DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT: May 2014

HELLO COOLGARDIE!

SUCH A FRIENDLY LITTLE COUNTRY TOWN

(Day 190 of our trip... WOW)

We left Cave Hill and took the supposedly 'easier' way back, the road was graded for a distance and then dad had to take some serious corrugations... they said in the book that you can bring a 2WD inhere... but I would strongly advise against it! Mum said again it felt like she had gone to the gym and had a full on work out yet hadn't voluntarily moved a muscle.

We came to a "T" intersection and dad in his unique way said 'now what'? Mum told him as we were travelling north towards Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie-Boulder to turn left. So, naturally dad turned right.... but didn't get to far at all, turned around with mum giving him a stern look and showing him the compass "North! not South.. Coolgardie not Esperance"... Dad pulled a face at mum and said 'ok, boss'... gee it's taken him til Western Australia to realise this?

We arrived at Coolgardie with dad checking out Wikicamps on his ipad and mum telling him that the caravan park was fine as was free camping as dad kept on asking mum "you do want a shower don't you?" Mum got cranky with dad, and told him to stop putting everything on her as she was fine being feral for another few days and it was him that wanted the shower"... Dad pulled into Coolgardie Tourist Park, small with nice clean amenities, a little family run supermarket that had been running for over 100 years by the same family (impressive) three hotels, only one of which was operational as a pub and restaurant. Such a lovely old building, with dad telling mum a pub dinner would be nice. Mum said this time she would pay and he could order anything he wanted, and told him to have a couple of drinks as then she could drive back to the park for a change, instead of dad just having a diet coke. The meals were very affordable and delicious! I had a salad, mum had a huge steak sandwich that came with chips and wedges, dad had the seafood basket and he reckoned not only was it the best he had ever had for the price but the serving was the biggest... including some cocktail prawns in the middle. Mum had two coffees, dad had two beers and we all splashed out and had what mum called a 'decident' dessert of Denver Hot Choc Fudge with choice of ice cream, cream or custard. Mum said 'hello hips' and ordered this with the 'heavy on the cream' and dad ordered the same with the custard instead of cream. In the major town this would be in excess of $80 easy! and mum only had to pay a little under $60.

It was a photo opportunity that we missed upon leaving, there were about six dogs, all sitting on the corner looking at the pub door waiting for their respective humans to come out and take them home.

We were only going to stay one night, but dad said the showers were so hot and strong we should stay another night... mum didn't say no and they had two showers a day with dad thinking he had used about 500 litres of water (not that dad EVER exaggerates or anything ha ha). Mum had the opportunity to wash her hair, the last time being when we visited Kylee's so she was happy too. Dad said it was all shiny and smooth again. I call it 'boofy'.

We all took a long walk up and down the main street with dad watching all the road trains going through (it is a mining town after all with gold being discovered last century).. They took their time and went to the old railway station that has long been closed and now a museum, unfortunately the museum was closed for renovations however you could still access the platforms and walk through the old train that was there, we explored the train, climbed up into the drivers cabin. Mum even climbed up on the coal shuttle behind the engine! I took a photo of her. We started at the back in the mail coach or caboose, and worked our way through the five seater compartments all of which had drop down steel basins and toilets. There were second class and first class carriages. I couldn't tell the difference between the two but it was a shame that many of the carriages had been vandalised. Mum and dad looked past that fact and spoke of the history of the train and the town... Mum said the train reminded her of the John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara movie "The Quiet Man" and that if the platform was 9 and 3/4's she'd be on her way to Hogwarts!

We found out that the Western Australian miners didn't really appreciate prospectors coming to make their fortunes from other states, and for some reason or another detested Victorians! They were nick named "T'othersiders" and weren't allowed to patronage the establishments here and had to make do for themselves. We found out that they even had to start their own newspaper. Some various establishments would allow them to enter and have a drink, but what they put in the drink was more potent than it should have been ending up in "T'othersider" out in the gutter with his pockets conveniently emptied! at one time this small town had in excess of 30,000 people with the gold boom, but now the population is a fraction of what it once was and yet it has all the things one would want in a country town. I liked it so did dad.. mum loved it! (She's such a country girl at heart).

We found a place only about 26 kilometres from Coolgardie where we can free camp for three nights only at Lake Douglas with rubbish bins and toilets and run we think by the combined mines of Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and resepctive councils, we told our neighbours and new found friends Reg and Rhonda that we were going there and they said they were headed this way too so we will meet up with them! Dad said we can have a camp fire and as the last two nights have been 5 and 8 degrees a fire with mum cooking on it will be most welcomed.... hmmm yum! Just checked the menu for the next three nights... Sausage hotpot, Sheperd's Pit, and Oregano Chicken with damper.... *sigh* Sometimes I wish I wasn't a herbivore!!

Speak with you soon!
Happy Travels and stay safe... and enjoy the pics

Tahune xx