Day 51 – Sun, 29 Aug at Port Hedland

Today was a nothing day – made myself some bacon and eggs, did some reading, had a walk and watched a little TV. Yep a real veg out day. I didn’t even take a photo, but I did have a couple of phone calls with Robyn.

I am ready to get back on the road, real itchy feet. So tomorrow I hope to get the new tyres fitted and be back on the road. So I trust you all had a lazy day as well, remember Sunday was the day of rest. See you out there.

Day 50 – Sat, 28 Aug at Port Hedland

Today was another day spent in PH. I had breakfast with Martin a 31 year old Swiss guy travelling around Australia, mainly using Greyhound buses. He was heading out today so he had time to kill until 2pm when his bus left.

He is into sport and had never seen a cricket match so I invited him to join me at the local 20/20 charity match being held down the road. I explained the basics of the game, as you do and then we headed out.

We caught the local bus service to the game (actually it was only about 3km down the road towards town) – he did have his backpacks and all. So he became an honorary Aussie for the morning sitting on the grass and watching the national game of cricket. The match was organised by the local police, as a charity match – I understand Brad Hogg (for those who don’t know him, he is an Ex Australian cricketer) was present but without commentary who was who was difficult to determine.

We spoke about many things about Australia and Switzerland, we even solved the world’s problems – as one does at the cricket. The match was just like any friendly social match around the country and we both had a thoroughly enjoyable morning. I think he also agreed with Robyn, as she has been trying to understand the game for the past 40 years and still cannot get it.

We said our goodbyes and I decided to walk back via the shoreline, covering closer to 4km – well I guess I should say stroll back in the sun. Watched another ship come in from the off shore stack (there is generally around 20 odd ships waiting at anchor offshore for their turn to dock). Made it back to camp for a light lunch a cuppa and time to get some reading in.

All in all an unexpected pleasant day at the cricket – bring on the Aussies in January when I go to see them humiliate the Poms (I hope).

Day 49 – Fri, 27 Aug at Port Hedland

Today was an easy day in Port Hedland as planned. However it started off a little frustrating. You see I checked my tyres and there was damage to the rear one that had to be dealt with.

So early morning I headed into town and found a bike place, a Yamaha dealer, who had a range of tyres but not my bike’s size. So they can order them in (from Perth) but that will take 24 hrs to arrive. By that time they will be closed for the weekend and so I have to wait until Monday to get them fitted. I decided to replace both tyres, so I am here for the weekend.

Frustrating as had this been in Broome I could have spent the weekend on Cable Beach, but no I have to be in PH. Well it could have been worse I could be in the middle of nowhere waiting for Road Side Assist. I count my blessings and have a weekend to kill.

This morning I was booked on a tour of BHP Billiton Iron Ore complex here at Port Hedland. It finished up being only a bus tour inside the plant, but we were able to see the handling of the ore from time of arrival by train, through the stock piles and loading to the ship.

Lots of facts and figures to impress and big expansion plans for the place. They currently export around 100 odd million tonnes and this is planned to go to 400+ million tonnes by 2015. The township is only about 18,000 people with projections to 40,000 odd. All I can say they had better address the housing issue and soon.

Other companies export products through the port including manganese, salt, copper and cattle. Iron ore is definitely the major resource, primarily exported, but today there were two local Australian ships in port (highly unusual).

After the tour I went down to the harbour to watch 4 tugs bring a huge 300,000 tonne bulk carrier into port – very impressive positioning. Some of the caravan drivers could take note of the precision, because I have seen some woeful attempts in that department.

This afternoon I stripped the armour from my riding gear and gave them another tub. Spoke to a number of other campers and caught up with a few that I met a week or so back, All in all a restful day, now for tomorrow.

Day 48 – Thu, 26 Aug to Port Hedland

I posted Day 47 earlier today.

I went to bed early last night and the wind was blowing a little, with the rustle of the trees and the sounds of the night I had a great night sleep. I woke early and watched the sun rise as I had breakfast. That was the end of the pleasant morning at Pardoo Station.

Pardoo Station is around 500,000 acres and runs about 6,000 Santa Gertrudis cattle. I believe the camp also house local mining staff or contractors in the donga type accommodation.

The grounds were devoid of grass, except the communal areas, and the wind strengthened and the dust blew and I decided I would hit the road. I was going to take a trip down to the beach (at least another 5km ride) then a walk. The dust was up so I thought, nope lets get back on the road.

So basically I missed the coast from Broome down to Port Hedland – I did cross the De Grey River which was one of the original stations in the area, originally including Pardoo Station. 

