Kalgoorlie was just a name on a map between me and Perth and I figured I should check it out, so really I knew nothing about the place. And so I found out. It has the biggest open gold mine. Unless perhaps some aliens in another galaxy far away have gold and have figured out how to mine it efficiently, Kalgoorlies gold mine, is the biggest open pit. It spans 3 kms, which is quite large, and the tiny little trucks you can see in the distance are actually quite a bit larger than their wheels, which are taller than me. All in all the general size of the place is quite excessive. It also produces a fair bit, billions of pounds of gold come out of it, just one gold bar is worth something in the region of $800,000 and they get a lot of gold bars out of that pit each day. Obviously its slightly more complicated than just digging it out, the process involves lots of chemicals and melting and destruction and blah blah blah, as one person there put it “they are raping the planet.” But hey at least they’re rich, and lots of people have jobs because of it, not to say I agree with ripping a great big hole in the earth.
The other thing that makes Kalgoorlie famous is its prostitutes, sorry guys I don’t have any more information on that subject as it’s not really my thing, I just know there are 3 brothels on the backpacker street alone which you have to walk past just to get there, and some amusing paving slabs dedicated to madams and kindly patrons. The crowd at the backpackers was at first slightly odd, the first night I was there I could hear a man screaming from down the hall. However after this night of apprehension I realised that not only was it a backpackers filled with very friendly people, they all had a story to tell, most of them interesting. In fact it was probably the friendliest crowd I had met so far, a mix of various groups, 1 African man, lots of Europeans, a Korean and a few Aussies. In my room was a Pom and an ex Pom, the Latter being a lovely old fellow who chatted about his life and travels, being originally from England then moving to New Zealand and then travelling Australia.
The Brit was called Bret, and he was on a mission for medicine. Searching for a cure for cancer, supposedly in one of the bush flowers that grew in the region. He had tattooed arms, liked his beer and also his books about spiritual enlightenment, and he was searching for a cure for cancer in a town famous for Prostitutes and Gold. Brilliant! Naturally he was a very likeable and intelligent chap and although I have just made him sound a little silly, I didn’t actually find him to be ridiculous at all, a true adventurer and a fine fellow.
The African was from Zimbabwe, and he had only one arm, the other being lost in an accident that netted him a much better job and a fair bit of compensation. He talked a lot about god and the bible, and told me much about his life, which wasn’t the easiest from what I gather, he also made Freddie a bit uncomfortable (I believe Fred was the name of the Old Ex Pom) with all his bible talk, saying things such as it wrong for someone to be buried without a bible and so on. This being disputed by the Jewish Fred and myself simply not belonging to any religion, and it created a slightly tense atmosphere. He was a sweet guy but had seen little more than Zimbabwe and seemed to believe that none other than Christianity Prevailed all over the Globe, a point of view I thought solely confined to Redneck Americans however I was wrong. He automatically presumed that myself and Fred were Christian, and after we had both said we weren’t and Fred had had enough and gone to bed, he proceeded to proclaim me a true Christian, repeatedly.
One morning I met a Korean girl, named jenny, with enough excitement to fill a whole football stadium. Truly it was something to behold. Now I know people joke about how excited Asian people get and often I see it when there is a large crowd of Asian tourists all going nuts over something I cant see and don’t care about, however this really did take the prize for excitability. We went out for the day, driven around by an Aussie called Chris and every time we suggested something or agreed to be a part of something she would jump up and down and say “Really?! Really?!!!, So COOL!!” it was hilarious and I think a little overwhelming for Chris who seemed to want to know where the off switch was, personally I thought it was just brilliant as I know full well I don’t have the capacity to be excited like that, even if every girl I have ever fancied was naked in front of me I still could not top the excitement that an old battered piece of machinery for gold smelting created for Jenny.
And last but not least; there was a guy named Rupert Murdoch. A name, which I think is just fantastic. Rupert had a limp, was from Austria originally and had been in Australia for 8 years, and everyone called him Doc. The limp was the result of a little fall and a big break. As he was such a nice guy I offered him a bit of Reiki to help speed up the repair or maybe just ease the pain, which he declined until half an hour before I left as he had nothing to offer in return but then he found a book, the Celestine Prophesy, and I do love books, especially those of a Celestial Nature. So I sat there with my hand on his leg wondering if anything was happening… and after a while I realised I was late for the Indian Pacific, “bugger I gotta go” I said and ran to get all my things together before being presented a very worn and bent book and fleeing. I was however very surprised to hear Rupert say “**** me, it doesn’t hurt. That’s awesome.” As he walked off to get the book. It was time to leave again, and I was as usual annoyed at leaving, having met loads of funny and great people. Also I had only just heard Rupert and wanted to ask him about it, having no idea really if the Reiki had done a thing, but figured missing the train could be a bit of a bother so off I trotted, turned out I was early…
Never did find out who was screaming.
Stayed: Golddust Backpackers YHA
Travelled with: Great Southern Rail
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