Stephen King in Kalgoorlie

American thriller writer Stephen King visited Kalgoorlie today. The Kalgoorlie Miner caught up with him for a chat. The photograph is by Mary Mills and the story by Alicia Bridges:

A magic swag, two broken axles and a desert diva, among other characters, could have provided some uniquely Australian inspiration to literary legend Stephen King during his journey across the central desert.

But the humble genius assures Goldfields residents he was only on holiday when he explored Kalgoorlie-Boulder yesterday. Before enlisting the help of a regular bush mechanic to fix a broken axle using tree branches and hub caps, King and his co-traveller Carter Withey found themselves sleeping under the stars, watching camels stroll by from their swags.

The experience conjured imagery of a “magic swag”, the only story idea King revealed when he spoke with the Kalgoorlie Miner yesterday.

King set out on the trek across Australia, with his Harley in tow, to complete a journey started with a close friend Joe Floyd who has since passed away.

The pair decided to ride their motorcycles across Australia in 1997, however Floyd’s experience with two-wheeled machines had ended 20 years before and they chose not to travel the central desert realising they might not have been prepared at the time.

“I said ‘can you ride’ and he said yes,” King said.

“He hadn’t been on one in 20 years. The first roundabout we got to he dumped his bike.

“He said that this was the best time of his life over here in Australia.”

The trip has taken King from Alice Springs, through Warburton and Warakurna, stopping in Laverton yesterday where he met the renowned “desert diva”, a shop-owner noted in the Kalgoorlie Miner recently who he described as “kick-ass”.

King said the Australian outback had strong similarities to America’s west, however he said even in the United States’ most remote corners there were still links to civilization with powerlines and usually phone coverage.

“Until you get here you don’t realise how different it is,” he said.

“(America’s West) is empty but you always see a powerline or a house twinkling off in the distance. Out here there’s f**king nothing.”

King and Withey planned to tour the underground tunnels of the KCGM Super Pit, a reminder of the Nevada open pit mine which inspired the story Desperation, named after the town.

However King described his impression of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as a hard-working town showing plenty of life in the midst of the resources boom.

While he noted the trip was an opportunity to clear his head, there is still the possibility locals could find themselves in tale or two as the author claims inspiration can come at any time.