Goldfields, the wheatbelt and a whole lot of historic buildings – Kalgoorlie to Perth via Merredin and York, WA

 Days 61-65

After our ice‑cream‑for‑breakfast treat - and a nod to Norseman, the horse said to have pawed up the gold nugget that sparked the local gold rush - we headed north towards Kalgoorlie.

This marked the resumption of the Nullarbor Links Golf Experience, with two more roadside holes at Widgiemooltha and Kambalda - small towns offering little more than a roadhouse and a lone golf hole. The final two holes, however, were at the Kalgoorlie Golf Course, and the contrast could not have been starker. A full PGA‑standard course with manicured fairways and beautiful trees, it was worlds away from the ‘outback‑style terrain’ Stephen had been navigating so far.

Stephen played the holes, and then the friendly pro‑shop attendant lent us a golf buggy free of charge so we could explore more of the course. It turned out to be so vast that we managed to get lost and had to ask for directions back to the clubhouse. A very different golfing experience - and one Stephen has captured more fully in his own Nullarbor Links post.

We ended up having a surprisingly good stay in Kalgoorlie. There was plenty to see and do, and it was also a chance to tackle some life admin: grocery shopping, picking up our new Kmart $7 click‑and‑collect toaster (a necessary replacement after the previous one blew up), and getting my hair cut and coloured. I was very happy with the result, especially given my long‑standing loyalty to my Sydney hairdresser since 1993.

We also treated ourselves to a Chinese restaurant dinner and a pub lunch at one of Kalgoorlie’s historic hotels. At its peak there were almost 100 pubs in town; today only around a dozen remain, but their architecture is remarkable. Walking through Kalgoorlie is a bittersweet experience - many shops are closed and boarded up - but there are also wonderful community‑led projects, including some wonderful street art and a peaceful garden oasis on the main street dedicated to Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners and firefighters. That one felt particularly special, given Mum’s name was Barbara.

We stayed at the free 72‑hour RV site in Centennial Park (provided by Kalgoorlie Shire) located just outside town. While busier than we usually prefer, it was clean, quiet, and well equipped with toilets and even a coffee van each morning. A 2.5km walk into town made it an ideal base. There was also a walking/bike path nearby - great for an afternoon run.

On the second day of our stay, we uncharacteristically set an alarm to join the Super Pit Tour - and it was absolutely worth it. The scale of the mine is staggering. The Super Pit is Australia’s largest open‑cut gold mine, stretching 4km long, 1.5km wide and over 600 metres deep (the Golden Mile), producing between 450,000 and 900,000 ounces of gold annually. The Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA) became a global hotspot in the 1890s and WA still accounts for around 70% of Australia’s gold production.

We got up close and personal with the haul trucks. These trucks are gigantic, each 14 metres long (that is two Izzys), 7 metres wide and 6 metres high, with six 3.5m tyres on each truck. The trucks each carry 240 tonnes of rock per load and operate around the clock. Looking down from the pit edge these monsters looked like toys coming up and down the roads of the vast pit.

Interestingly, the mine employs mostly residents rather than FIFO workers and maintains a 50/50 gender balance. Our guide even noted that women are often preferred as haul‑truck drivers as they tend to look after the machines better than the blokes.

One of the days was rainy so we soaked up some culture at the Boulder Town Hall, another architectural gem. Our tour was led by the local historian and archivist, whose passion for the building and the region was infectious. The hall has hosted everyone from Dame Nellie Melba to Joan Sutherland, but perhaps most notably AC/DC, who played there in 1975 for $3.20 a ticket.

The standout feature, however, is the magnificent 1908 Goatcher Curtain - believed to be the last working stage curtain of its kind in Australia. Rediscovered entirely by accident, it depicts the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the background and has hung in the hall since its creation. It’s genuinely breathtaking.

We also visited the Museum of the Goldfields (free of charge), which houses WA’s largest public display of gold bars and nuggets (all very securely locked away), and wandered through Hammond Park, home to a bizarre miniature Bavarian castle decorated with 40,000 local gemstones - plus peacocks, kangaroos and guinea fowl. Go figure.

On our final morning in Kalgoorlie, we revisited the Super Pit via the free public lookout at the opposite end of the pit, then drove up to Mount Charlotte to get a panoramic view of the town and see the reservoir that marks the end of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme - the famous Golden Pipeline. Completed in 1903, the 563km pipeline delivers water from Perth to Kalgoorlie. It is still in operation and is on the National Heritage list. I was really fascinated by this especially as we drove parallel to it as we headed west to Perth. I insisted Stephen pull over for a photo. Got to see an enormous tumble weed too so win-win!

 We took two days to travel to Perth, stopping in towns such as Coolgardie, once a booming gold town and now a near ghost town, and Southern Cross, which offered a respectable 6.5/10 custard tart and a lovely park lunch. The landscape gradually shifted from goldfields to wheatbelt.

We overnighted at Merredin (another rock, another wonderful sunset), where there’s a free camp just 500m from the start of the Merredin Peak parkrun - purely coincidental, of course. I ran parkrun on Anzac Day, beginning with a minute’s silence and ending with Anzac biscuits. The town itself was largely closed, but they did have some colourful silo art as we departed.

Our final stop before Perth was the historic town of York, the oldest inland town in WA. We arrived at lunchtime, enjoyed excellent pies, wandered the main street admiring the buildings, and crossed our third suspension bridge of the trip over the Avon River.

Reaching the outskirts of Perth felt a little weird - traffic lights and highways after weeks away from major cities. A reminder that we aren’t really city travellers but will enjoy some downtime with friends here.