Day Six – over and out

Today started with the quintessential Kalgoorlie event – the Skimpy Breakfast. Up at 5.30am, facing the prospect of boobs and eggs, I was ready and raring to go.

The pub was packed! At 6am! It opens at 6 and there was a queue outside waiting for it to open. The group I was with were the only people not dressed in fluoro orange. The orange people turned their heads in unison like fairground clowns when we walked in and I felt only mildly like a gatecrasher.

The interesting opening hours are for the miners who work the night shift as the Super Pit which is a 24/7/365 venture – why wouldn’t it be? If I owned a hole in the ground that produces 22 tonnes of gold per annum and had a bunch of trucks worth 3.5 million bucks each then I’d want it running all day and night too but that’s another story.

Legally, you’re only allowed to drink in public at 6am if you’re a miner but we snuck in and got away with it. Breakfast involves instant coffee and a workman’s breakfast for 10 bucks. Oh and included in the 10 bucks is a waitress with almost nothing on.

I was going to embellish at this point (radio is life plus 30% right?) but I can’t lie. I didn’t see a single nipple. The barmaid was wearing mesh undies (yes, with nothing over them) but I think it was a cold morning in Kal and much to my disappointment, she was wearing a boring old black cardigan. JIPPED!

That is why I have decided to take up an offer of a job here in Kal, because I need to come back and experience a REAL skimpy breakfast.

Don’t fret, it’s not permanent at this stage – I’ll be working until December 10 when the station literally hits the stumps and shuts down in order for cricket to take over the airwaves until mid January!. Wow, cricket must be important – and I must have missed that memo.

So my final day at the ABC in Kal has been doing the following:

Sitting on a mini-bus for two hours driving around the Super Pit looking for nuggets and marvelling at the stats (no one could answer how much money the hole brings in every year) and the size of the tyres.

Then having a little snooze on the way back to town.

b) Looking for temporary accommodation in this sweet little goldmining hub.

I’m really looking forward to spending 6 weeks here to see if I can actually handle living in the middle of nowhere away from the coast... And also because all of the media gang were telling me of all the cool stories they’ve had to cover (mucho violence in these parts, earthquakes, ghosts) in their time here. It’s going to be awesome. Feel free to visit.

I’m off to find a patch of floor at Perth airport to sleep on.