Pardoo Station had been recommended and I was let down – I guess actuality didn't meet expectations.  I should have stopped in at 80 Mile Beach, but I was speaking with a women at Port Hedland camp site and she said the wind had been bad there as well.

So a bit disappointing, so I’ll have to come back another time – maybe even get Robyn up here to see the things that I haven’t seen – what a great idea John..lol..

I found the Cooke Point Camp Ground a little expensive, but I have since learnt that all accommodation in PH is expensive. Even a backpacker type accommodation is over $100 a night so my $32 for a camp site is cheap even though it is the dearest on the trip so far. I understand that miners are paying somewhere in the vicinity of $1,000-$2,000 a week for housing.

I had a look around town and the port. For those who don’t know about PH, it is the major port for the export of iron ore for BHP Billiton and salt for Rio Tinto.  The mines are predominantly around Newman to the SE and trains up to 3.5km long bring the ore into the port for export – around 100 million tonnes a year. BHP is planning to expand the port to double the number of ships it can load – currently 4 at a time in excess of 330,000 tonnes each.

The hwy runs to the N with the rail and industry to the E and the housing to the W (closer to the coast). The camp ground is located in the newer part of the residential housing area, where I understand fairly modern, metal clad housing is priced over the $1.5m mark – so much land, so high prices!

Tonight I headed down to the beach to watch the Stairway to the Moon phenomenon. At low tide and on the rise of the full moon, it creates an appearance over the low water pools of a stairway to, you guessed it, the moon. Really lovely to watch, a pity the camera wasn’t good enough to really capture it and a tripod would have helped.

I’ll be staying for another night, so until then stay warm there in old Sydney town.

Day 47 – Wed, 25 Aug to Pardoo Station

Today was another transit day. In the end I travelled a little over 500km from Broome towards Port Hedland arriving at Pardoo Station a little after 4pm.

The morning started as usual, but I had an early wake up call from Gary. He had tried a number of times over the period I have been away and today he made sure he was successful. No, I was awake, well almost when the call came in at 6am. It is good to here from people back home as it keeps you in touch with the real world and not this one of constant holiday – oh blow it bring on more holidays, who am I trying to kid.

I headed down to Cable Beach for a last look and then headed off. It is about 35km E back up the Broome Road to meet the intersection of the Savannah Way and the Great Northern Hwy.

This is the last time I’ll see the Savannah Way the route that has brought me most of the way from Cairns to Broome. I left it in parts, you know those nasty 4WD sections that include lots of gravel and creek crossings.

I am now well and truly heading S. The landscape quickly became open grasslands, alternating to low trees and then scrub. To my E is the Great Sandy Desert which I have been driving down all day.

I have now left the Kimberley region (sorry about that Kimmy) and have entered the Pilbara. It was a long day of riding with a slightly gusting wind coming at me from the SE making it a little tricky throughout the day. I had morning tea and then lunch and at all times there is always someone who approaches me to talk about the bike and the trip. I guess it is a little different for them as well.

At the last stop, Pardoo Roadhouse I met Lizzy, from Cronulla who is riding around Australia (clockwise) fulfilling her dream to do this before she is 50. She said there has been 3 other bikers that she has met doing the same thing and now she has met me, another fulfilling his dream but before 60.

Lizzy is riding a F650GS and she came off crossing the Nullarbor, literally being blown off the road by a road train. The benefits of the larger & heavier R1200GSA which I am riding. To date I have had no problems passing road trains going in either direction.

So tonight I am some 13km on a gravel road in from the Hwy at a cattle station, that also operates a caravan and camping area. I’ll check this out tomorrow. Until then take care.

 

What a contrast to the beginning of the day and the sunsets of the past couple of days.

Day 46 – Tue, 24 Aug at Broome

I stayed another day to see the town, so it was a sleep in and I even had a bit of a read before rising – one of those decadent moments.

I caught the bus into the town centre – they run every 1/2 hour in season and every hour at other times between Cable Beach and the Town Centre. A good service actually with a fixed fare and various discount methods, where you can buy multi fares if you were here for a longer stay.

I saw a bit more of the surrounding area – the newer areas – and there is quite a lot of development.  I was told that there was something like 60,000 beds and about 7 caravan parks available, and in season this is still not enough. I understand things are starting to slow, as the temperatures rise the southerners start to head S.

It would appear that the town centre has been maintained in the low rise, corrugated metal structures to maintain a feel for the place.  I had  a hair cut, walked around, had a coffee and fantastic apple pie & ice cream (the day’s special) at one of the many cafes – no Zantac required.

