1 August 2013 - Goldminer Tourist Caravan Park, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

A quick stop up town in Coolgardie

A new month and another birthday for my father, eighty four today; I made a quick call to him before my breakfast and after his lunch. It did not take us long to be ready for our departure, thus is the convenience of remaining hitched on a drive-through site when you make only a stopover as opposed to a longer visit. We farewelled the many birds of the park, all human inhabitants either absent or still tucked up inside their modest residences and then headed the one kilometre back up to the centre of town.

On reading the promotional brochures, I had thought we might stay a couple of nights here in Coolgardie, however yesterday’s brief overview had changed my mind. I now thought a few hours would allow us time to explore this very historical mining town. For me, Coolgardie and Kalgoordie were as synonymous to mining in Western Australia as are Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria or Broken Hill in New South Wales. It would be very remiss of a traveller to neglect these important Australian icons.

We parked up and wandered up one side of the very wide street and back along the other, pausing to read the many stories and explanations well set out on boards every few metres. Sadly many of these were erected by the Historical Society some years ago, even decades ago and not been maintained. The newer signs are excellent, but would be that much better if the older signs had been brought up to the same standard. Many of the charming old heritage listed buildings are in a poor state but then no one is putting their hand up to shell out for the upkeep.

Property here in Coolgardie has not always been like this. Back in the day, or more particularly in 1895, blocks in the central business district that had been a wilderness just three years before, were sold for as much as 50 pounds (or $100) a foot, and in 1896, residential building blocks of land sold for 12,407 pounds, the equivalent of $24,814, which was a small fortune in those days!

But then in those days Coolgardie was a pulsating municipality. In 1898 the population was 15,000 and was to reach 25,000 before the rot set in.

It was interesting, and rather sad, to learn that the town, so much already abandoned, was further decimated in February 1928 when a destructive cyclone hit. The cyclone managed to do away with the Royal Hall, the Fire Station, the Wesleyan Church, the Church of England, a section of the Marble Bar and Great Western Hotel and the rear of the Town Hall, as well as a few less important structures. A 1,000 gallon tank was found some miles away. Really it is amazing that anything is left at all for the passing traveller to see.

One of the few remaining tourist attractions is Ben Prior’s Park, a section littered with old machinery and  unusual and eclectic things collected by the late Ben Prior, a garage owner, who was obviously an obsessive hoarder. There is a certain charm in this outdoor museum or might have been when it was set up, but now bits have fallen off the odd-ball items, and nobody seems to care. I would gladly sign a petition to have the lot taken off to the tip if it would help. However like all old collections which are so lovingly gifted to the community, such an act would be so ungracious. I hope someone reminds me of this sentiment if, at some future time, I should consider donating any of my own horded souvenirs “for posterity”.

Random relics of bygone years

In fact all round Coolgardie is shabby, a mere spectre of its original self, and the few inhabitants we saw are as down-at-heel as are the dwellings they apparently live in. The smartest construction in the whole town was the fairly new Exeloo which houses a ghost with a deep voice who speaks with an American accent and plays Burt Bacharach music as one goes about one’s business. The experience was quite surreal!

It was still only 10.30 am when we pulled out of this sad old town and headed east to Kalgoorlie. Half an hour later we were passing through the light industry that supplies and serves the mining operations, past very palatial homes and crossing intersections controlled by traffic lights. Kalgoorlie, or more correctly, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, has a population of over 30,000, making it the largest urban centre in the Goldfields-Esperance region and the fifth largest in Western Australia.

Our first impressions were one of tidiness; even the older houses behind their tin fences were not the eyesore of those in Coolgardie. As we criss-crossed our way to our final destination at this park, we found most of the residential areas really quite smart.

Coolgardie's ruins

Our first port of call was the Information Centre situated in the main street, adjacent to a charming sculpture of Paddy Hannan, he who is credited with first finding the gold on which this metropolis is founded.

Inside we soon found a pre-printed list of caravan parks in town and were attended to by a delightfully helpful young woman. She quickly told us that only the top three of the five parks on the list were open to tourists; the bottom two were for permanents only. This was a disappointment, because we had seen these mentioned on other literature and were keen to suss them out. But no, we would do as we were told, and selected our choice of the three. We headed for the Discovery Holiday Park Kalgoorlie, about four kilometres from the CBD and parked in front of reception. We asked for a powered site for four days, with the possibility of extending. The two women behind the counter were friendly, most obliging, explained about the Saturday Happy Hour which apparently extends beyond the hour, and altogether we were all a happy group until they told us the tariff: $42 per night. “What!” we exclaimed. ”The information from the Visitors Centre says $32”.

Well, yes, it does, they agreed, although it actually says, “from $32”. Now given that it is winter, school is now back and that parks visited and stayed in over the past month have offered four days for three and discounts here, there and everywhere, would you not think we were in the “off season”?

Not the case at the Discovery Park it would seem. “Here in WA”, we were told, “this is the peak season!”

“Really!” I countered.

“Too much!” Chris exclaimed, gathering his wallet, and his wife, and out we marched.

We were furious, most indignant, and most importantly in perfect tune with our level of these negative feelings, not always the case, I must confess. $10 up on the suggested price!

It was nearly midday and it is possible that our hunger had something to do with our irritation, so we found a flat posse in the recreation grounds not too far away and had lunch; fresh buns we had bought after calling into the Information Centre.

We tried ringing a couple of the other parks, but were told to leave a message or book on line, I pulled the computer out from under the bed and went on line but found the booking service they promoted seemed to be for units or cabins, not powered caravan sites. Lunch had done little to cool our hot heads. We decided to drive to one of the “off limit” caravan parks, certain it was one we had seen as we drove into town, and sure enough, there it was, signs out touting for business with advice they did not welcome pets. We pulled in.

The sign on the door said the office did not reopen until 3 pm, but the door was open and the receptionist was welcoming and keen for our patronage. And so we have stayed.

The tariff is still a hefty $35, although we have been given a discount because we are so sweet and lovely, or just old, and it has been explained to us that this weekend, or extended weekend, is in fact a peak time because of an annual mining conference taking place in town. Accommodation in town is at a premium and it seems that we would be out of luck if we were seeking a room anywhere. Now why couldn’t the women at the Discovery Park have explained that to us instead of offering an unsupported cock and bull story!

So that was the start to our stay in Kalgoorlie.

After we established ourselves on our excellent site, and found the old amenities to be in immaculate order, we decided that we would spend the afternoon quietly “at home”. Enough emotional energy had been spent.

Soon we watched as a couple of rigs arrived and set up either side of us; parties we had encountered at the Visitors Centre in Norseman and who had stayed next to us at Pemberton. We learned that they too had been up to Hyden; we all seem have the same brilliant travel itineraries.

More rigs arrived and we wondered if they had had the same run around as we had, or whether they had simply taken a chance on a spot as they entered town. Maybe I will do a survey tomorrow although I suspect we will have better things to do.

We spent some of our idle time sorting through the pamphlets and reading the travel bibles to organise our time here. It would seem that four days will not be enough after all.

Catching up with Larissa on Skype offered a pleasant end to the day although she had to rush off to pick up India from a school dance. Our wee grand-daughter is growing up very fast!