20 To Port Hedland and beyond 12 Sept

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On Sunday night at Barn Hill, the Station owners put on a roast dinner. 3 courses for $15 – yes we know sounds like old peoples tucker! Roast beef it was with lots of gravy, preceded by soup and followed by icecream. Included was a concert by an aboriginal family from down the road. Sort of because there were only two of them, so they rounded up a couple of white fellas and we had a band! Funny thing was, the black fellas played the electric guitars and the white fellas played the didgeridoos.

We then proceeded down the coast to the Eighty Mile Camp which is on Eighty Mile Beach. Only good for fishing and shell collecting. Swimming is discouraged. After we arrived, the wind got up very strongly from the SE and it wasn’t pleasant. Tried fishing, but no luck. Only one caught that day, a 40lb Mullaway by Paul, our neighbour. He gave us a couple of fillets which we had for our dinner – very nice fish.

After 2 nights we moved on to Cape Keraudren which is the southern end of Eighty Mile Beach. Bush camp, though we were in the scrub instead, right on the edge of the beach. Great views, but the continuing wind spoiled things. Pattie collected some more shells.

Next day headed to Port Hedland, but ran into a highway closure for bush fires. We waited for over 4 hours to get through. The traffic backup must have been huge because the only way round on a sealed road was via Alice Springs and Adelaide. After we got through we were stopped by an iron ore train with 4 engines and 236 wagons. PH is a “brown town” because of the dust and wind. Full of road trains, 4WDs and people wearing protective clothing. Has one Woolworths, one chemist and not much else. Still windy and gritty dusty.

Two nights there were more than enough, though dinner at the Port Hedland Yacht Club one night was quite good. Good eateries are so rare, they even list the airport café as a place to “dine”.

We’re now in Karijini National Park, famous for its gorges and ancient rocks. The strata exposed in the gorges are just amazing as there are hundreds of very thin layers laid down over millions of years. Bright and deep red due to the iron content. The park is almost surrounded by iron ore mining. Newman (BHP Billiton) is just to the east and Tom Price (Rio Tinto) is just to the west. Two of the biggest mines in the world.

Spring is on the way after a “good” wet season so we are coming into wildflower season now and the colourful flowers are looking good.


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PandD
12 September 2011

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