A Cape, A Port & A Point, Pilbara WA

Sunday the  2nd of December... We packed up in Broome, had a final swim in the caravan park pool and said goodbye to our neighbours. Terry from next door had become a wealth of info on the fishing front while on Saturdays he and Richard had hit the TAB together, sharing bad tips with each other. Terry and his wife are from Rockingham but live in Broome for several months of the year.

We headed towards the nearest service station and Richard fuelled up while I took the kids to Woolworths where they had been promised they could each choose an advent calendar.

 

By 10 o'clock we were on our way out of Broome, not quite sure where we were heading, other than in a southerly direction.

We passed the turn off to Bidyadanga? Where the hell is Bidyadanga? That was an ongoing phrase during my time at GWN. As an ongoing joke, everytime the weather  was read we would all ask the same question? Now I know where it is ... And in case you also didn't know, it's on the cost about 180 kilometers south of Broome.

We didn't visit  because we figured it only contained a weather station and one person to record the details at best. Maybe next time!

It was around this time that our car clocked 130 000 kilometres.  It had done just over 90 000 kilometres when we left home in January.

We continued on and came across a big fire, at first we thought it was a controlled burn but on closer inspection we could see that a rock crusher had caught fire on the back of a trailer and set an entire paddock alight.

A paddock alight

The charred remains of a crusher

It was at that point our car lost power (you came to mind Ange).. It was as if it had heard us talking about how many kays it had done and decided enough was enough. There was only 10 kilometres to Sandfire Roadhouse so we kept going and at about 40 kays an hour.. it was slow going. Once we reached Sanfire Roadhouse and Richard fuelled up the car,  we realised that his suspicions were correct. We'd picked up some bad fuel in Broome. We had lunch at Sandfire and continued on. It was much smoother sailing and the car seemed to be much happier.

It was also around Sandfire that we crossed over from the Kimberley, to the Pilbara.

We stopped in to have a look at 80 Mile Beach which was about 10 kilometers off the beaten track. The kids and I had wanted to see 80 Mile Beach ever since we did a project on the rabbit proof fence earlier in the year. The rabbit proof fence, the longest in the world, went from Starvation Bay, near Hopetoun where we spent the first couple weeks of our trip, up to 80 Mile Beach. 

The beach was beautiful and pristine with a caravan park and sand dune from the shore.The kids set about collecting more shells while Richard and I enjoyed the picture perfect scenery.....

The entrance into 80 Mile Beach

The kids stop collecting shells for a snapshot

Pristine 80 Mile Beach

The Coast Watch tent on 80 Mile Beach

By around 4 o'clock we pulled up stumps for the night (been listening to too much cricket) at a place called  Cape Keraudren about 140 kilometres north of Port Hedland. It's the southern end of 80 Mile Beach and where the rabbit proof fence really ends.

We set up camp overlooking the ocean and went exploring the surrounds, which in low tide were full of rock pools and reef.

Cape Keraudren

The reefs at low tide

The kids explore the area

The kids went in search of shells and crazy crabs. Finding this crazy crab nursery....

Tiny crazy crab nursery

We were the only ones there so Richard set up the cricket to blare from the car radio while we had a G& T and watched the tide go out....

Richard takes in the view and listens to the cricket

We then decided to see if we could balance on one foot on a log after two gin and tonics? One too many maybe? I was quite impressed with my effort given that I couldn't stand on the log with two feet :-) 

Nina takes a photo of Richard and I

Before we try the one foot balancing act

After dinner we looked around us and found we had been cornered in every which way  by crazy crabs. We had to be careful where we trod so we didn't stomp on any. It was amazing....

Crazy crabs everywhere

We ended up having to retreat inside the because we were all being feasted on by sandflies.

Monday the 3rd of December... After a restless night, I was up before the sun

And decided to take a walk with the camera to try to capture the dawning of a New day...

Good morning sunshine

A beautiful sun rise

The sun rises over big red, the car

By the time I had gotten back to the van, the patchwork of sandfly bites I had got the night before had been filled in by fresh sandfly bites.

A cold shower helped to ease the itching before it was time to pack up and  move on.

We smiled on the way out when we saw these locals in the information hut....

Searching for information

We stopped at the Pardoo Roadhouse for some brekky before hitting the road  to Port Hedland, this was where we blew the third tyre of our trip, this time on the caravan, the other two had been on big red...

Where did that tyre go?

In 40 degrees, Mr Prepared (aka Richard) set about changing the rim and replacing it with a tyre...

Richard gets to work

The buckled rim finds a new home for the moment

Half an hour later we were back on the road again, thanks to my clever husband...

Jack with the new tyre

It did take us to get back to Western Australia to have someone stop to ask if we needed a hand. Richard had it well and truly under control but it was nice to be asked. It also took a West Australian chick to slow down after we'd stopped to say "Ay mate, you gotta flat tyre." Gee what a brain surgeon, what else would have us pulled over on the side of the Great Northern Highway. It gave us a chuckle, if nothing else.

Minutes down the road we were at the Marble Bar Road turnoff which leads to Mum and Dad's pub in Nullagine. Even if we wanted to head in that direction we couldn't now without a spare tyre. The unsealed road is notorious...

The Marble Bar Road

We all laughed when we saw hundreds of termite mounds topped with hard hats and as we drew closer to Port Hedland we passed more and more road trains carrying mining equipment. There was no doubt we were now in the heart of WA's booming mining country. It was somewhere here, along the Great Northern Highway, that we left the humidity behind us and we were back to the dry heat of home.

When we reached Port Hedland we headed strait to the nearest Tyre Shop to get a spare tyre and replace the other dodgy looking tyres that had earned their keep in the past year....

The caravan gets new tyres

 We then drove into Port Hedland. What  can I say about the town. Pretty, certainly does NOT spring to mind! This town is very much about business...  the mining business! You could see mines and mining equipment  in every direction around the town, including this salt mine at the entrance to the town.  

A pile of salt

There were miners villages everywhere and its only endearing feature is that its on the coast. We called into the local shopping centre to get some groceries and left for greener, more picturesque pastures.

We reached Roebourne by early afternoon and although the heritage listed Old Roebourne Gaol looked beautiful  the town itself didn't have a lot going on, other than mining and its rich history.

The Old Roebourne Gaol, now a museum

Roebourne, named after the first WA surveyor General John Septimus Roe is the oldest settlement in the north west, established in 1866. 

We then took a drive through Wickham which was built to service the Pilbara's Iron workers. The entrance to the town, a dump truck and a train on display pretty much said it all.

The kids try to push the truck, on display at the entrance to Wickham

There was a lot of building going on in the town, it makes you wonder whether one day when the ground has been depleted of minerals, what it will look like as a ghost town.

Just down the road from Wickham, we arrived at Point Samson, where we would stay for the night.

Point Samson boasts some of the best fishing and snorkelling in Australia... No doubt the boys will be able to attest to that before too long.
After setting up camp in the caravan park we went for a drive. It really is a tiny town but beautiful with a general store and a  tavern.
It has a very busy port. We counted at least 6 ships off the coast waiting to pick up loads of Iron Ore...

The Port

We also spotted this huge Osprey nest, on top of this antenna...

The evening was spent at the Tavern where we had dinner and chatted to the locals about good fishing spots.