Through the Pilbara

 After leaving Broome, it was onto the Pilbara region of WA. This is where most of the iron ore is mined and everything here is B-I-G!!

This dump truck, along with a second one behind it were heading for one of the mines, and although they have pilot escort vehicles with them, when they are this big, they also have a police escort as well, and when you are driving towards them, the police vehicle will actually drive at you and basically force you off the road. This is what happened in this time, and we were right off the bitumen and Pete was most concerned that we may get stuck in the soft edges, but all good.

At the Sandfire Roadhouse that we stayed at, the following morning we saw two 3 barrel roadtrains parked up, I think (although not sure) at least one of them emptied his load into the fuel tanks there.

So each of these barrels holds around 30,000 lts of fuel, and to think that with just these two road trains they would be holding 180,000 lts of fuel between them, and these trucks ply the highways constantly.

Our next place for us to stay was Port Hedland, now here is a place where everything is definitely BIG. We spent quite a bit of time down at the actual port watching the big bulk carriers come and go. The port has the capacity for 15 ships at any one time.  They even have a control tower too. 

It is amazing to watch them coming and going at what appears to be at quite a quick speed, and then at the end of the port they seem to be turned on their own axis, unfortunately that section of the port was closed off to the public.

Near the port was a 'walk' that you can do so you can see the ships, and at the beginning of it, at the sign, someone (I won't say which guy) decided to do a dance for me whilst I was taking the photo!

The following day we headed off towards Karratha along one of those long, straight, stretches of road where you just follow the white lines.

Karratha was an interesting place, one of the larger towns coming down the north west coast. The pantry etc needed replenishing, so it was off to the shopping centre for that along with some yummy stuff for morning tea. Back to the vans to make preparations for the evening meal - home made 'works' burgers - they seemed to go down well.

Next morning it was time to head off to check out the small town of Dampier which is a very pretty place right on the edge of a lovely bay.

On the road up to this lookout, it was amazing to see quite a cluster of Sturt's Desert Pea growing wild.

Dampier is also the home of 'The Red Dog' a red kelpie that had a movie done about his exploits in the area.

On our way back to Karratha, we called into the Visitors Information Centre and I purchased one of the Kelpies to add to my collection in the van - Peter just shakes his head!! 

After a lovely at Dampier and Karratha, it was again time to set off and head for Onslow this time. Another quiet little town and to make it quieter, it was a Sunday, and in towns like this they do not have 7 day shopping. However, the main reason for stopping off here, was to find the War Memorial that had in recent times been erected. On the stone seat in the foreground of the photo are two bronze (?) slouch hats - very moving.

However, I have to show you what this looks like at sunrise. Apparently the memorial was specifically designed and placed so that the sun came up through the centre circle - I can only imagine what I would be like during the Dawn Service on ANZAC Day.

After heading back to the caravan park, it is pack up time, and heading for our next destination of Exmouth. To be honest we were not all that impressed with Exmouth, it appeared to be more for younger people who were interested in the Ningaloo Reef, diving and snorkelling etc.

Our nights stay was a totally different one to what we have had during this trip, we were to spend the night at a station stay - very basic, with no power or water, but oh my gosh, the sunset that night, and the sunrise the next morning as seen across the paddocks was something else.

'Til next time,

June