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Published: June 22nd 2011
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Tuesday 14th – today’s journey to Port Hedland would be about 400 kms so we were up and about quite early preparing and we left the caravan park at 9am. For the first hour or so of the journey we were still on the outskirts of Karijini NP, passing Dales Gorge on the way, so the scenery was lovely and the road undulating so the time passed quickly. Once passed the eastern entrance to the park we turned left to join the main road to Port Hedland. A couple of wide loads came towards us and we could see they were cabins, probably destined for either the caravan park or the mine. Then we met some road trains but, on this first part of our journey, luckily no big wagons came up behind us. After about an hour and a half we got to the Auski Roadhouse and pulled in for a break. There we saw two huge trailers carrying transporter trucks like the ones we had seen at the mine. Other big road trains pulled in or went by so we knew we’d be seeing more big units as we made our way towards Port Hedland. Back on the road
we passed two huge wide loads stopped at the side of the road. Graham spotted that one of the huge trailers had a shredded tyre – not a one man job to change that!! Some time later we were parked in a layby having lunch and the two lorries with the escort vehicle swept by so they must have done a pretty swift job. We were just about to pull out but, using his binoculars, Graham spotted three more road trains approaching in the distance, so we waited for a few minutes to let them pass rather than have them bearing down on us and trying to overtake.
We had the CB radio on and as time went by we could hear much chatting and realized that we were not too far behind the oversized loads and their escort. We could hear them negotiating with the three big road trains as to when it was best for them to overtake. They must have been quite some manouvers. Nearing Port Hedland the wide loads came into view and we held back and actually pulled over to allow another road train to pass both us and also the wide loads in
front. Our caravan then became part of the conversation. “Did we want to get by?” they asked. For the first time Graham used the CB radio to talk to the support vehicle and he told them we would stay behind as we weren’t in any hurry. That message must have been relayed to the lorry drivers as the next thing we heard was one of them saying “Quite right too – they’re on f*****g holiday aren’t they? They shouldn’t be rushing”. So that’s what we did until we turned off the main highway to South Hedland. We had decided, on recommendation, to try the caravan park there rather than the Big 4 one in Port Hedland which was 15 kms further on and had a reputation for always being fully booked. This Blackrock CP looked busy and would eventually have the “No Vacancies” sign up, but they found us a reasonable spot for a couple of nights. We were taken aback at the price though - $40 per night!! - the most expensive on our whole trip so far and here we were near an industrial town. It got worse when we checked out the ablution block and discovered they
were in a very poor state and not maintained at all well. We found out that new owners had only just taken over and planned some major investment. Perhaps they should have lowered the price until they’d improved it as all everyone seemed to talk about was how poor the facilities were. To make matters worse, we were very close to the railway line where the mammoth trains from Tom Price came along, making their presence felt from time to time - but perhaps we would actually get to see one tomorrow!
We needed to be near to shopping facilities to stock up again with fuel and groceries but the two nights we booked were all we would put up with. We certainly had no desire to stay any longer. So the next day, after I’d done a bit of washing, we drove around a little to “suss out” the local shops and those in Port Hedland. We spent much of the day in Port Hedland which, although a major industrial port, had worked hard to present a pleasant image both for tourists and the locals. The main attraction was the port area, of course, where about six really
huge vessels were docked waiting to be loaded with iron ore. We watched while yet another huge vessel was escorted into port by five tugs and a pilot boat - it was fascinating. We discovered a water front tourist drive which was very pleasant and eventually found our way to a Woollies shopping complex which had everything we would need – a supermarket, a very pleasant café for lunch and a garage with cheap “Woollies discount” diesel. So our purpose for calling into the Hedland area had been fulfilled and we were well prepared to make our way further north towards Broome. On our way back to Blackrock we visited “Pretty Pool”, a recreation area not too far from the Big 4 caravan park we had stayed on last time. We also looked out for one of the illusive Iron Ore trains but, again, we had no luck. (If you want to see a series of photos showing just how long these trains can be check out Sarah and Darryl’s blog: We've blown it! - Travel Blog www.travelblog.org.wallaby wanderers). They didn’t even stay in Port Hedland but managed to see one – I guess we just didn’t try hard enough!
Strange hills around us
on the outskirts of Karijini NP Back at the caravan, I gathered in the washing which was bone dry and we began to get ready for our onward journey. I rushed out another blog as we knew that for a few days we were unlikely to have any sort of mobile phone coverage. We would have no disappointment about moving on and our next destination was one which neither Sarah and Darryl nor we have been to before. It has been highly recommended but involves a 10 kilometer gravel road, a surface which we have not taken Sweetie on before. But another stop before we reached Broome would be essential and we had three nights to spare. We didn’t fancy spending any more time than we had to in a road house so, tomorrow, we would be heading for Eighty Mile Beach.
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Keith and Gill
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Change of e mail
G'day, Glad to see you are still enjoying the ride - how is the bank balance holding up (we found Aus earlier this year very pricey) Just booked a last minute cruise to Spitzbergen to see the Polar Bears (we hope!) Please note the change of e mail address from today (have unsubscribed our old one) Happy Travels Keith and Gill