Blogs from Port Hedland, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

I seem to have messed up the flow of these blogs and have got some of the sequence wrong so if they don't follow on try searching the complete list. We make our way toward Coral Bay without much hope of getting there! It has been raining hard and Coral Bay and Exmouth have been hit hard with news reports of local flooding and roads closed.Our alternative destination is Tom Price the gateway to Karijini National Park with thoughts of backtracking when the floods have gone . We arrived at the Overlander roadhouse which is just short of the turnoff to Coral Bay and pull in for fuel.The owner tells us that all roads heading North are currently closed because of flood water and would likely be so for at least a further day,however the road ... read more

1st of December, 2012. Its the last month of the year and we were awoken to cows mooing. Of course, Sasha tried to pat one without any success. Anyway, after breaky, we headed into Port Hedland, which is a mining town and also a major port. We did a bit of sight-seeing before having lunch by the port. It was facinating watching the tug boats guiding the big ships out to sea. Alyssa had fun in the playground while we attempted to catch up on some blogs. Telstra really needs to lift up its service in WA. The connection was so slow, the laptop battery died before we could finish uploading any photos. After lunch, we headed to Karratha, which is another mining town. We were not interested in Karratha itself, but the next town, Dampier. ... read more

We constantly hear about the mining boom in Western Australia and intellectually we know this is happening, but to actually see and experience the activity makes it incredibly real. The landscape is distinctly different from that of the Kimberley. Although the red colour still dominates it is more purpley than orange. Ranges topped with a layer of mineral rich rocks can be seen frequently and stabilised sand dunes increase in number as you go south. The vegetation is more sparse and shady trees harder to find. The daily temperatures still hover around the 40 degree mark. Fluoro orange or yellow shirts with reflective strips could be seen everywhere; on clotheslines, in the supermarkets, at the pubs and walking in the streets. White Toyota Hilux 4x4 with yellow fluoro strips and high-lift safety flags were the vehicle ... read more

Days on the Road = 45 Days (6 Weeks & 3 Days) Well all packed up for our next destination, Eighty Mile Beach but we're stopping overnight in a rest area just to have a break then tomorrow head into Eighty Mile. We've heard mixed reports about Eighty Mile and Barne Hill but we are going to experience it for ourselves as what some people don't like we may. The weather is still divine..... Not much to see on the road just shrub and more shrubs but it's still good to be on the road again. We have time to pop into Whim Creek and Port Hedland enroute just to have a quick look around. However, there was nothing much to report in the way of tourist stuff. Oh well, worth the look though. We've been ... read more

16th June 2012 We spent some time this morning visiting the displays and shop at the Comet Gold Mine in Marble Bar. We then went to Doolena Gorge for morning tea. It's a scenic spot between two red cliffs, with pelicans, black swans and other water birds. We had lunch at the DeGrey River crossing. This appears to be a very popular campground, there were a lot of caravans camped there. (The fact that it is free is no doubt a factor). There was quite a bit of water in the river and Alex and Mike had a quick swim. We continued to Cape Keraudren, a coastal reserve about 180 km from Port Hedland. It is very flat and open land with low lying vegetation (very wide horizons here). We are camped at the Boat Ramp ... read more