We decided to leave Karijini NP and forgo another gorge walk, we were sort of all gorged out. So we packed up and set off by ourselves, leaving the 'HardFirms' behind for one day. We set off for the long drive back to Port Hedland, we were looking forward to time by ourselves which hasn't happened for a while. The drive, although long, went relatively fast and without too much incident and winging by the girls.
We arrived at South Hedland by 1:30pm and decided to treat the girls to Macca's for lunch. Think this was what kept them good on the drive in knowing that they would miss out if they misbehaved too much. After lunch, we made our way to the Racecourse to our old grassed area near the track to set up for a few days. After unhooking it was time to finally have a look around Port Hedland itself. All l can say is that it didn't take too long, not much to see at all. We stopped off at the Tourist Info centre to see if there was anything we were missing, but as we thought, there was not. I accidentally slipped out to the lady that we were camping at the racecourse and she gave me a funny look and informed me of ranger fines if we got caught, so l am now worried that she is going to dob us in! Can't believe that there is no laundromat in this town! It would be such a good business investment to build one here, but saying that that is why there are no 'free camps' in Hedland and they expect you to go to a caravan park.
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| Stunning views on the drive.... |
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| Love the 'whistling kites'.... |
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Pilbera dirt....love/hate relationship with it...
need to get rid of it in the van! |
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| Fire in the distance.... |
Back at camp the rest of the day was consumed with washing, washing, and more washing. Took so much scrubbing to get the Pilbera red dirt out. At least the girls were amused, playing freely and running a muck on the grass. They were also fascinated with the local kids doing there hockey training on the courts up the back, so after watching them for a while, they came back with the request for their sticks to be found to play with. Took some effort, seeing they were underneath Boo's bunk bed and crammed up the back, but glad we got them out because it kept them amused till dark! Later that night we sat and watched the local boys turn up and playing with their remote controlled aeroplanes which they had lit up with led lights. Pretty cool to see!
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| Campsite along the horse track.... |
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| Having a hit.... |
Next morning we awoke to the sound of horses galloping on the track. So love the sound.... I quickly sprung out of bed for some pics... The rest of the day was pretty boring with lugging water from the toilet block to camp and doing yet again, more washing! I headed off for some quiet time for an hour, even if it was to stock up on groceries....lol. When l got back a bloke from the council stopped in to ask us to move off the grass and park up on the dirt patch up on top of the hill. Totally sucked, but at least we got to stay and was free... Later in the early arvo, Meg started to feel a bit under the weather with a temp and l wasn't feeling too crash hot, so we had cuddles on the bed watching a movie. Just nice to have stopped and not doing anything. Think we had caught a cold from that chilly water in the gorges at Karijini. The HardFirms turned up late arvo and anyone would have thought the kids hadn't seen each other for a life time and not one day!! There were screams and hugs and game playing for the rest of the day. Obviously Meg had perked up and the medicine had kicked in because we didn't hear another sook out of her.
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| New campsite....not as lush. |
The following day Marty and l decided we would head off after lunch. Ton and Cam had heaps of cleaning up and restocking to do and l was totally over Port Hedland. You may not believe it but l had to more washing prior to leaving, amazing what over a week out bush will do for you washing pile! We headed into Hedland to do the final sightseeing, pulling into the Port to watch the iron ore ships getting loaded. Totally reminded us of Geraldton port. The girls had a play on the play ground. We took a scenic drive along the coastline which was nice. Pulled into the Salt mine lookout for some pics, looked pretty awesome. Final stop was to check out a place called Pretty Pool as Ton had said it was really nice. When we pulled up we just couldn't see what she was talking about, just not so pretty. While Marty filled up the Nissan with diesel Boo and l took a stroll thru the outside train museum nearby. She totally loved getting up on the big trucks and pretending to drive. I decided we should head back when we came across a few local indigenous mobs who had decided this was to be their local drinking hole! Bit early in the day really....
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| Salt Mine out of town.... |
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Amazing colors and glitter effect of the
salt from the sun... |
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| Cows a bit hollow here! |
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| BHP mining equipment... |
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| Port Hedland..... |
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| Girls more interested in the playground..... |
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| Girls loved the statues of these kids.... |
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| Port Hedland beach..... |
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| Thank god!!! |
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| Railway museum... |
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| Gotta love the roof! |
When we got back to the van, we had lunch and pulled out, on the road once more. Only a short drive down the road to De Grey river camp spot for a night or two, looking forward to the quietness of the bush once more.......
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