Heading south, port hedland

I don't like the thought that we are heading home, I'm not ready....but now that we are heading south that's how it feels. Grant keeps reminding me that we are traveling for another 4 weeks which is actually quite a long time, but we are still heading south.

Tuesday 7th Sept.
Today we packed up and waved goodbye to Barn Hill. We enjoyed our stay here very much!
We are headed to Karijini NP, back into the red dust. It is too far to drive today as we didn't leave early enough, so although we have been suitably warned to avoid Port Hedland, it is the obvious place for us to stop. P.H is a mining town, it's dock exports more tonnage of iron ore than any other in Australia. Even our lonely planet guide describes it as "...caked in dark red dirt" so we were prepared for the worst! When you prepare for the worst, you are often pleasantly surprised...and we found the town to be quite interesting. The boys marveled over the massive white salt mountain, complete with trucks driving over the top, and the extensive rail system with trains that stretched as far as we could see. We found a sparkling new shopping centre where we stocked up on groceries and even managed to sit down for a coffee...things here aren't so bad! As with most mining towns accommodation is limited and expensive. The first caravan park we called was completely full so we ended up in South Hedland...on a busy road, and in a park filled with miners...some of them with young families. Must be an interesting life. We met a young german traveler, she is cycling on her own from Perth to Darwin...on a push bike! I don't know what the appeal is...and can only imagine how difficult parts of her trip will be, she even plans on riding the Gibb Rd. While I can only shake my head in wonder, Grant is envious of every rider we see on the road, with their pannier bags loaded up and pain on their faces. We have seen cyclists several times on tough 4WD roads. Maybe one day one of his boys will join him on a cycling adventure through outback Australia...sadly it won't be me!
We packed up in the morning, had everything ready to go...and realised we'd made a mistake for the second time this trip, "have you got the keys??" I cant tell you how painful it is to have to unpack the whole camper to find the car keys..which are of course deep within the tent!

Cazz x


- please leave us a message, we love to hear from you!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.