We left Broome knowing that we have to stop
on the way to Port Hedland as the distance was too great and decided to stop
off at Pardoo. We arrived relatively
early and took a drive to Cape Keraudren which is virtually across the road
from the Pardoo Caravan Park.
Although it was very pretty, there was not
much too see but it was a welcomed relief from the long drive.
The inlets to the estuary and below are pictures
of the beach.
As we returned to the caravan, we found out
that it was okay to wash your car and caravan on your site, so we took
advantage of this to wash off the red dust.
The following day it was “On the road again”
off to Port Hedland.
Port Hedland is not Bernie’s favourite
destination as he had worked there before and it did not bring back many good
memories. However our stay at the caravan park was very enjoyable, because the caravan park was providing
accommodation to a mining company and we were able to access their canteen
facility at night, which was a great bonus.
We could eat as much as we wanted starting with soup, mains and
deserts. The food was restaurant quality
to say the least, all for a measly price of $20 per head.
Arriving into South Hedland and the suburb
where Bernie used to work at Wedgefield.
The following day we decided to explore Port
Hedland and its coast line and here are some of the pictures below.
Here
too you can see some of the houses which were near the beach but sad to say not
maintained at all, yet in its heyday they were worth millions.
Here is a photo of a typical
street overlooking the harbour and iron ore terminal.
We then visited Port Hedland which is Australia’s largest port in terms
of tonnage handled at any one time.
Above is The Esplanade Hotel
which was recently refurbished with its original facade.
Below is the Port of Port Hedland with a ship
in port loading iron ore.
The picture above shows the
salt works in Port Hedland and is literally the first thing you will see as you
arrive into Port Hedland.
The picture below shows the
road trains which are 53.5 metres long and are the longest road trains in the
world carrying the iron ore from the mines to the port.
The picture above shows a
truck turning a corner. All in all 53.5 meter
long
Once again the iconic
Wedgefield wheelbarrow which consists of a dump truck bowl and wheel.
We left Port Hedland on the
29th of July and made our way to Dampier and Karratha which are two
towns roughly 60km apart. The drive was pleasant and the scenery started to
change from the red dirt of Port Hedland to a slighter greener pastures, with a
few hills to break the monotony of the drive.
We stopped off for a pit stop
at Roebourne and took a photo of the old goal museum and had a cold drink and
snack and then made our way to Dampier where we stopped for a photo of the Red
dog which is an Australian icon, made famous in a movie and would be one of the
best movies out of Australia.
We then made our way to the
caravan park which was situated next to the harbour. The park was basic yet comfortable and the
views overlooking the harbour were great, however the noise from all the
shunting of locomotives at night kept us awake.
Needless to say, we did not get much sleep for the duration of our stay.
Below are photos of some little Corella's that visited the caravan park and the view over the harbour.
As Dampier is situated on
the west coast, the sunsets are magnificent and we witnessed a great sunset
that night.
The pictures below show a
panoramic view of the little beach in front of the caravan park.
Once again we came across
the flock of Corellas on the rocks.
The following day we visited
Deep Gorge which at first looks like a crumbling mountain and the reason for
that is due to the different minerals in the stone which expand and contract at
a different rate allowing the rocks to fissure and break off. When one looks at the heap of stone formation,
it would appear that God had smashed the rocks with a giant rock breaker.
Some of the boulders had
aboriginal artwork on them that dates back thousands of years.
Later that day we visited
the gas processing plant and at the entrance to the visitors centre we came
across this steel structure dedicated to the men who lost their lives or were
injured on the North West shelf gas project.
This is the view of the
plant from the information centre
There are three working
platforms at sea and here is some information relating to the platforms.
Dampier and the supporting
town of Karratha are well known as an export base for Gas, iron ore and salt.
See below
Dampier
Located just 20 kilometres west
of Karratha, the pretty port town of Dampier is named after the English
buccaneer William Dampier, who visited in 1688. Built by Hamersley Iron in
1965, it’s the largest tonnage shipping port in Australia and houses the
massive export facilities of Hamersley Iron, Dampier Salt and the North West
Gas Shelf Project.
Karratha
The
City of Karratha is located in the dynamic Pilbara region of north Western
Australia, encompassing the towns
of Karratha, Roebourne, Dampier, Cossack, Wickham and Point
Samson. The region is the engine of Australia’s economic growth.
Located
1,535 kilometres north of Perth on the North West Coastal Highway, it is
situated right in the heart of the Central Pilbara Coast.
Karratha
was established in 1960s due to the tremendous growth of the iron ore industry.
Today, it is a busy, modern and well-serviced town and a great base for
exploring Millstream
Chichester National Park, Karijini National Park and the 42 islands of
the Dampier
Archipelago.
See Map of our Trips
Our next stop is Onslow, Bullara Station Stay, Exmouth & Coral Bay
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