Australia here we come!

11/9/12

We were up early today to take Mary-Anne's car to the Nissan Dealer for a service. A bit later we drove to the Kalgoorlie Museum but found it didn't open until 10.00am. We then went to Crazy Clarks and Karen took back a plastic box that she bought yesterday and was broken when she opened it up. Then we went to Opposite Lock and I bought a replacement set of towing mirrors. Then we went back to the Museum.

First we visited the gold vault which contained a spectacular collection of gold nuggets, jewellery and historical items. We walked through the historic British Arms Hotel which is part of the museum. It contains trade union banners, an old dentist surgery and an Edwardian parlour. The British Arms Hotel is purportedly the narrowest hotel in the southern hemisphere.

Then we walked through some old restored miners’ cottages and went through the De Bernales exhibit. De Bernales was a mining entrepreneur in the late 1890's and replicas of his opulent office and boardroom are on display.

Towering over the front of the Museum is the Ivanhoe Headframe that stands 33 metres tall and was originally part of the Big Bell Mine in Cue before it was moved to Ivanhoe mine at Kalgoorlie.

We had lunch in the grounds of the museum and then went to the Nissan Dealer and collected Mary-Anne's car. Then we drove to Boulder and walked through the old Town Hall. In the Music Hall is the Goatcher curtain. It is a hand painted scene of the Bay of Naples and is the only surviving example of his work left in the world. The town hall building was constructed in 1908 and contains wonderful pressed tin ceilings and a grand staircase and wrought iron balustrades. On the way home the girls did another shop for groceries and I bought enough grog to last the Nullarbor drive starting tomorrow.