window into the gold rush era and way of living and working. Gwalia’s Historical Precinct has a museum and Hoover House B&B, a reconstructed historic timber headframe and 22 preserved miners’ cottages. Laverton Not everyone has an “I Love Laverton” bumper sticker. I do. Laverton is “on the edge”, where bitumen gives way to red dirt and towns give way to the desert. Start at the excellent Great Beyond VisitorCentre and Explorers Hall of Fame. Sandstone The natural stone London Bridge is a (photographic) drawcard. Part of a formation about 800m long, and between three and 10m high, despite the name of the town, London Bridge is actually weathered basalt and estimated to be about 350 million years old. The top part is getting thinner. London Bridge is, indeed, falling down. The heart of the town is most definitely the National Hotel, with a history dating to 1907 but still very much alive. But start at Sandstone Heritage Museum and Information Centre. A nice “a bit off the beaten track” triangle is: Perth to Sandstone, then Menzies Sandstone Road to Menzies, back road to Coolgardie, Coolgardie to Perth. gwalia.org.au WOODLANDS Great Western Woodlands This is the planet’s biggest and healthiest temperate woodland. Covering almost 160,000sqkm between the Wheatbelt and the Nullarbor Plain,it is nearly three times the size of Tasmania. So, roughly between (west to east) Hyden and Norseman and (north to south) Coolgardie and Ravensthorpe, we have one of Earth’s most ecologically significant regions, with eucalypt woodlands, open bushland, mallee, shrublands and grasslands. More than 3000 species have been recorded. ROADS & TRACKS Bishop Riley’s Pulpit I’ve picked this spot on the Anne Beadell Highway (which runs east from Laverton to the SA border), but it is just one of the landmarks, of course. It is a dramatic flat-top hill, which explorer Frank Hann named in 1906 for the Anglican Lord Bishop of Perth. During 25 expeditions between 1895 and 1908, Hann named more than 500 WA geographical features — more than any other European explorer. On six expeditions between 1903 and 1908, he worked the route between Laverton and Warburton, looking for an ever-improved alignment between waterholes, avoiding dune crossings — and giving a background theme for some of my own journeys. The Anne Beadell Highway was surveyed and cut by Len Beadell and named for his wife Anne. Great Central Road Yes, the full length of the Great Central Road is from Laverton in WA to Winton in Queensland, and also marketed as the Outback Way. But I’m really only interested in the bit between the Goldfields and Uluru. For the WA section is mostly an all-weather gravel road and has fuel and help, and some accommodation, roughly every 300km at Tjukayirla, Warburton, Giles Weather Station and Warakurna. A permit from the Central Land Council is required, which allows three days to transit from Laverton to Yulara, and specifies the conditions. A separate, three-day permit is required to return. outbackway.org.au Gunbarrel Highway Surely one of the best named roads or tracks in Australia, the 1400km Gunbarrel was also the work of Len Beadell. But it’s a step up from the Great Central Road, and travellers need to be experienced and be in a well-prepared 4WD. The Gunbarrel runs from Wiluna in the northern Goldfields to Yulara in the Northern Territory. Highlights are Mt Beadell, Notabilis Hill, Giles Weather Station and Banjo Creek. There are interpretative plaques and original bores and blaze trees. DRIVE TRAILS The 965km Golden Quest Discovery Trail is a big figure-eight between Coolgardie and Laverton on sealed and unsealed roads. goldenquesttrail.com Two trails make up the Leonora Loop Trails — the Agnew and Darlot Trails. I’d allow up to three hours to drive the two together, on the sealed and unsealed roads. Each has 15 interpretive sites roughly 15 to 30km apart; each with a story that unfolds the rich history of this region. Leonora Visitor Centre also sells the Leonora Loop Trail Guidebook. Allow a couple of leisurely hours for the Dundas Coach Road Heritage Trail, between Norseman and Dundas. Over 50km, all on sealed roads, it calls at 10 places of interest, each of which has a story that helps build a picture of life in the early years along the coach road. HIGHS & LOWS: TEMPERATURE WA is big (yeah, we know that) and that throws in a very important aspect to our travel within the 2.6 million square kilometres of the State. To get the best from it, we can be seasonal. And yeah, we city folk know that the Goldfields can be gaspingly hot sometimes — but we are heading into the best months to visit. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is located on the edge of a desert. In Kalgoorlie in March, the daily temperature high is 29C, with a low of 16C. In April, expect an average top of about 26C, and low of 13C. May will see a high of 21C, and a low of 9C. June, July and August are even cooler — with average tops of between 17C and 19C and lows of about 5C or 6C. September starts to warm a little, to 23C and 8C. October will be three or four degrees warmer but November’s only back up to an average of about 29C and 15C. However, it is our cold winters that tend to catch most of our visitors off guard. While the days can still be quite sunny and bright, the evenings can be bone-chillingly cold once the sun goes down. Layers of warm clothing are necessary during June, July and August. The average temperature for winter is 5 and 17 degrees. So don’t be caught unawares, be sure to rug up and bring extra warm clothes, including your thermals! You see where I’m going with this. The cool time of year, perfect for drive trips, is coming. Get your motor running. fact file More Goldfields information and drive itineraries at australiasgoldenoutback.com More on Road Trip country and download Australia’s Golden Outback 21 Epic Drive Trips booklet at roadtripcountry.com

Partner’s heartbreaking tribute after man dies at mine site

East to endless epic adventures