Morning Came the 20th Day

 Overcast, but nothing could dampen my 70th birthday, the reason we are doing a 70 day lap of Australia. A big surprise was the fabulous  video message via Emma...the best present! Thanks to family and friends 

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is very spread out so we took a tram/train tour. In times past trams were common place.




 The town itself is flat, the streets extremely wide,the main ones lined with historic buildings. People say it hasn't suffered much during the shutdown but there are empty shops. Probably normal for the area. 

Two issues have governed the towns survival when many disappeared- water and mining. The latter couldn't continue without the former. Water was secured by the supreme effort by Charles Yelverton O'Connor. If anyone is feeling they are battling bureaucracy look up his story. Innovation not recognised!  On Mt Charlotte lookout we had a great overview of town activities.


There has been a deliberate attempt to keep the non-historic buildings graffiti free with various mural projects so  despite the bare earth and only natural bush, the town is tidy.

A stop off at the Curtin Uni Mining Museum introduced us to the technical rock-side of mining. Not detail I revel in but Luke gets totally immersed. I love living things!


Onto a taste of the big pit,from the top.



Nah! Not for me! But maybe Luke ticked his bucket list 


There were the mandatory stops at local creators "studios" but we couldn't indulge as we have no carrying capacity.  The last place of interest was Hay Street, the once famous red light area. No longer. Now there is one remaining premise that's a museum. The rest are redeveloped or backpackers.
We took ourselves to the WA Mining Museum, more social history here and the Vault to see real gold. This bicycle was pretty impressive !


Attached to the museum was the British Arms Hotel. Narrowest hotel in Australia. Note the Clock on the outside..it has history.


 
Now a well known jewelery chain. More pics on FB.
Then it was evening the 20th day. Dad & Karen gave me a present of dinner on The Palace Balcony. An extremely pleasant end to my 70th.



 



 



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