Port Hedland heading south

Headwinds, strong headwinds, very strong headwinds!!  Wow what a difference to fuel consumption these winds are making.  The wind does die down at night however by 8am next morning it is back again.  We had travelled down the highway from Port Hedland and passed through some lovely country.  Hills of red sand with grey spinifex clumps growing everywhere and blue skies, the colours of our country roll on hour after hour. 

There are mine road trains coming towards us full and the empties coming from behind and overtaking.  Our first freebie campsite was very dusty!!   The wind was still howling when we stopped and as soon as we opened the door the dust started coming in.  It covered everything and we spent the rest of the evening wiping down the inside of the van with dampened paper towel.  Didn’t take long to fill the rubbish bag!!  Oh well the curtains and bedspreads will all need another wash sooner than had been planned.

Roebourne Historic Gaol

Our next day’s travel took us out to Roebourne, Wickham (a small community), Point Samson where there is a loading wharf for iron ore (ships lined up waiting again) and Cossack a ‘ruins’ town that was quite interesting to wander around in.  The stone buildings built in the 1890’s are still standing strong despite the town being slammed with cyclones over the years.  We watched a huge iron ore carrier come in to berth at the wharf with the aid of mighty tugs.  Another carrier at the wharf was still pumping out the ballast water that had filled the holds for the trip to Point Samson for this load. 

                                 building in Cossack once the Court House but now a museum

Today also took us to Karratha, where some of the town’s streets were closed for a sporting event of some type, so we did not get to look around the main part as much as we would have hoped.  We drove out to the headlands however and again, ships everywhere.  There is much new building going on in town so obviously the mining boom is flowing over to other industries.  Lots of greenery around so watering of parks etc is a high priority.  We also saw the stockpiles of salt ready for loading into ships.

We then drove a short distance out to Dampier, home of Red Dog (the hero of the film we saw in Broome).  Again we drove out to the headlands and views of the blue green water.  Another big carrier was coming into berth and along with the 3 tugs assisting the chore, it was fascinating to sit and watch the whole process.

Leaving Dampier we then drove down to Robe River rest area arriving around 5.30pm so a little late to get a good spot down beside the river.  After checking out the area both sides of the highway we decided to park on the road down to the river camping area which was rather sandy.  The next morning we moved over to the area on the other side of the highway and parked up down beside the crystal clear water.  What a pity the wind blew a gale all day.  Only good thing was that the bit of washing I did was dry in under 2 hours.  We spent most of the day inside the van and read and rested so a really restful day. 

 Sunset was magic over the river with the wind dropping and the water giving great reflections of the surrounding vegetation.  We felt for those that were parked higher up in the rest area as they would have the dust again blowing into everything but fortunately for us being down near the water the dust was above us this time.  Sunrise the next morning was again a wonderful experience.  We had planned to leave a little earlier than usual to try and miss some of the wind so was up in time to grab the camera and capture again the reflections as the rising sun lit the bridge.

Our next destination is Exmouth out on the coast and we travelled through some wonderful country and crossed sand hills covered with spinifex clumps.  The road would rise up and the view seemed to reach to Christmas and then you would drop down again before rising across the next one.  No great height but quite apparent.  Who needs to be out in the middle with a 4wd to drive over the sandhills? 

the 'kids' crossing the road, Dad was just behind

We saw our first emu in a long while along with some wild goats and then sheep as we got closer to Exmouth.  This road is part of the Wool Wagon Walk which traces the path those graziers of old took to ship their wool south.  Exmouth seems to be the Karumba – Normanton (Qld) of the West (anyone for fishing?)  It also gives access to the famous Ningaloo Reef and many folk come here to take tours to explore this pristine area.  With school holidays now started here in WA needless to say site fees at the local caravan parks are at their peak so we enjoy our drive around town and then head back along the road back to the highway.  We stop for the night at another rest stop and hunker down to shelter from the ever present wind. 

Next morning we head into Coral Bay, just a short detour off the road and found a new piece of 'paradise'.  Being school holidays it was chock full off holidaying families so after a short explore along the pristine beach and a paddle in the crystal clear waters, we have put this place on our list of 'must stay' next time.  At least a week we think as the bay is sheltered by the Ningaloo reef and there are glass bottomed kayaks to hire or launches to cruise in to check out the colourful fish and coral growing within the bay.

glass bottomed launch in Coral Bay (reef in background)