Saturday, 7 August
As we had no mobile coverage last night, today’s blog will be two for the price of one!
We left Eighty Mile Beach this morning, wishing we had been able to stay a couple of extra days. The travelling and countryside today was exactly the same as yesterday – coastal scrub, wide roads and flat country. As we neared Port Hedland, a few rocky knolls appeared, not large enough to be called jump ups, more little “hop up!” It was at this stage that the mining in this region became apparent, with large mines some distance off to both sides of the road and an increase in ore road trains. Most of the ore is carted from the mines to Port Hedland in long trains – here the length of the train is measured in kilometres, not trucks! Four kilometres is the average length.
We are staying at the Cooke Point Caravan Park, which is in Port Hedland itself (the main residential area is at South Hedland, 18 kms south). At last we have a caravan park with sealed road, kerbs, landscaped sites and clean amenities. The down side is the notice warning of mosquitoes and sandflies – Port Hedland is a Ross River Fever region. There is also a warning about snakes in the park, but no crocodile warnings, thank goodness.
As we arrived in Port Hedland, we passed a large salt stock pile, as well as the enormous BHP Billiton works and rail yards. There were at least three ships in port loading either salt or iron ore and we counted 19 bulk carriers out to sea, waiting to enter the port.
We will have two nights here, which will be a chance to catch up on more laundry (don’t know where it all comes from!), take in the few sights of Port Hedland and enjoy the lovely warm weather.
As we had no mobile coverage last night, today’s blog will be two for the price of one!
We left Eighty Mile Beach this morning, wishing we had been able to stay a couple of extra days. The travelling and countryside today was exactly the same as yesterday – coastal scrub, wide roads and flat country. As we neared Port Hedland, a few rocky knolls appeared, not large enough to be called jump ups, more little “hop up!” It was at this stage that the mining in this region became apparent, with large mines some distance off to both sides of the road and an increase in ore road trains. Most of the ore is carted from the mines to Port Hedland in long trains – here the length of the train is measured in kilometres, not trucks! Four kilometres is the average length.
We are staying at the Cooke Point Caravan Park, which is in Port Hedland itself (the main residential area is at South Hedland, 18 kms south). At last we have a caravan park with sealed road, kerbs, landscaped sites and clean amenities. The down side is the notice warning of mosquitoes and sandflies – Port Hedland is a Ross River Fever region. There is also a warning about snakes in the park, but no crocodile warnings, thank goodness.
As we arrived in Port Hedland, we passed a large salt stock pile, as well as the enormous BHP Billiton works and rail yards. There were at least three ships in port loading either salt or iron ore and we counted 19 bulk carriers out to sea, waiting to enter the port.
We will have two nights here, which will be a chance to catch up on more laundry (don’t know where it all comes from!), take in the few sights of Port Hedland and enjoy the lovely warm weather.
Friday, 6 August
Late yesterday afternoon, we joined about 5,000 other people – and their vehicles – on “that” part of Cable Beach (the only part cars are permitted!) to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. (All the sunbathers had disappeared by this time of the day!) We seemed to be the only people who didn’t take their table, chairs, wine and nibbles – felt rather out of it, actually. It was really very pleasant, with a temperature hovering around 28 degrees, watching all the camels and their riders stroll past and the sun rapidly set. The colours were just fantastic. Of course, once the sun had set, it was a mad rush to leave the beach through the single lane access point.
This morning we left Broome shortly before 8.00 am and there were five caravans queued at the entrance to the caravan park, hoping for a vacancy – we told one fellow he was more than welcome to ours! The 350 km drive south was very easy, with a wide road, long straights and flat country. We drove through mainly coastal type scrub, but there was plenty of colour in places with two or three different types of wattle in flower, along with pink flowers, white flowers and purple flowers (no idea what they were). We also spotted some brolgas and bustards (the first we have seen this year). The road from the highway into Eighty Mile Beach was gravel but in good condition – no problems bringing the caravan into the beach.
Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park is really all there is at Eighty Mile Beach, apart from a beach supposedly eighty miles long. This region was devastated by a cyclone early this year, with the caravan park losing all its trees as well as being flooded out and sustaining severe damage. The owners have done a wonderful job in restoring the park and some of the broken off trees have started to sprout again. The sites are grass and a good size, the new amenities block is good, we have power, water and television but no mobile coverage and best of all, we are right on the beach. We were amazed to find there was even a War Memorial in the caravan park.
We had a lovely long walk this afternoon, walking in the shallows and looking for shells (as well as keeping an eye out for crocodiles). This huge beach is absolutely covered with shells, mainly bi-valves but quite a few large, brightly coloured ones shaped a bit like cones. We are now carrying a couple of shells in the rear of the car. We concluded the afternoon with another sunset – this time there were only about 100 people on a beach as far as the eye could see.
Late yesterday afternoon, we joined about 5,000 other people – and their vehicles – on “that” part of Cable Beach (the only part cars are permitted!) to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. (All the sunbathers had disappeared by this time of the day!) We seemed to be the only people who didn’t take their table, chairs, wine and nibbles – felt rather out of it, actually. It was really very pleasant, with a temperature hovering around 28 degrees, watching all the camels and their riders stroll past and the sun rapidly set. The colours were just fantastic. Of course, once the sun had set, it was a mad rush to leave the beach through the single lane access point.
This morning we left Broome shortly before 8.00 am and there were five caravans queued at the entrance to the caravan park, hoping for a vacancy – we told one fellow he was more than welcome to ours! The 350 km drive south was very easy, with a wide road, long straights and flat country. We drove through mainly coastal type scrub, but there was plenty of colour in places with two or three different types of wattle in flower, along with pink flowers, white flowers and purple flowers (no idea what they were). We also spotted some brolgas and bustards (the first we have seen this year). The road from the highway into Eighty Mile Beach was gravel but in good condition – no problems bringing the caravan into the beach.
Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park is really all there is at Eighty Mile Beach, apart from a beach supposedly eighty miles long. This region was devastated by a cyclone early this year, with the caravan park losing all its trees as well as being flooded out and sustaining severe damage. The owners have done a wonderful job in restoring the park and some of the broken off trees have started to sprout again. The sites are grass and a good size, the new amenities block is good, we have power, water and television but no mobile coverage and best of all, we are right on the beach. We were amazed to find there was even a War Memorial in the caravan park.
We had a lovely long walk this afternoon, walking in the shallows and looking for shells (as well as keeping an eye out for crocodiles). This huge beach is absolutely covered with shells, mainly bi-valves but quite a few large, brightly coloured ones shaped a bit like cones. We are now carrying a couple of shells in the rear of the car. We concluded the afternoon with another sunset – this time there were only about 100 people on a beach as far as the eye could see.
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