The Big Red Pilbara

We don’t think there is soil in the Pilbara region, just red rocks, red powdery dust and a bit of iron ore. Our first excursion after arriving in Tom Price on Wednesday was a trip to a mountain lookout and to Hamersley Gorge. This involved traveling about 140k on dirt roads. In fact we had to watch a 20 minute video on dirt driving to get a permit to drive on a Rio Tinto road to get there.

When we returned we spent a further hour or so cleaning off the thin layer of red dust that coated everything inside the van. But the trip was worth it to get to see some of the superb scenery the Pilbara has to offer. We also got to see one of the iron ore trains and waited for the 3 locos and 320 carriages to pass by. It measured about 2.5k and took about 4 minutes to pass. Down the track it stopped in front of another coming back up the line and we witnessed a crewchangeover. On Friday we did a mine tour and learned that they send on average 4 train loads of ore per day.

After two nights at Tom Price we traveled to nearby Karijini National Park and spent 2 days exploring many gorges, waterfalls and rock pools. We even swam in one of the pools and showered under the warm waters of a waterfall. On Sunday we hit the dirt again and traveled to Millstream National Park, 180k down the railway road. We met a ranger at the gate and he suggested we go for a swim in one of the river pools. The waters were lovely and warm, a nicerelaxing activity before cleaning out the day’s dust.

We arrived in Karatha today. After a couple of hours of cleaning we decided to go out for a meal. We have been driving around in the dark for the last hour and finally found a restaurant called McDonalds! At least they have free WIFI internet.