Cost of living
It’s very expensive to live in remote towns such as Kalgoorlie. It’s worse in the Pilbara, from what I can tell, but Kalgoorlie certainly isn’t cheap.
We had subsidised housing there, which made it reasonably affordable.
When considering a move to Mount Gambier we calculated the impact of losing the housing assistance against lower costs for education, food and services. We figured it would be a balanced equation. Read more
Crossing the Nullarbor
We successfully crossed the Nullarbor in two cars with four kids and arrived safely today in Moonta Bay on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.
We’re resting here a couple of days while waiting for our furniture to catch up. We’ll head to Mount Gambier on Thursday and unpack on Friday.
We bought a house in Moonta Bay last year and will inspect it on Wednesday.
The trip across the Nullarbor was my second. Here are some observations and impressions: Read more
Don’t wee in the bush
Just browsing the Kalgoorlie Miner web site and gained a reminder about this story.
An 11-year-old boy on a camping trip discovered a skeleton when he went for a pee.
I received a message from the boy’s mother following a similar story we reported a week earlier. That involved a tradesman finding bones while having a wee break in the bush.
Don’t know about you, but I’m not game to seek relief in the bush any more.
Subiaco team of the century
It was good to see both Haydyn Buntons honored in Subiaco Football Club’s team of the century.
The senior Bunton (pictured) was an automatic selection, winning three Brownlow medals and three Sandovers. He is arguably the greatest player ever.
His son was a good player too. He coached with success and was selected as coach of the Subiaco Lions century team.
Haydyn Bunton Snr is also a member of the Fitzroy, New South Wales and AFL teams of the century.
He hailed from North Albury before moving to Fitzroy.
Local government reform
I don’t understand why the West Australian Government doesn’t just get on with the job of local government reform.
It’s another example of indecision and lack of leadership. Add it to the list with daylight saving and retail trading hours.
There are too many councils in WA, no argument. Read more
WAFL game in Boulder
I watched part of the WAFL game at Boulder yesterday between Subiaco and Peel. It’s probably the only WAFL game I will ever see.
For those who don’t know, WAFL is the West Australian Football League; it’s the premier Aussie rules competition in the state and arguably the fourth best in the country after the AFL, SANFL and VFL.
That said, I reckon there are a few clubs in country Victoria that could knock over Peel Thunder based on yesterday’s performance and Subiaco would roll a few VFL teams.
The Mandurah team lost 7.8.50 to Subiaco 29.33.207. Subiaco are a class act, very skilled.
There was a big crowd at the game and Digger Daws Oval was in good condition.
The dyslexic postman
That’s a picture of our letterbox. The number 5 is fairly prominent. There are only four houses in our court, but for some reason we keep getting letters for number 3 delivered to our box.
We think many of our letters are being delivered to number 7, because every so often a bundle of mail is dropped in our box in the morning, several hours before the postie makes his rounds.
So what’s going on here? How hard can it be to put a few envelopes in the right letterbox? Read more
Hoon problem
Western Australia has a hoon problem. It exists everywhere to some extent, I suppose, but I never encountered it in the parts of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia I lived in previously.
Hoon activity can be doing a burnout; dangerous or reckless driving; racing another vehicle, speeding, and accelerating or braking and skidding wildly.
I think it’s fair to say WA is the hoon state of Australia and Kalgoorlie-Boulder is the hoon capital. I saw some figures last year which showed there were more hoon arrests here than anywhere else. Read more
Airport security
The CIA and ASIO must think Osama bin Laden is hiding in Western Australia. That might explain why airport security at Kalgoorlie is so stringent.
With so many miners wearing steel-capped boots, it’s inevitable that every second person who passes through the magic arch (the one that beeps) warrants further scrutiny from the people with magic wands.
My RM Williams boots used to trigger the damn thing every time, so now I either take them off in advance and put them through the x-ray machine, or wear different shoes. Read more
Super Pit in the headlines
Australia’s biggest gold mine, the Super Pit, made front page news in The Australian today. This follows a report in the Kalgoorlie Miner earlier this week that the south-western wall collapsed.
The operator, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, is a joint venture between North American giants Newmont (USA) and Barrick (Canada).
Here is Kalgoorlie we hope the mine prospers and continues until at least 2017 as planned. Read more
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