Day 2 Continued: GHOST TOWN

We drove to:

The town of Gwalia is actually a functioning one and is very small. We drove through the non-ghost part in about 2 minutes. Gwalia was one of the towns that was established because of the mining boom.

 See! Proof! We thought this one was really big but later in the trip (spoiler alert!) we went to the Super Pit and realized this one isn't all that big in comparison but it still was really good and definitely big. So the town was created because people moved there to mine. Fun fact about Gwalia is that Hoover (yessiree, the one that was later our 31st President) was like an overseer person here because he had experience in the U.S with mining! His house, that he designed, that he never got to live in because he left before it was complete so someone else got to live there instead, is still there and is preserved in that the furniture and museum stuff in there is authentic and set up to what it might have looked like - the original furniture isn't there any more but it was pretty cool looking!

 It has a really cool wrap around porch.

This is the dining room with Brooke in the pink hat. It was REALLY windy which made it a bit chilly. We later realized that the wind was really nice even if it made it coldish because when it wasn't windy the flies were everywhere! But they weren't bad when we were in Gwalia. I just realized that the dates on the pictures are wrong. They think that they are in Ohio. So half of them are a day off.

Hoover's house was on the top of a hill closer to where the mine was located. To get to the ghosty part of the ghost town you had to walk down the hill past the old mining machinery:

I hadn't been feeling very well that day - we think because I was having a harder time adjusting to the water there. The water wasn't bad but it was different enough that a few of us would have to go to the bathroom more often than normal...(I know, I know, this is actually relevant)...I got about half way down the hill past all of the old mining equipment and almost to the pool before I had to go back up and go to the bathroom and walk ALL the way down again. The pool was put in place for two reasons. 1. Fires: I actually have an essay written partially about why there are fires in Australia. It hasn't always been that way. Yes, it is people's fault. No, it isn't just because it is hot. If you want to learn more feel free to ask me, I just really don't feel like explaining why there are fires at the moment. I'll send you the paper I wrote. Anyway, the pool was there for water if there was a fire, to control/put it out. 2. There were women and children who lived in this town who weren't working in the mines and wanted something to do on the hot summer weekends and who doesn't like pools?! I made up the second reason but I could see it being a reason. There were pictures in the Hoover house of people in the pool from back then. This is the pool now: 

We couldn't get to it. And, as you can see, there was no water in it anyway. 

So I did eventually make it down the hill to the creepy ghost town. This is from the abandoned house I went in BY MYSELF. You have no idea how much courage it took to walk in by myself and not just stand in the door.

 This is the 'living room' where I had not yet set foot IN the house...Only partially because the door only kind of opened and it was hard to wriggle inside.

 Their dining room. I'm pretty sure this stuff was authentic because everything looked old and dirty like it had been there for awhile. The locals sponsor houses to make sure they don't fall down on anyone but they (to our knowledge) didn't add things to the houses.

Easily the creepiest room. I'm not sure why but it definitely was. 

The salt lake with its super cool statues are coming up next blog as part 3 of Day 2.