Wed. 29th Aug., 2012 - Eighty Mile Beach to Port Hedland

Reluctantly, we left Eighty Mile Beach just before 9am & set off in the direction of Port Hedland.  During our first 10km on the dirt road that led to the highway, the caravan ahead of us suddenly stopped.  Eventually, we realised why ... a large lizard was crossing the road.  Amongst the scrub, the purple bush that we'd seen two days ago, began to appear frequently, often accompanied by a lovely bright pink one.  It's amazing how plants adapt & flourish in this fairly harsh environment.  Can't wait to see the wild flowers in the desert - hope we'll be lucky!

We stopped at Pardoo for coffee & a hot sausage roll, then continued on  to Port Hedland, which was still 150km away.  Our road ran parallel to the coast &, at times, we could see sand dunes to the right of us, in the distance.  We saw very few other vehicles - in fact, more than two would have constituted a traffic jam!

About 100km before Port Hedland, the very flat terrain was relieved by a few gentle hills.  Some small trees at the side of the road were covered in a lovely yellow blossom (maybe they were related to the wattle).  Others displayed a pink-ish tinge that may have been their Spring-time adornment.

 

We crossed the Degrey River, which would have been huge had it been full but, currently, water flowed in just one small part of the bed.

We passed through the Pardoo Mining Area, where power lines & a rail track appeared.  Huge boulders were strewn across the landscape, as though they had been thrown about by some careless giant.

At one point, we were amused to see miners' helmets on top of all the termite hills (it was to be hoped that the termites had not devoured the miners!)  The Aussie sense of humour is always just beneath the surface, waiting for an opportunity to emerge.

A train that must have been kilometres long, passed us - the trucks just kept on appearing, endlessly!  When you could see one end, the other was already far out of sight.

Port Hedland was a typical mining town, exhibiting all the trappings of the industry - cranes, piles of soil, salt & minerals, huge vehicles & denser traffic.  One over-sized load caused the only traffic jam we'd seen in months!

The town caravan park couldn't accommodate us, so we booked to return there on Sunday & Monday but drove out of town for tonight.  We found another park but were not very enamoured of it - in fact, we'd probably have given Port Hedland a miss had we known how unattractive it was.  However, a couple, who were parked next to us, joined us for pre-dinner drinks & we had a pleasant evening.