Wednesday 31st May

It was a very cold morning, but the day eventually turned warm and sunny.

We drove 352 kms on the Great Eastern Highway to Kalgoorlie. We had a lovely stop at Southern Cross, and then on to Coolgardie for lunch.

Although Coolgardie still has beautiful, old heritage buildings, it was certainly a disappointment to us. It is a town that appeared to be almost deserted, and a walk into the Tourist Information Centre located in a very old building, was like taking a step back in time.

There are now only about 1,000 residents, but there was a time when there were 30,000 living in and around the town. It was a mining boom town with a very wide main street and with imposing nineteenth century buildings, but today it almost appeared to be a "ghost town".

It appeared that the only people wandering around were like us - tourists to the area and interested in the history of this once thriving town.

Wednesday, 31st May

We headed into Kalgoorlie from Coolgardie and settled into our caravan park for a few days. After the lush surrounds of the beautiful Eyre Peninsular, we are now back in a dusty, dry outback park.

Amenities here are excellent though, so not complaining too much.

As this is State of Origin night, we had a walk to the pub so check out their menu and whether they would have the footie game on the tellie. Kev always has to get his priorities right, and we're not sure of the loyalties of the Western Australians towards the NSW -v- Queensland game. But it was a very respectable pub, with wood fired pizzas on offer and the football on the TV.