Tropic of Capricorn — aroundtheworldin-definitely

Once across the SA/WA border it is a quick 721km to the Norseman crossroads which gave us 2 days to present our individual cases for preferred onward direction. Ian was keen to turn left and explore Esperance, Albany and the Margaret River as this was an area that neither of us had previously visited. We had no desire to go to Perth and I pushed a strong argument for turning right, not only wanting warmer weather but also with an eye on being closer to Darwin with a view to getting across to East Timor asap. Up until now we have been extremely lucky with the weather and, although cold in the mornings and at night, we have had no wind or rain. It would be unrealistic to expect this to continue, I argued and, on reaching Norseman, we turned right. This decision meant our route would be up through Kalgoorlie, Menzies, Sandstone and the western outback before reaching the coast at Kalbarri, a distance of just over 1,000km.

What an interesting town Kalgoorlie is! Unpretentious is the first word that comes to mind when describing Kalgoorlie. There is a pub on just about every street corner and an abundance of tough looking miners driving around in even tougher looking vehicles. Other notable residents are the Kalgoorlie Skimpies, girls employed by the pubs who serve drinks in their underwear or lingerie to attract punters. Everyone seems to be well catered for and there is still one brothel operating. Known locally as the ‘Pink House’, Questa Casa claims to be Australia's oldest working brothel, operating since at least 1904. Filmmakers Sasha Epstein and Claire Haywood received the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for The Pink House, which was premiered at the Sydney film festival in 2017.

Following the discovery of gold in June 1893 by three Irish prospectors, hundreds and thousands of hopeful miners arrived and the town was established as shanties, canvas-walled pubs, tent brothels and timber framed shops grew into a sizeable settlement. The mining of gold, along with other metals such as nickel, has been a major industry in Kalgoorlie ever since, and today employs about one-quarter of Kalgoorlie's workforce and generates a significant proportion of its income. We did visit the Super Pit which, until 2016, when it was surpassed by the Newmont Boddington gold mine, also in Western Australia, was the largest open pit gold mine in Australia. Over 50 million ounces of gold have been extracted since the pit opened in 1893 making it the second-biggest gold producer in the world, second only to China. the size of the pit today stretches 3.7 kilometres long, 1.5 kilometres wide and around 600 metres deep – big enough to bury Uluru and visible from space. The shovels and trucks at the mine work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the life of the mine is expected to run until 2035.

Both Ian and I are aware of our philistine tendencies and every now and then will try to remedy this situation. We arrived at the information centre and paid for two audio machines and accompanying maps with the intention of finding out the town's history. The tour comprised 36 landmark sites starting with number 1 - the Town Hall, which, incidentally, housed the information centre. With earplugs in and maps in hand we listened intently to the audio, all the while appearing to admire the architecture of this significant building. Number 2 was the theatre, also housed in the same building and number 3 was next door. As I prepared to navigate the 5 or so metres to landmark 3 I noticed Ian bent over double, shaking all over. He was unable to speak and had tears in his eyes. After about 3 minutes of me asking “what's the matter, what's the matter?” he managed to compose himself enough to say “my life is just too short!” So back into the tourist information we go to return the audio for what must have been the shortest guided tour ever.

As we were leaving town, 7km along the Goldfields Highway, we passed the corrugated iron ring that is Kalgoorlie's Two-Up School, one of only two legally operating in Australia. Two-up, a traditional Australian gambling game, spread around the country with the gold rushes in the second half of the 1800s but as an unregulated form of gambling, two-up is currently illegal to play except on Anzac Day, a few other commemorative days and at specified venues that hold a special license. Broken Hill, NSW is the other legalised school that has a special licence permitting two-up to be played all year round.

The game involves ‘the spinner’ throwing two pennies, on a kip (wooden board), into the air. Before the tossing of the coins, bets are made on whether they will land on heads or tails. The pennies must be thrown at least two metres over the spinner’s head. They cannot come into contact with a person and they must land within the ring. Unfortunately, the school only operates on a Sunday and we were unable to try our luck.

lake ballard by frances Andrijich and Henrik Tived

Determined to make up for our epic fail with the audio tour we had talked ourselves into making the detour to Lake Ballard for some art appreciation. This tiny town is 130km north of Kalgoorlie from a population of more than 10,000 in its gold-boom heyday today has just 100 residents. Access to the lake is via a turn-off at Menzies and then a 50km drive along a red dirt road.

