Pilbara (Part 1)

We left 80 Mile Beach and headed for Port Hedland. We thought it was worth a visit just to see what it was like. Several travellers told us not to bother as it is a mining town and not very pretty but we thought we should see it anyway.

The Pilbara is a huge area mostly known for the mining that takes place here. Port Hedland is a huge port for the mining industry, primarily BHP Billiton. There are also industrial salt exports from here and various other minerals other than iron ore.

Industrial salt stock pile

More red soil.

I didn't take many photos as it was quite industrial and unattractive, however, there was a lot of roadworks being carried out which really showed off the red soil. Our caravan park was at Cooke Point which was away from the main mining/port area and was elevated and looked out over the port loading area and a creek and mangrove area. At night all the port area was lit up and it looked beautiful, much nicer than during the day!

During the evening, the man in the caravan next to us was playing his harmonica. It was a quiet sort of mournful tune, a bit like you would hear in a western movie when all the cowboys were sitting around the campfire in the evening. It was quite lovely actually but most unexpected considering where we were.

We counted 25 ships off the coast of Port Hedland waiting to come into the harbour to load. You can see the difference in the waterline on the two ships in the picture below, one loaded, one unloaded.

Again its not a very attractive area but the port and mining are what keeps the town going. The road trains rumbled along all through the night and the ore trains did too. I counted 136 cars on one ore train and it wasn't even a particularly long one. It just goes on 24/7.

Real estate prices are OTT here. We saw one house for $1.4 million. It was just a large house but nothing that flash. Currently rented out at $3,300 per week!! Rents are very high here due to large proportion of mine employees who are earning big money and their rents are often subsidised by the mining companies.

There are lots of houses built out of colourbond corrugated iron. It looks quite good and I guess if its well insulated it would be a relatively cheap and efficient building material.

Its white ute territory too. I have never seen so many white utes. All the mining companies use them. There are hundreds of them. We fitted in quite well!

From Port Hedland we travelled on to Karijini National Park which was about 340 kms. There were a lot of road trains on this road carrying all sorts of things, iron ore, hay, cattle, household goods, cars, etc. Along the way we came upon a huge fire by the roadside. We could see it for miles before we got to it and it turned out that it was lit by the property owner. He was still drip lighting it as we went past, all along the boundary of the property with the road. It was good that the wind direction didn't change!

Karijini National Park is inland from the coast and quite remote. The campground had no power or water which was OK for us as we are set up for this. However, the ever present red dust managed to get all over everything!!

Our dusty campsite at Dales Campground

The park has several beautiful gorges to explore so we decided on Dales Gorge which was close to our campground. Within the gorge is Fortescue Falls, Fern Pool and Circular Pool. The pools are at either end of the gorge so we started at one end and walked all the way down to the other. From the top you would never have known there was a gorge there until you were almost on top of it. It was absolutely spectacular from the top to the bottom.

Dales Gorge from the top looking at Fortescue Falls

Dales Gorge again, looking in the other direction.

Fern Pool

The other end of Fern Pool

Circular Pool

The cliffs around Circular Pool

It was a very steep climb in and out but it was worth it. There were several pools along the way big and small. It was beautiful as you can see. The dramatic cliffs were also amazing.

This shot was taken looking up to the sky.

There are lots of wildflowers out here at the moment too. They seem to be mostly mauves and pale pinks.

The countryside is just beautiful in this region. The huge ancient mountains sit quietly sleeping. I can see how they mean so much to the indigenous people of the area.

The colours are wonderful too. There is the brilliant blue of the sky, the purply haze of the distant mountains, green fluffy trees, pale yellow grass, red rocks and soil, interspersed with brilliant white tree trunks. Its just wonderful.

The view across Dales Gorge from the top.

Below are some pics taken on our drive to Karijini. Sometimes its really hard to stop to take pictures as there is not much room to pull over on the side of the road its not easy to bring a car and van to a halt in just any old place. Hence many of my pics are taken on the fly.

To give you an idea what I mean about the red dust, have a look at this roadhouse we passed just before the turn off to Karijini.

Everything was covered in it. The buildings, the trees, the bowsers, the trucks, the signs. Its really fine too and sticks to everything.

This country is so huge. The mountains make you feel so tiny and insignificant as they are so large and imposing and at times dramatic. Its an amazing part of the country.

We have seen so much in the last few days that I can't fit it all into one post. So you'll just have to wait for part 2 of the Pilbara!!