Early rise this morning so we could get an early start to a long drive. The Great Northern Highway to Port Hedland was an easy drive, and we started to see a real change in the countryside. Just out of Port Hedland we had to stop at a rail crossing as an enormous goods train consisting of over 100 wagons all transporting Iron Ore into Port Hedland passed by. We drove past the very large Rio Tinto Minerals plant and the impressive BHP Billiton plant. We arrived about 8.30 a.m. and after getting fuel and groceries we drove along the Wharf area and saw plenty of activity with ships in port waiting to be loaded with Iron Ore and many ships anchored in the bay. A short drive around the township gave us an overview of the area and we noticed that all the housing, flats etc. had iron coloured dust on their roofs. On our way out of town we saw a very large new housing estate and it has occurred to us that should the mining industry continue to decline what would become of all this new housing.
We continued down the Great Northern Highway to stop for lunch at Auski Roadhouse, the stopped once more at Albert Tognolini Lookout. A fantastic view looking back along the ridge in the direction we had just driven through, two very lovely gorges. Further down the highway we saw about 6 Brumbies on the side of the road and they were in excellent condition. Finally after 350 kms we reached our destination Karijini National Park at 4 p.m. only to find Dales Gorge Campground full and we had to set up camp in the “overflow” area. There were a number of vans etc. already parked so we were not alone. Early dinner then bed to watch D.V.D.
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| The roads are excellent with some amazing mountain ranges. |
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| Could be the WA version of the Devils Marbles. |
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| An iron ore train with at least 100 wagons of iron ore on the way to Port Hedland. |
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| The port was very busy with ships being loaded and escorted out to sea by tugs. |
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