This stretch was 576km, but as the map shows there is very little in between the 2 places. The "leaving Broome" sign said that the major stops
between here and Port Hedland were Sandfire and Pardoo. Sandfire and Pardoo are roadhouses. Nothing else. Just a petrol stop with a few beds
and cafe to refuel the stomach.
So we drove and drove until we came to our rest area, which was just a bit of dirt at the side of the road. But what made this one memorable was
that there was another family there too and we ended up sharing dinner and swapping stories with them.
At lunchtime on Sunday we arrived in Port Hedland and called in at the visitor info place to find out all about it.
Port Hedland
We arrived in Port Hedland on Sunday 23rd August to find a very industrial town, with mines, big ships, huge trains (several kilometers long, some
of the longest in the world) salt pans and salt piles.
Q: So where does all this salt come from?
A: Sea water is poured into huge salt pans and the water is left to evaporate by the sun leaving behind a mat of salt. Salt is
then gathered up and it ends up on a huge pile.
Here's Alexander looking at the salt pans in the distance ... and wondering what on earth we were doing here...
We're used to seeing busy beaches, not busy ports loading coal, salt and other stuff.
We arrived in Port Hedland on Sunday 23rd August, got sorted at the caravan park and visited the local shopping centre.
I had 5 days of teaching at the local primary school lined up - it turned out to be a tough school. There were 4 primary schools in town and this
was the toughest - just my luck that this was the one that I phoned first last week. Shucks.
In my diary on the Tuesday I wrote, "The day was going really well. But then the bell rang and I had to go and get the class".
But by the following Saturday we were leaving Port Hedland and on our way to Exmouth.
Ta ta Port Hedland.
Port Hedland - Exmouth
A total of 780km, a fair ole journey which we took 2 and a bit days to do. Staying at these rest areas in the middle of nowhere with only a few
road train wagons for company does mean that you can make a lot of noise and nobody will hear you...
Most of the noise was coming the howling dog with the demonic eyes! That rest area was near Karratha.
On the Sunday we travelled 357km to a rest area at the Exmouth turn off. We arrived before dark so we had time to make a bonfire and cook
some bananas. Yuummmm!
And so it was on Monday 31st August that we headed to Exmouth...
