On the move again today, first to Kalgoorlie to see how Alan and Sandy’s Landcruiser is faring.

The first stop on the route is at Coolgardie,  a town which is older than Kalgoorlie and was the place where Paddy Hannan’s  gold find started one of the biggest gold rushes in history.    The main street is 100 feet wide,

   

so that it was possible to turn an ox train (sometimes 30 animals) round in the street.   At one time c1896 there were nine newspapers published in the town, which in 1903 had a population of nearly 20,000 but today about 500 live here and most of the shops have ceased trading – it looks very tired.

We caught up with Alan and Sandy in Kalgoorlie. Toyotaways think they have isolated the problem and expect it to be fixed today.   It was decided that we would continue up to Malcolm Dam and meet up with Brad and Denise and that we would wait there for Alan and Sandy to drive up tomorrow.   

A stop for lunch in Menzies, another mining town which was booming around the turn of the 20 century.    Population in 1902 nearly 10,000, population today 50!     It is still very popular with gold hunters and is almost entirely sustained by an ever changing population of visitors with their metal detectors, some of whom stay for months at a time and go out every day and find relatively small valuable amounts of gold.   For many what they find pays for the diesel or food or beer.  These towns had some lovely old buildings and the old town hall in Menzies is a tremendous example the town’s history, together with the partially restored Old Post Office.

        

After lunch an hour or so gets us to Leonora where we need to fill up with diesel as it going to be very expensive for the next 1500 ks because there are only three places where fuel is available in that distance and the cost has to reflect getting it there on a dirt road.    Having topped up we head east for a few ks and we find Brad and Denise at Malcolm Dam.   It’s a beautiful spot with plenty of birds around.  There is time for a cup of tea and a catch up before it’s time for wine and nibbles while we watch the sun go down.