The last few days we have been fairly remote without any mobile reception, so no phones or internet. We left Point Samson on Monday morning bound for Port Hedland. As we went further north into the Pilbara region, mining trucks became the most frequent vehicles on the road. We are accustomed to B Doubles in Melbourne and the occasional B triple but up here the’re mainly B Quads and bloody huge. One of the photos below shows a prime mover with 5 trailers, these are definitely “Road Trains”.

We made good time into Port Hedland and seeing we planned a free camp on the Monday night before heading to Karijini National Park, we decided to head off down highway 95 to make the run into Karijini a bit shorter in the morning. Susan found us a nice little place behind an overnight truck stop in between about 3 mines in the region. I can tell you the trucks and trains run 24/7, the highway was non stop with B Quads all night long. The plus about the free camps in the middle of no where is the night sky, we sat there for ages just looking at the stars.

The two days we spent in Karijini was magic. If we were 20 years younger we could have spent a week there doing all the walks but four 60+ people don’t have the legs and knees to tackle all the walks. They are truly spectacular, climbing down the stepped walls of the gorges was something special. I went down a couple and I would have done more but prudence dictated not to do it alone, so photos had to do. Do yourself a favour, do not miss Karijini if you are coming to North West WA!

So this morning it was back up highway 95 to Port Hedland for a overnight stop in a Caravan Park to recharge the batteries, replenish the water and get ready for the next 5 days leading up to our arrival in Broome. Port Hedland is basically here for the mines. It’s the largest resources port in Australia and one of, if not the largest in the world. There is close to 30 bulk ore carriers moored of Port Hedland port all the time, waiting to be loaded with iron ore. The trains and trucks continually feed these giant ships with ore from all the mines in the Pilbara region. The town is not much to look at and you probably wouldn’t choose to live here if it wasn’t for the mines. The mines employ a huge number of people and the flow on to other businesses and industries is enormous as well. We still send wool and sheep overseas as we have done for over 100 years but its hard to comprehend how much ore we have sent, are sending and will send in the future.

The next couple of weeks will find us on the coast, firstly 80 mile beach, then Barn Hill Station before we get into Broome next Tuesday. Unfortunately the beaches are full on nasty’s at the moment, so swimming (at the beach) looks like its off the agenda for sometime.

Until next time, stay safe people!