Palace Hotel Kalgoorlie

So today I leave the outback...

I get up early and make the most of the free internet and have a last chat with Alex and Sam and then they head off to work and I gather up the remainder of my stuff. This place has become my home, and even though I have only been here a mere 3 and a half weeks it feels a lot longer!! You have absolutely no concept of time in these places when there is no weekend and all the days roll into one. It's a good ...

... Pit and its viewing area.

Worlds cannot really describe the scale of this enterprise –basically an open cast mine, on an enormous scale. Our arrival had been timed to coincide with the day’s blasting. Being “in the know” we sidled up to the bearded man with the two-way radio, as we knew that he was in direct contact with the pit managers and would therefore be able to give a ten minute, then five minute ...

... in the afternoon, Paul took the tray-top off his bus, (that's what they call any vehicle in Tassie!) and we went for a spin up the beach, over some rocks, in the dunes etc. Great fun. On the way back I spotted what I thought was a dolphin surfing in the waves. We turned around & went back & it was actually an Australian Sea-Lion surfing, came out of a body surf right near us, looked up and got a helluva fright! It took off like a scalded cat, but not ...

... station consists of a collection of ramshackle huts which now serve as extremely basic accommodation. We were the only people there so we had our pick - we chose the "homestead" as it had a great firepit area. However there is tank water and flush toilets so we still aren't really roughing it. The flies were intense - I don't think I will ever be able to get used to them. They cover you all over and ...

... recently. As I've mentioned before, the agency does a breath test every day but not a drug test. So I supplied a urine sample for the BHP test and nervously waited for the result. Why you ask? Because I've been taking cold and flu medication for a few weeks now. I declared all medication to the nurse beforehand who advised me that everything will be identified by the lab. My visit to Brissie may have to ...

... first job as a Sentry (safety backup person) at a nickel processing plant. The role entailed monitoring the well-being of tradesmen working in a tank or large pipe. It's a critical OH&S role and was the entry level position I was looking for. I worked 5 nights in a row before getting a call for a trades assistant temporary job at a BHP nickel processing plant. It's 20 minutes from town and is primarily an ...

... me available for sprawling myself out on. Excellent news. There was still the treat of someone jumping on at Kalgoorlie before bedtime but for now I could stretch and enjoy it. It took less than a couple of hours for the boredom to kick in. I was armed with a sodoku book, my ipod with the addition of a few films and a book on the poker scene. I wasn't overly bothered about reading it, but choices are limited when you can't face paying an obscene amount of money for a book. Prices here ...

... glad to have him here (in the grand scheme of things he was a godsend.) I've met some people in my time and for a seventeen-year old - which seems a lifetime away these days - the lad's up there, right on form, and right on par with Scottish Dean from back in the New Zealand days. Dean had that natural rare gift of blinding you with ...

... in to Perth. Missing the booming little outback town of Kalgoorlie now would essentially mean missing it completely. There's no way we'd suddenly, somewhere down the line have a bright idea to drive the 600k's or so from Perth just to go look at 'that little gold-mining town in the outback'. Making the most of our location now made much more sense. We took the two-hour detour to Kalgoorlie ...

... Vi ville gerne ud paa en stor fiskerbaad og se dem hente dagens fangst, men alle ture var aflyst pga for meget blaest. Iiih hvor typisk.
Naa men vi tog en tur paa havnen for at se paa alle de store baade i stedet og paa alle de rige fiskeres huse. Bagefter tog vi ud i en National Park lige uden for Port Lincoln hvor vi gik nogen ture og fandt et hyggeligt sted at overnatte helt ned til vandet.

I morgen gaar turen videre det sidste stykke til Adelaide.