Western Australia

Part 8 - From Hyden to the Goldfields


Hyden, a small town located in the semi arid region of the eastern Wheatbelt
is the next stop. Its main attraction is nearby Wave Rock, a 2.700 million old
granite rock with a height of 15 meters. The coloured rock looks like a giant wave.
Among other natural rock formations, you can visit Hippos Yawn, just a 20 minute
walk from Wave Rock, or Mulka's Cave, some 20 Kms from Hyden.

Wave Rock    Wave Rock    Wave Rock    Wave Rock    Wave Rock

On top of Wave Rock     Hippos Yawn     Hippos Yawn     Mulka's Cave     Wildflowers

If you consider continuing your trip towards the Goldfields, you have the choice to
take the longer sealed road via Narembeen and Merredin. There is also an unsealed road,
rather sandy on several parts, which is much shorter and you will join the
Great Eastern Highway shortly after Southern Cross.

Lake     On the way to the Goldfields     Shingleback Lizard     Shingleback Lizard

In the middle of nowhere          Letterboxes          Shortcut

Just before reaching Coolgardie, you might visit a Camel Farm and the use
of camels in Australia is explained in a museum. Another farm you may
visit in the region is Kurrawang Emu Farm.
Coolgardie is Western Australia's most famous gold town. In 1892 the rush started
and within a couple of months, thousands of people were living in the goldfields.
Nowadays, you can only imagine what this town represented during a certain
period when seeing the old buildings. The Coolgardie Cemetery, where the grave of
Ernest Giles, a former  explorer, can be seen, is worth a visit.
About a year later than in Coolgardie, Gold was discovered in Kalgoorlie by
Paddy Hannan and two other Irishmen. Within a couple of years, the town's
population grew to 30.000. Places of interest include the Museum of the Goldfields,
North Hannans Tourist Mine or buildings like Kalgoorlie and Boulder Town Halls,
some Hotels and Kalgoorlie Post Office.

Camel Signal    Camel Farm    Camels    Goldfields Trail    Paddy Hannan

North Hannans Tourist Mine     North Hannans Tourist Mine     Wasn't really lucky     North Hannans Tourist Mine

You may as well consider a game at the Bush Two-Up School, just about five Kms
north of Kalgoorlie. Continuing your way to either direction will bring you to many
ghosttowns and some interesting grave sites.
Balagundi, Kanowna or Kununalling may be visited, but little remains of what
these towns used to be. Consider as well a visit to Ora Banda Historic Inn,
a hotel which has been restored to its original 1911 look.
Another spot not to miss while in the region is the Golden Mile Super Pit,
an open cut mine being part of the original Gold Mile, the richest square mile
of gold bearing earth ever discovered. The result of the Super Pit is estimated to be
a hole with a length of 5 Kms, 2 Kms wide and some 500 meters deep when fully excavated.
 

Kalgoorlie Sunset     Kalgoorlie Sunset     Grave Site     Grave Site

Super Pit          Super Pit
 



Kimberley     Broome and 80Mile Beach     Karijini       Millstream Chichester  and Cape Range      Shark Bay
Kalbarri and Nambung          Perth and York       Wave Rock and Goldfields     Esperance       Stirling Range
Rainbow- South Coast and Southwest Corner


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