Tom Price to Port Hedland - 430km

I've been out of phone range again, so the following is catch up:

Thursday 13^th June:  Tom Price to Munjina Gorge  -  140km

After a fretful night worrying about Oscar I went on the Rio Tinto Hamersly mine tour this morning.  Normally I can put Oscar in a kennel and not think about him, but when I saw the kennel/pound, I felt really anxious.  It was a basic open tin shed with about six runs, in a paddock out in the middle of nowhere.   There were two other dogs as well as Oscar, but without anyone around to keep an eye on them overnight I was concerned.   When I picked him up the next day it took several hours for him to settle down, and the first thing he did was drink water like there was no tomorrow, so he was obviously too stressed to have a drink while he was there.

I enjoyed the Rio Tinto tour, and the tour guide was very knowledgable with lots of impressive facts and figures.  It was interesting watching the giant trucks emerge from the mine with their loads of oar then returning down the hill again to get another load.   There are about six open pits, but we only saw one which was about half a kilometre deep.   The ore is shipped to the coast four times per day by train which is two and half kilometres long and pulled by four huge locomotives.  Each train load is worth about three million dollars.  Rio Tinto pay royalties to Gina Hancock for the Tom Price mine because she owns the land.  She receives royalties from several other mines in the Pilbara as well.  

After picking up Oscar I had lunch at King’s Lake,  a man made lake on the outskirts of Tom Price, then I headed for Munjina Gorge for the night.  On the way I had to pull off the highway three times to make way for mining equipment being transported to Tom Price.

I have been on the road for four months now and seen some beautiful places, especially when travelling around the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, but the Pilbara would have to come top of the list.  The scenery is just breathtaking and I'm so thankful that I have had the opportunity to experience this unique area.

Mount Unknown - Taken from Tom Price caravan park:

Rio Tinto Mine - one of the six pits.

 

 Kings Park, Tom Price:

One of the many wide loads being transported to the mines:

Munjina Gorge where I camped for the night:

Friday 14th June:  Munjina Gorge to Port Hedland  -  290km

I arrived at Port Hedland about 2.00pm and drove straight to the Information Centre which was near where the tankers arrive into the harbour.  I sat and watched the tugs pulling the tankers in for a while before heading out to the Port Hedland Golf Club which is used as the overflow when the caravan parks are full.  Port Hedland is such a busy place, and with road trains and mining trucks everywhere I was feeling really uptight and glad to get off the road.

I will catch up with washing, etc tomorrow before having a look around, and hopefully avoid the road trains.   I'm staying at the Golf Club for two nights and then on Sunday I will head for Marble Bar.  I will be out of phone range again for several days so not sure when I will add to my blog.

Port Hedland Shipping harbour: