Hell and low water.

---

I know why the majority of tourists fly into Broome. It is because the trip between Port Hedland and Broome is so boring. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about the landscape. Over four hundred kilometres of nothingness. We saw a couple of rocks, and stopped at two roadhouses. The second roadhouse had even less to offer than the first. Blah!
We were going to spend the night at Pardoo roadhouse, but decided one would only do that if the car could go no further. So we travel onwards to Port Hedland. It was interesting approaching Port Hedland, from kilometres away, the view of the horizon indicated that it was an industrial town, and it is on a very grand scale. We passed a freight train on the way in that must have been at least one kilometre long. We have just listened to a train rumble by in the distance for about five minutes. All the equipment is big here. There is a succession of 4WD vehicles driving around town sporting little red flags on long flexible poles. Apparently that is so they can be seen in the mining areas.
The residential area of the town is a mixture of dilapidated fibro-cement dwellings and modern architecture using corrugated iron. We are staying at a caravan park on the outskirts. Our site overlooks Margaret River. Not THE Margaret River, but pretty none the less. The other side of the park fronts the Coral Sea. The variation in tides here is huge. We went for a walk down to the beach, but being low tide, the water is too far out. It would be interesting watching the change of tides.
There is a cool breeze giving us relief from the heat of the day. The temperature was around thirty-six degrees today. As we travel south, we will be heading into cooler weather and will probably need the heater on in the evenings. Quite absurd.

---

Photos

Port Hedland Beach
Looking up the beach toward the mangroves.

Low Tide - Port Hedland
The tide is about six metres in the Port Hedland area. It is a long way down the beach to reach the water at low tide.

Port Hedland Horizon
The horizon is lit up with lights from the industrial area. Port Hedland is a town that does not sleep.