Out, Outback, headed south

Well, this writing finds us in the town of Meekatharra, somewhere in the Pilbara. (Translated =  In the middle of nowhere in the outback)  It’s Friday evening and we just pulled into the only RV park (if you want to call it that) in town.  We walked a couple of blocks into the downtown area and didn’t see a pub to get a cold beer, so we went to grocery/package store and discovered that the police chief has banned the sales of alcohol for the weekend because of “anti-social behavior”.  That’s no way to enhance the tourist industry.  Oh well it is what it is, Right?

We’ve had some excitement since we left Broome a few days ago.  We were intending to stay at a Roadhouse but due to the proximity of a bush fire and lots of smoke, we had to alter our plans and continue down the road.  The fire itself was quite something to see.  We were basically in it for about 50 kilometers.  The grass, small bushes, and other vegetation is so dry that the fire just runs through it.  We had several places where the fire was right up to the road and you could feel the heat through the window.  I’m not sure anyone was trying to suppress or fight the fire.  Then for the length of time we were driving through it, it appeared as though the wind would pick up embers and blow them to a whole new area that would start blazing.

We actually ended up driving all the way back to Port Hedland and spent one night there.  I spoke of Port Hedland in one of the cruise blogs.  It is strictly a “boom Town” as it is the major port for shipping out what is mined in this area.  Salt, Iron Ore, Copper, Natural Gas, and who knows what else.  I think China is trying to import the whole country of Australia, one boat load at a time. (lol)   Because it is a boom town prices are through the roof!  $44 for a dusty little camp site. 

Between Port Hedland and Newman, we stopped at a national park, Karijini and hiked to a waterfall pool. Very refreshing and beautiful.

Then we headed for Newman where they mine for the iron ore.  Newman is another boom town but it’s been around longer and is a little bit more reasonable.  We found a campground that actually had a TV in the “Camp Kitchen” ( yes a camp kitchen is just what it sounds like)  But we got to see a little of the news and caught up on the election.  We treated ourselves to a tour of the worlds largest “open cut  mine.”  That was quite fascinating and we got to see those huge Mega-Machine Dump Trucks in action.  Very Cool!!  The mine itself is 8km long by 3km wide and 630 meters deep.  They haul 12 - 14 train loads of ore out daily and each train hauls 42,000 tons.  They do move some rocks.

It’s now Sunday here and we’re officially out of the outback, YEA!.  We made it from Meekathara to Northam (just east of Perth) in a day and then today we went from Northam to Bunbury south of Perth and along the west coast.  We’ll be in this little town for a couple of days then will move south toward the Margaret River area.  Margaret River is a wine region with a few microbreweries scattered in.  Hope to do some, or a lot of touring and tasting. But finally, something to see besides scrub, red dirt or burnt area. We drove with more cars today than all of the 2 weeks in the north. And the temperature  is just wonderful. Didn’t need any aircon driving. The day after we left Broome, the temp was 102 with plenty of humidity. This morning 68 with highs in the mid 70s. Love it.