When I woke up on the bus on 15th April, we were still speeding across exactly the same flat reddish arid plains that we had been for far too long to remember. The only thing slightly different was that there were areas with medium size trees here and there.
The road was, of course, almost perfectly straight – which was what enabled the use of “road trains” – trucks towing 2 or more trailers. The default position for a road train seems to be right down the middle of the road – they only pull to one side when they see a vehicle coming the other way, and even then only a little bit. They expect light vehicles to pull off the road to let them past. Someone said they thought road trains keep to the middle in order to maximise their distance from suicidal kangaroos.
After stopping for breakfast at Norseman, the bus turned north and at 10 am we reached finally reached Kalgoorlie where we all gratefully disembarked. After getting a bed at the hostel, I went to the Hainault Tourist Mine / Museum. This is one of the original mines, but the main gold mining operation is now open pit, and the museum organises visits to this. I went on a tour of the huge hole called the “Super Pit” where (as in Chile) monster trucks crawled around in clouds of dust.
After lunch at the hostel I went back to the Hainault Mine for a tour of the museum followed by a trip underground to experience life in a gold mine and have a tour of the stopes. This included the guide handing out ear defenders, grabbing hold of a pneumatic drill and showing us how to drill a hole for underground blasting.
Lastly we were taken to see gold smelting – gold ingots were being poured. There was a certain amount of increased security in this area – I imagine seeing so much gold would be enough to make a few people wonder if they could sneak home with a $300,000 ingot under their jacket.
Back at the hostel the 2 successive nights on buses caught up with me, and I had a early night.
On 16th April I checked out and wandered rather aimlessly around the centre of Kalgoorlie until 10:20 am when the bus arrived (the same bus service that I had arrived on the previous day). This time I got a window seat, next to an Australian on his way Melbourne to Perth. He told me he was a former globetrotter – in fact he was one of the first “locals” who I have met in this country who has travelled extensively. Given how many young Aussies you meet in Europe, it’s easy to assume that all Aussies are accomplished travellers – but I have now realised that simply isn’t the case.
The driver announced the film we’d be seeing, and there was an immediate murmur of approval throughout the bus. It was called The Adventures of Milo and Otis, and turned out to be live action story protagonised by a cat and a dog – no humans in sight.
Narrated by Dudley Moore, it had a memorable line when the heroes first meet as puppy and kitten. Milo: “You’re a strange-looking cat!”. Otis: “Oh, I’m not a cat; I’m a dog”. Milo: “All right, a dog, I understand, but… deep down inside, we’re all cats, right?”. Otis: “No… deep down inside…I’m a dog. A dog..”. I decided that Milo’s endearingly innocent mistake is a flaw that is far too common among humans… one which can easily lead to cultural intolerance.
The scenery changed imperceptibly and settlements became a little more frequent. Finally after 7 hours, the bus rolled into the centre of the clean and modern city of Perth. I headed to “Perth Inn” hostel and had a lazy evening in the lounge.
I asked an American guest what the film was on the TV and she said (as though I should have known) that it wasn’t a film, it was just “Ellay Lah”. I said “Ellay Lah?” and she said “No! Ellay Lah!!”. Finally a helpful Aussie nearby said “L. A. Law…”. Fair enough.. I’d still never heard of it! But it made me realise that American English hasn’t preserved the full range of vowel sounds that are still present in British and Australian English, and that this can sometimes be problematic!
