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Published: June 20th 2006
Marble Bar
Chinaman's Pool - how appropriate for Graeme?Day 56 - Sunday 28 May 2006
Port Hedland to Marble Bar (the hottest town in the country)
Only 200 km’s to travel today. It was reasonably cool leaving Port Hedland this morning and cloudy. The sun has come out so nice for travelling. The scenery all around us is red dirt and mountains of green coverage. Cattle scattered through the bush and lots of long road trains coming back to Port Hedland. The road trains are mostly 4 trailers long. I can only recall passing one with the caravan on and I thought we were never going to make it. Well - Marble Bar what can I say. Very quiet and a bit like a ghost town and unusual people. The three people that we spoke to had only recently moved here and that was the local policeman and his wife and a lady that ran the Comet Gold Mine. She said that we arrived on one of the coolest days and that was 28. She said that when she arrived in Summer she would have to walk her dog at 5.30 in the morning otherwise her dog’s feet would get burnt. They advertise this place and some people say
Marble Bar
This was some of the Jasper we found at the Jasper Deposit. it is not to be missed but believe us there is not much here. We planned to stay here for two but when we rolled into the caravan park we only paid for one (luckily). If we knew what we know now we wouldn’t had wasted the diesel. We asked for a map for the attraction when we arrived and she said that she would draw a mud map. There are no maps. We went and visited the Comet Gold Mine which is only a shop with all the jasper found in the area and made into jewellery. Nice jewellery though. Marble Bar was named because the discoverers thought the jasper was marble. Unfortunately the gold mine is not opened and you cannot go through it. We then visited Chinaman’s Pool and Jasper Pool which are waterholes you can swim in (very nice). We also took some jasper pieces to keep and get polished from the Jasper Deposit. We were told we could take them but when we read the brochure there is apparently a $10 000 fine if you remove it. Oh well!!! We then tried to visit a RAAF base from the Second World War that has remains.
Marble Bar 3
Chinaman's Pool - a beautiful waterhole were you could swim. We had to drive down a 35 km unsealed road that was very rocky. We drove for about 40 km and could not see a sign or which track to head down. We decided to turn back. Then we found out that one of our warning lights was flashing on. We read the manual and found out it could be an engine failure or water in the fuel pump. We rang Nissan as soon as we got back to the caravan park and to cut a long story short they told us to drive back to Port Hedland to get it checked. That was our trip to Marble Bar. We visited the Ironclad pub but didn’t even have a drink as we were so tired after our non-visit to the RAAF base.
Day 57 - Monday 29 May 2006
Marble Bar back to Port Hedland
We were suppose to drive towards Eighty Mile Beach today but because we had to check this signal light we drove back to Port Hedland (otherwise the closest Nissan dealer was Broome and considering this is 600 kms we didn’t want to chance it). We arrived back at lunchtime and went straight to
Pardoo station stay
Duane's great fish - a threadfin salmon. He was so excited. the Nissan dealer who was on lunch so we decided to book in for the night at the same caravan park. They were packed and we got the last spot and the smallest spot. It was very tight for Graeme to back into but he got in. He drove back into get the car fixed and they said that everything was okay. It didn’t come on once when we were towing the caravan back to Port Hedland. I reckon it is a loose wire because it only seems to come on when it is an unsealed road. This was a waste of a night but the kids had fun in the pool. Oh well better to get it checked before we got too far considering we are so close to Broome to meet Jan and Ade.
Day 58 - Tuesday 30 May 2006
Port Hedland to Pardoo Station Stay
We only travelled 120 km’s down the road to look at Pardoo Station Stay which people have recommended. We drove down this dusty red dirt road to this homestead on beautiful green grass. There was at least 15 caravans staying there. Apparently it is good fishing in the Pardoo
Pardoo station stay 1
Kiera and Graeme around the pool. creek and off the beach. We decided to stay one night and have a look. The satellite tv connected in two minutes. We went fishing in the afternoon and Duane caught two fish - threadfin salmon off the beach. The first one was ½ kg and the next was 2.5 kg’s. We gave the first away to some Swiss travellers and kept the second for us for tea. Graeme was not happy as now the tally is Duane 17; Graeme 14 and Kiera 1. I only help Kiera when she wants to fish. I couldn’t believe it when Duane pulled that size fish out of the water. It was really fighting. Duane was so excited and ran from one end of the beach to the other holding his fish high. Kiera spent her afternoon playing with Hermit crabs. There were millions on the beach. She decided to take one back and was holding it nicely on her stable table talking to it like it was her new friend when Duane had a look inside and there was no crab inside it. It was so funny as she only brought home a shell. She was so disappointed. That night all the
talk around the campfire was the big fish that Duane caught. You couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Every night about 5pm they have a happy hour around their campfire for all the people staying. That night needless to say we had Duane’s fish for tea. I even cooked it the traditional fish and chip way but Duane or Kiera would not even try it. It was beautiful and only had a few bones in it.
Day 59 - Wednesday 31 May 2006
Pardoo Station Stay to Eighty Mile Beach
We were recommended to go to Cape Kreuden on the way but it cost $10 for just an entrance fee to look at this Coastal Reserve and extra for bush camping so we kept going and arrived at Eighty Mile Beach. This caravan park is beautiful amongst huge palm trees and eighty miles of white sand. We are staying here for 4 nights so we have put our annexe up for a bit more space. It is quite nice to stay in one spot for a while. The satellite dish is a magnet for men. As soon as you arrive all these men come out of the
Eighty Mile Beach 2
The only family photo we have of this trip. woodwork and ask if you can get satellite. They are worse than women. Well the answer is that we can get 7 Central (which is a Qld and NT TV station). How do you work that out when we are in WA?? No internet access and mobile phone coverage. We walked down to the beach which is a 1 minute walk and watched the sunset. The Pilbara and the Kimberley is spectacular for sunsets. How beautiful. Look for the photos.
At
Day 60 - Thursday 1 June 2006
Eighty Mile Beach
Tried to sleep in 7am but can’t as the sun seems to wake you up really early in the West. Pancakes for breakfast and drove down on the beach to fish. That’s all they do here. They watch the tides and then you see a mass of people walking down the beach to fish on high tide. It is amazing to see as there are eighty miles of beach and hundreds of fishermen standing in the shallows with their rods. There is a person every 10 metres or so but if you drive down further you may get a bit more space. It is unbelievable. We didn’t have
Eighty Mile Beach 3
The sunsets are soooo spectacular here. any luck today but I have seen the photos in the shop and they are huge fish that they catch off the beach. It is going to be a very relaxing four nights fishing, sitting on the beach, watching the sunset and just enjoying!!!!!!!
We are very lucky people and if anybody gets a chance to drive here it is a must see sight. The weather is a little bit funny a bit cloudy in the morning then comes out sunny and by 4pm the sun goes in but still hot enough for shorts and t-shirt. They don’t seem to swim at this beach as there is no coast guard to man the beach. Swimming at your own risk!!! I know why you cannot swim - it is because you are frightened to get a hook in your body with all the fishing lines floating around.
Day 61 - Friday 2 June 2006
Eighty Mile Beach
Just another relaxing day fishing, beaching and sunning. Not much more to stay.
Day 62 - Saturday 3 June 2006
Eighty Mile Beach
Another day!!! Ho Hum!!!
Day 63 - Sunday 4 June 2006
Eighty Mile Beach
Another beautiful day lazing,
fishing and sunning. At sunset we drove down on the beach and watched the sunset sipping our champagne and dancing to our music. It was very nice and not anybody around. We came back in the dark.
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