#pilbra

Like srsly, please bring it, i don't want to go to work tomorrow.

Exmouth to Karratha

After a great 3 days in Exmouth we were sad to leave but got up early and packed everything up, then we were on the road again. 

There wasn’t a real lot to stop at on the way except for a few road houses, and termite nests. They look so alien when you have a flat landscape with a bit of grass and hundreds of fairly big mounds scattered everywhere. 

As we got closer to Karratha there was massive hills along side the road which looked like they were made up of broken rock, it kind of looked man made but was all natural. 

Dampier was our first stop to check out the famous Red Dog memorial statue, it wasn’t too hard to find as it’s located on the visitor info sign on the way into town.

Karratha and Dampier are major mining towns, not a lot else to see unless you want to do mine tours etc which didn’t intrust us. The towns themselves are suffering for all the industrial mining which is going on, the scale is so big and the companies have set up big self sufficient camps where the workers pretty much fly in and fly out. A local was telling us the cost to rent a 3 bedroom place there is over $1000, in the last month only 6 houses sold and there were an extra 25 that were put on the market. No one can afford to live there anymore unless they are working for the mining companies and as the mining companies have everything sorted for their employees no one wants to buy there. Really sad to see…

The Dampier archipelago is home to the largest concentration of rock art in the world, archaeologists have found this artwork is older than the piramids. Back in the day when whites first settled in this area the whole of the aboriginal community was massacred, the art works, quarries, camp sites and shell middens are all thats left to tell the story. The rock art was under threat from mining, unfortunately they got their way and destroyed at least 25% of it but luckily the National Trust fought to stop this and so far they have won. It’s hard to believe they had to actually fight for something so old and so important to the countries history and all we can hope is the big industrial companies stay away. Unfortunalty we didn’t get to see the rocks as the track to the Burrup Peninsular is a 4wd only track (through a gas mine) I would love to go back there one day and see the place first hand. 

After driving around town we decided to camp at 40 Mile Beach, this was a nature based camp site and away from all the activities. We shared a nice peaceful spot along the water with 30 or so other campers, it was an amazing little spot and we were really glad we choose to stay here.

  Karratha to Eighty Mile 

Waking up this morning was great, we had an awesome sleep and knowing we had slept on the edge of Australia just made it that little bit better.  Packing everything up was a little harder though as the dew from the night before was crazy, everything was wet, but we soldiered on and packed up the car and we were off.  Yesterday on our way to our campsite for the night we received our first damage to the Mighty Pulsar, two pretty big stone chips from a lovely mining truck.  We had to be a little more cautious with our driving on dirt roads because of this but not a huge hassal.

Again with the further north we get the fewer and far between are the stops, this meant a little more driving and not so much site seeing.  Our first real stop was Port Headland, a huge mining and industry town with not a whole lot more.  There were massive docks, tankers, fuel storage tanks, trucks and a heap of high vis shirts and utes.  We pulled in for some fuel and some supplies and also to repco to grab a repair kit for our windscreen.  After this we were off again heading for our camp for the next two nights.

When we got to the turn off for Eighty Mile Beach we had 9kms of dirt road to travel before pulling up, still a little cautious with the windscreen we cruised for a while before releasing it was a pretty good road. A lot better road then half the roads back home actually, Pure red dirt lined the road itself and either side before you hit a border or small gum trees that fenced the properties that bordered the track.

As we drove in to the caravan park we knew instantly we were going to love it here, they had diesel generators making power, the park used recycled water where ever they could, the lawns and gardens for a place like this where temperatures can reach mid to high 40’s were awesome, so well looked after and it just had a great vibe to it.  After checking in it was time to set up the tent and get straight onto our window fixing, needing full sunlight a part of the repair we could only manage to get one done that afternoon but it worked a treat, it was like it had never even happened.  We were actually lucky enough to notice as we were checking in that wednesday was hamburger night, where for $6 you take you’re own chair drinks and plate and grab a mean hamburger and just sit around and chat with fellow travellers, best $6 we spent in a long time.

With a big drive yesterday and the day before it wasn’t a late one at all, and with a great sleep under our belt we were up bright and early for our second day at Eighty MIle.  We started the day with a walk down to the beach and some shell collecting, which was so much fun i think we would have been down there for a couple hours before heading back to relax for a little while.  With a load of washing done and the day just getting better and better it was time to go for a fish.  Ever since we left, speaking to people all around Australia, we have heard this is the best fishing you will get in Australia, so we were pumped.  As we walked over the little dune to head down to the beach we saw what would have been at least half the caravan park all spread out over a couple of km’s of the beach fishing.  We set up and got straight into it, it was rough as and the current was strong washing up even the biggest of sinkers after only a couple of minutes in the water.  As with all the fishing so far we have done we were unlucky, but speaking to a couple of old blokes who had been there since May, regular visitors to the park, this had been their worst year fishing wise, so we felt a little better, even though the man beside us did grab a little shark, we would of been happy to take one as a pet, lol.

After relaxing a little more and fixing the last chip in the windscreen, time had flown and it was getting close to sunset so we decided to head down to the beach for a walk and more shell collecting.  It is amazing the tides the further north you get, they are at least ten metre tides, something that has to be seen to believed.  The waters edge that would be probably 10m from the base of the dunes at high tide would now be over a kilometre out to sea.  We were very lucky and got to see a great sunset and then headed back for some dinner and bed.  

Eighty Mile to Broome

Waking up on our last morning before heading to Broome, we were seriously contemplating staying another night, but we had to move on so after one last stroll along the beautiful beach and the car packed we were off on our way to Broome.  This is definitely a place that we will returning to one day.

We had about a 4 hour drive and really nothing to see, we pulled into the Sandfire roadhouse for a quick fuel top up and some breakie with some very curious Peacocks and then back on the road.  Once we began to see the outskirts of Broome we were releaved, as the last 3 drives we had done, were long and not much to break them up, it was time to set up and stay in one spot for a while.  

Encountering so many different people along our way we’ve heard some great stories, one that stuck with us both though and has probably been on both our minds for the last week leading up to arriving in Broome, is that a lot of people think its a lovely place but a little over rated/ commercialised.  We are both to very happy to say that we were pleasantly surprised and love it already. We havnt explored a whole lot yet but we have driven around and picked up our new fridge, something we probably should have started off with but we have it now and great timing with the weather a lot warmer here.  No more bags of ice and food going to waste, Yeehaa.  

Our campsite for the next 2 weeks is absolutely amazing, we would be 5 metres from the beach itself with an absolutely amazing view of Roebuck Bay.  We have a lovely little sea breeze that blows past keeping it a little more comfortable and when the tide is up the water is only 10 metres from our front door.  We are both really exhausted, 6 weeks of travelling, exploring, learning and putting up with each other in the car for how many hours, Lol, we have enjoyed every single minute of it so far and are looking forward to what the next couple of weeks bring in Broome.