Broome was and is the hub of the pearling industry, so there are lots of quality pearl dealers, nice prices too. I checked out an interesting display of the old pearl luggers (there were once 100’s operating) that plied the area from the 1890’s through to the mid- 20th century. Displays of the old diving equipment, the round copper bell helmet and rubber suits – the Japanese were key divers in the area.

Dampier Creek is behind the display on the edge of China Town. The Roebuck Bay Hotel is across the road and this is shown in the story board at the lugger display – water can still come through the mangroves to the doorstep of the display at high tide.  The hotel, locally know as the Roey is still operating just across the road from the luggers.

The coast is just behind those mangroves and I am standing on the lugger display on the edge of China Town.

Cyclones would occasionally destroy the fleet, in the worst case something like 40 odd luggers were lost along with 140 odd men, as I recall this was in the 1930’s and it was not an isolated case.

Another fabulous feature was the original Sun Cinema. This is an open air “picture show” and still operates with deck chairs, half in the open and the remainder in the shed. There is also the usual cinema complex in town. but this historic landmark is open during the day for visitors to see, and runs a number of features on selected nights - some marvellous memorabilia.

So all in all it was a relaxing and gastronomically pleasing time. I then headed back to the beach where I read underneath a palm tree in the shade on the grass. Spoke to Robyn and my daughter Katie, nice to catch up with Kate as she phoned on her way home from work.  

I headed back to camp, got the bike out and headed into town to fuel up and restock the pantry – oh the pressures of all these housekeeping duties. I find it a bit disconcerting putting on all my bike gear and protective clothing, as I must be a real pussy..lol..

You see up here (as is probably the case in a lot of holiday areas around the country) there are those that obviously have far tougher skin and bones than I. They are riding around on these hire scooters with the standard safety equipment – which usually comprise board shorts, t-shirt (or singlet) and thongs. Oh they do have their helmets on but I sometimes wonder why given the other safety equipment that they are wearing – a baseball cap would be more in keeping with the overall attire.

Day 45 – Mon, 23 Aug to Broome

Yesterday I had a couple of unusual caravans arrive and park next to my tent – talk about one extreme to another. The two couples had just returned from sailing the King Sound for the past 3 months – they were from Fremantle and not sure where they will head next, maybe Bali. You meet all types out here.

I headed out and 5km from Derby is the Prison Boab Tree –   note the change of spelling. Here in the W they use the spelling Boab which is different from NT where they use the South African term, Baobab. Anyway, this tree was used for holding prisoners prior to the construction of the Derby Gaol. Like a lot of older Boab trees they can finish hollow inside – they soak up the rain, can even expand in the wet and hold the water in their fibrous flesh.   They can withstand fire, with the outer skin simply peeling away. Because they don’t have growth rings then they are difficult to age, but many are considered to be over 1,000 years old. The Prison Boab Tree is a fabulous example.

At the same location was the long cattle trough that was supplied water from a bore, for watering the cattle and bullocks after a long drive before heading into Derby to be exported. The concrete trough was build around 1910 and could accommodate over 500 head at a single time.

The trip now took me S and then further W to Broome. It was only a short 250km ride today, but along the way I crossed a bridge with an amazing lagoon beneath. The place was full of white cockatoos and the water had at least 5 fresh water crocs that I could see.

I headed into Broome and this place is totally different to anything I had imagined.   Either side of the road there is scrubby land, and the odd building or enterprise is hidden in behind. The deep red soil is everywhere and the airport separates the Town Centre from Cable Beach which is to the NW.

As I said the scrub comes right into the town, and there are golf courses and resorts in behind. The marsh land is behind the town and the town centre comprises basically single story corrugated steel buildings – as I said totally unexpected.

The newer developments are using more conventional building materials, and the resorts around Cable Beach are the usual style. I am camped at a caravan park about 1km walk to Cable Beach.

After a ride around town to get the lay of the land, I walked down to the beach for my first Indian Ocean swim – well near enough anyway. The turquoise water with the white sand and a backdrop of red earth is beautiful. I waited for sunset – watched the sun disappear into the ocean had some dinner and now I’m in the tent.

The temperature has again been in the mid 30C but the humidity here is considerably higher, making it a little uncomfortable. The past 4-5 nights I have slept only in the mesh tent without a fly, so I have been able to watch the night sky. But with the increased humidity, the nights can become a little moist so I am back to having the fly on the tent – a pity really.