Alan Gormley is probably best known for his huge and beautiful Angel of the North statue in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. In 2003 he was commissioned by the Perth International Arts Festival to produce a work for its 50th anniversary. His creation ‘Inside Australia' took him to the tiny town of Menzies where he persuaded 51 locals (and a few drop-ins) to strip naked. He then digitally scanned their bodies, made life-size moulds and cast them in stainless-steel alloy. These 51 iron sculptures were then strategically placed across the saltpan that is Lake Ballard.

Our plan was to camp at the lake after making the 2 hour walk required to appreciate all of the scattered sculpture figures. However, we hadn’t banked on the flies, which descended on us in a thick black cloud the moment we got out of Bob They were everywhere. Quickly we made our way towards the saltpan hoping they might disperse - they didn’t - and worse still, instead of the crisp, clean, whiteness of Lake Gairdner, we found ourselves sinking into red mud sitting just below the fine crust of salt. Slowly we squelched our way towards the nearest figure, accompanied by a multitude of flies. I counted more than 50 getting a free ride on Ian’s back. As we progressed, ever more slowly, through the thick, oozing sludge, we realised that the mud had a cement-like consistency and was going to be a nightmare to clean off with our limited water resources. I headed back to the car in order to remove socks and shoes before attempting to go any further and was about to re-join Ian when I saw him returning also. It was all just too hard. I don’t know why Gormond decided on such an inhospitable and hard to access location to display his works of art other than perhaps to express his own perception of the Australian interior.

It was now 2pm and there was no way we were going to spend the rest of the day sitting around with the flies and so, rather dejectedly, we prepared to set off back the way we had come. That was until we realised that the dirt road we had come in on was, in fact, a short cut to Sandstone, cutting about 150km off our journey. With spirits dramatically raised we bounced off deeper into the outback arriving at Sandstone late the following morning having not seen another vehicle since leaving the lake.

Still progressing through WA’s Golden Outback, we passed through the small mining towns of Mt Magnet, Yalgoo and Tenindewa before reaching Kalbarri and the Indian Ocean. Kalbarri is a pretty seaside town and had such a good vibe that we decided to get off the road for a few days and relax. During a fun kayak safari along the Murchison River which flowed through deep red and white banded gorges through Kalbarri National Park, we learnt that Cyclone Seroja had ripped through the Town in April of this year causing major damage and financial losses currently estimated at between $100-200 million. Thirty per cent of Kalbarri's buildings were destroyed and 80 per cent were damaged. This town is not prepared for cyclonic weather, in fact, the Bureau of Meteorology has no record of a cyclone that has crossed the coast so far south in Western Australia. Many businesses were only just opening up again and more than a few had ‘For Sale' signs in windows. All this after 18 months of Covid and the people were among the most friendly and welcoming we had come across.

Leaving Kalbarri we followed the coast north heading for Monkey Mia and their famous dolphins. I think we are now officially on the ‘Big Lap’ circuit as the caravans have increased ten-fold and the energy is more focussed and determined. Gone are the friendly fingers of acknowledgement and inclusive nods of the head. The easy-going comradeship we have so far been a part of now replaced with a moth to the flame attitude of visiting every lookout, place of interest, rock with a name (or no name) and road-side kiosk – very important to keep energy levels up. I overheard a conversation between three groups at Shell Beach (yes, we were also there), which consisted of each group reeling off all the places they had visited in the vain hope that there would be at least one that hadn’t been visited by the others. Such an achievement would no doubt be confirmation of great travelling prowess. It is always interesting to observe the mind in situations such as this. Travelling amongst this seemingly clear purpose and dedication it is easy for FOMO to raise its head and before you know it you can all too easily find yourself caught up in the rush to the next “absolutely must see" destination. Fortunately, Ian's unwavering cynicism is the perfect tool to keep us on our own meandering path.

