Vegas, Baby, VEGAS!!

Nope, we didn't renew our vows, but we did look out from the bus window as we scooted past the Valley of the Falls in front of the Mandalay Bay and reflect on our wedding day. Ahhhhh!

Really the main reason in Vegas this time around was getting to UFC 146 at the MGM Grand. Funny how our international flight was just in time to be able to squeeze in this event... This is my second time attending a fight. I have to say, it is certainly an experience to go. The one thing that is great about going as a female... the line (queue) for the restrooms (toilets) is massive for the gents, but non-existent for the ladies! Woohoo!

Stefan Struve vs Lavar Johnson - A really really tall man Stefan...



And the tall man wins!

After the fight, we headed off to see some sights of the strip - and figure out how the public transport system works... Here is a hint if you are heading to Vegas soon... Don't take the Deuce unless you really want to have long waits, buses that refuse to stop and pick up waiting passengers at assigned stops and a really, really slow tour of the lights on Las Vegas Blvd! Other than the Deuce, the buses were pretty easy and cheap!

Since we had the truck and camper we stayed at the Oasis RV Resort. This place is MASSIVE. Hundreds of spaces, two good sized pools, several toilet blocks and laundry areas and even with temperatures threatening to be hot, mostly full both nights.
On our second night, after deciding we didn't feel like heading down to the old part of Vegas, we headed instead to a casino called South Point which the Oasis RV park had kindly given us a few books of coupons for. All you can eat buffet dinner for $15.00 each and $20.00 free credit on our club/points card and we walked away ahead by $60.00 (after paying for dinner mind you!) Note: if you are heading to Vegas soon and want a relaxed casino experience, I highly recommend this place. Much better prices (rooms included) on food, services and entertainment than all the big names on the strip. Cut the little guy a break and see how much better you like the easy going South Point!

Our biggest mistake about Vegas? Leaving on Monday morning of a US holiday weekend (Memorial Day) at check-out time and stupidly heading west on I-15 towards southern California... where THOUSANDS of other cars were trying to get to LA in time for work on Tuesday. DoH!

Oh... and letting Matt get addicted to "Kitty Glitter" the slot machine... I will regret that game for the rest of my life, well, at least the rest of this trip I am sure!

Ohhh.. the good 'ole U.S. of A!

How I missed your ranch dressing, Cheetos, Frito's, REAL Mexican food and other delicious and incredibly bad for you food combinations!

What I didn't miss??? Those loud, obnoxious tourists who think that just because their partner/spouse/buddy's etc are deaf that the rest of the people in the park are deaf too and can't hear them yelling at each other!!

But ohhh how good it is to be 'home'. Home, by the way for 3 weeks is this Truck/Camper and hopefully level parking spaces!

Completely self-contained accommodation at its finest! Queen size bed in the loft above the cab, three burner stove top plus mini-oven and a fridge and freezer that is smart enough to run on propane (LPG) when travelling along or sitting parked somewhere or electricity if plugged in at an RV park (Caravan Park).

We even have a table for four... but I can't imagine sitting four adults together for dinner! (We will soon find out though when we my parents later on in Oregon)

We picked up the 'rig' from my parents and sister in New River, Arizona where my parents are dabbling in becoming 'snow birds' each year by fleeing to the south when the white stuff starts to fly back at 'home'.

Landing here in late May is a little bit late in the year as it was a nice 96 degrees F (36 C) even late in the evening. But it made for a convenient rendezvous with my parents, letting us check out 'my half of the inheritence', pick up the truck and camper and make the jaunt up to Vegas for UFC 146 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. We even snuck in a visit with Uncle Paul and played on his putting green in his back yard. I seriously need to work on my short game!

The Nullarbor Links and iconic Aussie roadhouses

I think the golf deserves a post of it's own... well in tandem with some blurbs about the roadhouses... They kinda go hand-in-hand! We learned that 'the course' has been open just 2 years and they have sold over 7,000 score cards (currently at $70.00 per card) and have issued as many certificates for completing the course. The course itself has been touted to have reduced the accident rate for those travellers crossing the Nullarbor drastically and been well worth the effort and the maintenance. And, as I found out, my score is far from the worst! My score - 174... worst score... 451! It would have taken them HOURS to finish a hole!!

Most of the18 holes have astro-turf/synthetic grass greens and tee's and these (reportedly and unverified) cost $38,000.00 AU each and requires sand transported from Sydney to be re-packed into them every 6-8 weeks to keep the surface in good nick. The holes in Kalgoorlie are part of the town course which is a beautiful 18 hole course that is irrigated with bore water and in amazing condition. Ceduna too, is part of a full course, however the greens on this course are a sandy/gravel mixture that are incredible slow. Norseman also has two holes and has a lovely diesel treated sand for their 'green's'.

Each hole has a sign at the tee block with a bit of information about the local history or a key figure in the area. We took a picture of each of them, but I'll just put a few of my favourites on.

I've said before that holes are spread out over 1365km/848mi with a hole or two here and there, mostly one at a time behind or alongside roadhouses. Going over to the west, we learned that some of these roadhouses are set up to rip off the travellers and some appear on the surface to be there to make for a pleasant trip.. A little bit on roadhouses. These service stations with hotel/motel and caravan parks dotting along the highway are often staffed  by migrant workers from all over the world that are 'paying the tax' to migrate here by living and working in remote Australia which is a common way to get a permanent visa to stay in this country. Otherwise, they are staffed by what I am calling "old school Aussie's". These are through and through, rough and tumble Australians that if you closed your eyes and just listened, you could imagine them settling the land 100 years ago...

