Kambalda 27 January 2007

Spent most of the day doing spring cleaning before we headed off for Kambalda, just 60kms from Kalgoorlie. Driving out of Kalgoorlie, we noticed that the countryside remained quite lush, with a variety of small trees and shrubs growing everywhere. Somehow we expected desert similar to South Australia, but all we saw were a number of small dried up salt lakes. We had wanted to have a look at Lake Lefroy, a massive salt lake where they have land sailing. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get access to, as there are a number of gold mines on the salt lake, which restricts entrance. We camped for the night at a look out that had great views over the lake. The lake was much bigger than we anticipated and the views amazing. Talked to some of the locals picnicking nearby, who told us that the mines were going to be amalgamated by a South African company and would eventually produce an open cut mine larger than the Super Pit. Can’t imagine how ugly and damaging to the environment this large style mining will be and this remains a big concern of ours how they will rehabilitate these projects - they are really huge! We had a wonderful cool night and woke to a cold 14deg sunrise. We heard Perth was 30degs at the same time at 7am!