Monkey Mia Reserve is an area within the crystal clear waters of Shark Bay Marine Park. The Park is home to a diverse population of animal species from dugongs to loggerhead turtles, but the main attraction are the dolphins that swim literally a metre off the beach early every morning. It is told that this behaviour started back in the 1960s when a local fisherman began to feed them part of his catch. Over time, a relationship between the dolphins and locals was formed and the dolphins have been swimming up to the shore ever since. The Shark Bay World Heritage Area is home to more than 2,000 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, a sub-species of the common bottlenose dolphin. Two-hundred of these dolphins live in Monkey Mia, and while many of them visit the shore, only five adult females are fed as part of the commercialised dolphin feeding experience. The five females are identified by the unique fin shape of each dolphin. Despite human interaction, the dolphins of Monkey Mia are still wild, making this experience quite unique in Australia. There are tight controls in place as everyone who has paid $15 a ticket lines up on the beach at 7.45am hoping to spot a dolphin. Cones are placed 3 metres apart at the waters edge for a length of 100 metres or so. Everyone is then told to gather in their family group at a cone. Arriving a bit late, I missed this instruction and wandered over to a free space between two cones. Big mistake! A petite Japanese woman in her 60s almost knocked me off my feet with the finely honed skill of a bony elbow to the ribs whilst shouting “Cone. Cone. Everyone must have a Cone". Not fully awake and somewhat in shock I moved about 20 metres down the beach by which time the dolphins had arrived and attention had shifted away from the cones. Sure enough, two adult females and their babies were swimming right next to the beach waiting for their daily food allowance. As luck would have it the person holding the bucket of fish was knee deep in the water right in front of me and the dolphins were no more than a couple of metres from where I was standing. I was so close that when one of the dolphins rolled onto her side to have a better look around, I swear there was an eye to eye moment accompanied by a huge wave of emotion that washed right through me. What an amazing way to start a day!

Shark Bay, with its islands and the land surrounding it, is the most Westerly point of the Australian continent. The first recorded landing by a European to this western coast was made by the Dutchman Dirk Hartog (hence Dirk Hartog Island) in 1616. Following William Dampier's arrival in 1699, the name Shark Bay was recorded due to the many sharks in the area, although it is highly likely that many of the fins observed actually belonged to the numerous dolphins also resident. The area covers 2.2 million hectares, 70% of which is marine waters, and has a number of exceptional natural features. It has one of the largest seagrass beds in the world, a favourite environment for the large population of more than 10,000 dugongs , as well as stromatolite rock formations which house living and fossilized microbialites. These rock forms, among the most diverse in the world, are thought to represent 3.5 billion years of antiquity of life and may hold some of the answers to where all life comes from. Unfortunately, this World Heritage-listed ecosystem is at the highest category of vulnerability to future climate change which makes us even more determined to get on with seeing the world while we can.

Our last call before leaving this area was the Ocean Park, a rescue and rehabilitation aquarium. What a great tour this was as we were introduced to some marine life that we had never heard of before. The cowfish were definitely the cutest little things, surprising as their skin contains one of the most deadly poisons in the Ocean. Venomous sea snakes were kept company by an indicator fish, this little guy was in the tank as a marker of when the snakes needed a meal as he changed colour when stressed – not much competition for this particular job. The stonefish were only recognisable if you could see their eyes as you would bet your life on them being actual stones. Yes, there were sharks, but the stars of the show were the Mulloway. We had no idea that these fish were so predatory, you would definitely not put any part of yourself in the water with them. They charged around their tank frequently jumping out of the water like super sized piranha. The biggest one, Max, had developed a technique for getting more food. He would jump out of the water and spit quite a large amount of water at the feeder every time she stopped with the treats – really had to be seen to be believed.

Moving ever closer to the Tropic of Capricorn and warmer weather, we spent a few days beach camping at Red Bluff which is part of Quobba Station, the most western Station in Australia. The attraction here, apart from the majestic rugged rocks and white sandy beaches, is the surf. Tombstones (Tombies) is, apparently, one of the most challenging left-handers in the world. Quobba is a bugger to get to – dirt road, dirt road and then more dirt road but once you arrive, WOW! Paradise! The difficult access roads to this remote part of the coast are obviously a big deterrent to many travellers, as we lost the caravanning crowd and, instead, found ourselves surrounded by hard-core surfers. It was like an instant reset to that glorious, carefree, time in your late teens and early twenties when the only thing worth worrying about was “can we fit another beer carton in?” These guys are seriously cool and definitely don’t mind (or possibly even notice) that there’s a big dog off lead. Their camp set ups are a hotch potch of sleeping arrangements and BBQ's with strings of LEDs draped over swags and canvas awnings. The atmosphere was so chilled and we were sorry to leave but we needed to get back to cell reception in order to google ‘best string camping lights’.

The Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five major circles of latitude marked on maps of Earth. The Equator is the dividing line between northern and southern hemispheres and the Tropic of Capricorn is the dividing line between the Southern Temperate Zone and the tropics to the north. Just over 10% of the human population lives south of the equator in the Southern Hemisphere and less than 3% lives in the Southern Temperate Zone. The following countries are, in part, below the Tropic of Capricorn: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, while Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, New Zealand and Uruguay are the only four countries entirely in the Southern Temperate Zone.

Tropic of Capricorn landmarks across the world.