The buildings themselves come in a wide range of everything from a completely modern shop with air-con, nice fittings and a small market, to dingy, scummy dilapidated buildings with barely a working light with 2 year old dust layered odds and ends in the 'shops'. Every single one, however, was a welcome respite when crossing over the long a tiresome distances throughout the trip - especially the Nullarbor.

I finally get to drive~

... and we then encountered 3 dingos crossing or travelling along the road! Of the 12,000+km/7,500mi we have traveled I drove yesterday for a whopping 200 or so kilometers and we managed to have 3 seperate dingo incidences, of which we captured ZERO on the camera!

Kalgoorlie/Boulder and the final turn to the east

We've nearly closed in on the final turn east. About 2 hours south of Kalgoorlie will be Norseman the mining town where we turned south and headed to Esperance not so very long ago... From that point on we will be duplicating our view and returning to the Nullarbor. I do wonder, this 5 weeks apart if the landscape will have noticeably changed. Perhaps in colour, perhaps in animal life, perhaps not at all. We will find out in a few days when we pack the tent up for the final (planned) time of this journey and head back home.

Now about Kalgoorlie itself. This town established around the turn of the century... not the last one but the one before that ~1900, is known for its very rich gold deposit known as the 'Golden Mile.' The hard part? Getting enough water to not only quench the thirst of the hard-working miners, but to use in extracting the gold from the surrounding ore. Along the highway is Mount Charlotte, one of the oldest underground mines left in the area and directly opposite the town water supply holding tank. The water that fills this tank is transported through a pipeline from the foothills surrounding Perth. This same pipe has been expanded several times and also accommodates irrigation the of thousands and thousands of hectares of wheat farms between Kalgoorlie and Perth.

A few photos of the historic buildings still around today.


York Hotel - Kalgoorlie, W.A.



Exchange Hotel - Kalgoorlie, W.A.



Palace Hotel - Kalgoorlie, W.A.



Clock Tower - Kalgoorlie, W.A.

In the distance surrounding the eastern edge of town, for as far as you can see, there are piles and piles of waste rock, extracted mostly from the Super Pit. 

Super Pit Stockpiles, Kalgoorlie, W.A.

Now the eye opener of visiting the Tom Price mine just earlier this week did little to prepare me for the massive scar created by the joining of several smaller pits, along with the openings of older underground mines that used to grid the area. This really is huge. Seen from space (easily, I might add) this pit is still several years from being finished. The mine plan is for the pit to be about 500 meters deep at the end of it's tenure.



A full truck headed down into the pit, Super-Pit, Kalgoorlie, W.A.

 We watched a massive dump-truck (only slightly smaller than the Rio Tinto truck shown previously) wind its way down the mine carrying a load of road-base to the bottom where several charged explosives were set to go off later in the afternoon. Across the way and about half the depth of the pit, we could see where last August a major slip/slide had occurred blocking a main road in and out of the pit. 

Slip/slide from August 2011. Excavator working on removing rubble - Super Pit, Kalgoorlie, W.A.

The slide itself continued on past the road and made its way all the way to the bottom of the pit.They were casually (as they had been for months I am sure) working on removing the rubble with an excavator precariously propped on the top of the pile. Some of the boulders that were in the slip pile were several times larger than that of the dump-trucks we have noted as being tremendously sized.

Matt's Old Stompin' Grounds - Part II

So we visited the mining town of Leinster (pop. ~ 1400) where Matt was a Fly-In Fly-Out (from Perth) for almost 2 years and then a resident for 3.5 years.

This was Maizes' (the cat) second home where she joyously learned to climb a Jacaranda Tree onto the roof and generally did some cattin' around.

Front of the old house - Austin Place - Leinster, W.A.

The town is very well organised and has a 'town centre' with a well stocked grocery store, a post office, hair dresser a cafe and housewares shop. All this just a half a block away from the sporting arenas, footy oval and 25m swimming pool. Oh, and right next door to all that is the Bistro/Tavern/Bottle shop (liquor store). What more could you ask for?

The streets were silent during our glide along memory lane. Middle of the week, any local kids are in school, the miners either sleeping in preparation for the night shift or on duty 25 minutes away at the mine site. Very few folks out and about but the town itself was pleasant and quite tidy.

So weird to think about the town Wiluna that we had spent last night in as a town that was at one point probably quite similar but is now in such disarray and it is only 1 hour 45 from Leinster. It is quite heart breaking to think that when the mine shuts down at some point in the future, this town too, will probably fade away to a virtual ghost town.

Before we got to the Leinster turn-off we stopped off at the 'red sand dune' that was one of Matt's favourite places to take visitors. Unfortunately, when he tried to take his Mum Ann and sister Kate, it wasn't to be found. Luckily, from the north you can see the dune off to the left out in a high spot surrounded by dry Lake Miranda. Here's a few pics.



Red Sand Dune - Lake Miranda in the background, W.A.



Spine - in sand - Red Dune, Lake Miranda, W.A.

Further south, we passed through Leonora and just five minutes away is the ghost town of Gwalia. This town is actually a ghost town. Besides the museum, there is nothing but sheds, dilapidated houses and interpretive signs where the miners, mine bosses and support crews lived.

Wiluna - In Photos

Just a quick update with a few photos from Wiluna. I know I wrote of this a few days ago, but hopefully the photos give you some visual representation of how the town looks in daylight.

Wiluna Caravan Park - W.A.

Wiluna Hotel - Only the bar is still open, the rest is borded off.

Ablution Block - Wiluna Caravan Park - W.A.