Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
gold fever. The town is perched on the edge of the Super Pit, the world's biggest
open-cut gold mine, 4.5km (2
3
⁄
4
miles) long, 1.5km (1 mile) wide, and 290m
(951 ft.) deep. It yields up to 850,000 ounces of the yellow stuff every year—
over 2,000 ounces a day. An estimated 13 million ounces is still in the ground.
Walking down the wide streets fronted with wrought-iron lace verandas is like
stumbling onto a Western movie set. Countless bars still do the roaring trade
they notched up in the 1890s—only now they serve suited-up gold-mining
executives from Adelaide and Perth.
Life on the Golden Mile is not so lively for everyone, however. Just down the
road 39km (24 miles) is
Coolgardie
(pop. 1,100), another 1890s boomtown
where the gold ran out in 1963. The town's semiabandoned air is a sad foil to
Kalgoorlie's energy; but much of the lovely architecture remains, so you can
wander the gracious streets and a few museums for a pleasant nostalgia buzz.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE Airlink
(book through Qantas
&
13 13 13
in Australia)
flies to Kalgoorlie from Perth daily. Skywest (
&
1300/660 088
in Australia;
www.skywest.com.au) flies daily from Perth, except Saturdays.
Greyhound Pioneer
(
&
13 20 30
in Australia) makes the 8-hour trip once
a week from Perth for A$118 (US$77). Greyhound's service from Adelaide also
runs once a week, takes around 27 hours, and costs A$264 (US$172).
Goldrush
Tours
(
&
1800/62 0440
in Australia, or 08/9021 2954) runs a 6
3
⁄
4
-hour
express coach service from Perth every day for A$88 (US$57).
Kalgoorlie is a stop on the 3-day
Indian Pacific
train service, which runs
between Sydney and Perth through Adelaide twice a week in both directions. See
section 12, “Getting Around Australia,” in chapter 2, for contact details. The
Prospector
train makes 10 trips a week from Perth to Kalgoorlie for A$55
(US$36). Call the government rail organization
WA G R
(
&
13 10 53
in West-
ern Australia, or 08/9326 2000).
From Perth, take the Great Eastern Highway. If you want to make the
extremely dull 2,182km (1,353-mile) journey on the Eyre Highway from Ade-
laide, which features the longest straight stretch of highway in the world on the
empty Nullarbor Plain, contact the South Australian or Western Australian state
auto clubs listed under “Getting Around Australia,” in chapter 2, for advice.
There are only a handful of small towns and gas stops en route.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Tourist Centre,
250
Hannan St., Kalgoorlie, WA 6430 (
&
1800/00 1880
in Australia, or 08/9021
1966; www.kalgoorlieandwagoldfields.com.au), dispenses information on Kalgo-
orlie, Coolgardie, and outlying ghost towns and regions. Boulder is a suburb of
Kalgoorlie. The center's walking trail map to the town's architecture, which sells
for a few dollars, is worth buying. The center is open Monday through Friday
from 8:30am to 5pm, and Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays from 9am to
Streets Paved with Gold . . .
In Kalgoorlie's young days, its streets were paved with a blackish spoil
from the mining process called “tellurides.” When someone realized tel-
lurides contain up to 40% gold and 10% silver, those streets were ripped
up in one big hurry. The city fathers had paved the streets with gold and
didn't even know it!
Fun Fact
