Statistics and other interesting information

I have been a little slack this past few weeks with my blog, but we have been busy. We said goodbye to my parents in law after they came to spend a week and a bit with us. Wesley has been doing swimming with school every day, and I started pole dancing for fitness the other night.

This week also saw the delivery of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc. directory for 2011-2012. It is actually has some great things in it. It is a phone directory for local business but it also has some local statistics in it which I found interesting.
Population 31,222
Area 95,228.5 sq km
Distance from Perth 603kms by road
Temperature Mean Max 25.3
Mean Min 11.5
***Max temp in July is approx 16 rising to mid 30s for between December and February
***Min temp in July is approx 5 rising to approx 18 in January

Average rainfall
253mm - 19% of which falls between the months of January and February (this actually surprised me!) and 33% of which falls May to July.

Local industries
Mining , tourism, engineering, pastoral, commercial service industries.

The Kalgoorlie-Boulder area was first explored in 1863. I have been to the local museum in town a few times and I admire those that first came to this place. Without the modern conveniences that come with electricity it would have been a very dusty, hot place to live and work. There are some people that still come for a short stay to work/earn and get out, but there are also those that call this place home.

Super Pit

We have been up a few times now to see the Super Pit, it can actually be seen from space I am told. It is amazing to see each time especially when you realise how large the trucks really are!

sign

I walk most places now, it is flat here in kalgoorlie and everything seems very central. I also have a decent walking pram my Hammerhead.
On one of our recent walks I came across this sign, the sign is partly hidden behind a tree branch


I didn't realise that Kalgoorlie was originally called Hannans as there is a suburb called Hannans just to the north of where we live in Kalgoorlie.

Rainfall

I was thinking over the weekend about the difference in the rainfall in Kalgoorlie to Hobart, I was actually starting to think we would have more rain here due to the large puddles that seem to appear and take days to dry when it does rain but no I was in correct.
Hobart yearly average rainfall is 520mm
Kalgoorlie yearly average rainfall is 260mm

Pictures

Not a lot of waffle this post, but some pictures looking up and down our street as well as our house that we are renting. Take note of the lovery green grass with the full garden beds in the middle of the road (it is fake grass but even I was fooled for a day or 2 until closer inspection!)

Boulder Market Day

The 3rd Sunday of each month is Boulder Market Day and today was a beautiful day for the market. We firstly headed down Burt Street where there were many gorgeous creations for sale on both sides of the street. The street isn't blocked to traffic but the footpaths are wide enough for browsing and walking and the stalls to all exist happily. We came home with local honey (label just says BA Beekeeper), fruit and vegetables (from Orchard) and half a side of lamb and a rather large chicken (from Muka Meats www.mukameats.com.au).


There is entertainment in Loopline Park for young and old. We watch Scooby Circus perform and the kids laughed and cheered. Stirling is actually attending a circus workshop this afternoon with Scooby Circus (was advertised in the local paper yesterday).

And everyone has to have a train ride while at the markets.......

Our first week

Well one week of living in Kalgoorlie has happened.....so far....it is different. There is a lot of dirt (which is red), when you go to the shops you see a lot of guys in hivis gear rather then suits, or shirts and ties. There are a lot of 4 wheel drives, a number of caravans with the exploring tourists.

I discovered there are a few things I can't get at the supermarket that I used to always buy, just particular brands, but have been able to find alternatives. I also now understand why people have large fridges, buy the time you do your big shop there isn't a lot of room left when you put things away.
I did brave the town myself a few times and managed to find the local Harvey Norman, Kmart and Target stores ok, all of which seem to have a good selection of things available. Unsure what Kmart and Target are like with toysales, but we do have a local Toyworld that currently has their Christmas laybys available. I am hoping that in the next few weeks I can take a stroll down the main street and check out what shops are on offer.

We were going to go and check out the Super Pit on the weekend but Stirling came down ill in the car (now that was smelly!), so we spent the weekend trying to arrange things in the house. Everything is slowly coming together. Greg managed to pick up a wardrobe for Abigail's bedroom on Sunday in a garage sale. We are still lacking storage but that will hopefully be sorted with an order from Ikea going in soon.

Wesley has attended Auskick once already and he is no playing in the Adelaide team (very different set up from the Auskick in Tassie, I prefer the way Clarence was run at this stage). He loves his football.
The boys both started school this week at Kalgoorlie Primary School and love it! I am yet to have a chance to talk to the teachers and see how they are going with the work, but I am told they are settling in nicely. We live a 5 minute drive from school (15/20mins walk, 30mins for the kids), which is handy.