Port Hedland

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Rode 600 kilometres through not much other than scrubby grasslands (some on fire, of course), staying last night at a roadhouse (appropriately named “Sandfire”) that burned down several months ago, but was still operating out of a shipping crate. The campground was basic with only a few people there, but there were dozens of peacocks roaming around including some white (albino?) ones. Port Hedland, like Broom, is a rapidly growing town, not because of tourism; but because it has a humungous port handling iron ore shipped directly to Japan and China for smelting. The mines inland (up to 600 kilometres/400 miles away) have their own private railroad and the trains to the port are several kilometres (2-3 miles) long . . . The port loads on average two huge ore ships a day . . . Buried in bugs while we camped. Couldn’t leave quick enough.

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