Monday, 9 August
Left Port Hedland shortly after 8.00 am for the 250 kms drive south to Karratha. The road was very good, the same as previous days, with not a great deal of traffic. We did have to give way on three separate occasions to oncoming wide loads, the first (actually two loads with two trucks each – push me pull mes) and last actually took up the complete roadway and we had to pull off onto the shoulders. It wasn’t a problem as we were given plenty of warning by the two way radio and advance vehicles.
The countryside changed from coastal scrubland to being bare and desolate, with some stony outcrops and hills as we neared Karratha. We had noticed a red haze on the horizon and when we were about 100 kms from Karratha, we discovered the red haze was actually a red dust storm. It wasn’t thick enough to be a problem driving, but we did stay in the middle of the dust all the way from then on. It was an extremely windy drive, with some tricky crosswinds for the first half of the trip, before we headed in a more westerly direction and the crosswinds became very handy tailwinds!
We passed through Roebourne, with its Old Gaol and heritage buildings.
The Pilbara Holiday Village is very good (the tourists are kept separate from the permanents), with very large sites, double concrete slab, good amenities (nice and clean!!!), lots of bird life and plenty of shade. The wind has helped keep the temperature to a pleasant 28 degrees today.
Left Port Hedland shortly after 8.00 am for the 250 kms drive south to Karratha. The road was very good, the same as previous days, with not a great deal of traffic. We did have to give way on three separate occasions to oncoming wide loads, the first (actually two loads with two trucks each – push me pull mes) and last actually took up the complete roadway and we had to pull off onto the shoulders. It wasn’t a problem as we were given plenty of warning by the two way radio and advance vehicles.
The countryside changed from coastal scrubland to being bare and desolate, with some stony outcrops and hills as we neared Karratha. We had noticed a red haze on the horizon and when we were about 100 kms from Karratha, we discovered the red haze was actually a red dust storm. It wasn’t thick enough to be a problem driving, but we did stay in the middle of the dust all the way from then on. It was an extremely windy drive, with some tricky crosswinds for the first half of the trip, before we headed in a more westerly direction and the crosswinds became very handy tailwinds!
We passed through Roebourne, with its Old Gaol and heritage buildings.
The Pilbara Holiday Village is very good (the tourists are kept separate from the permanents), with very large sites, double concrete slab, good amenities (nice and clean!!!), lots of bird life and plenty of shade. The wind has helped keep the temperature to a pleasant 28 degrees today.
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