Port Hedland is interesting. It is in the Pilbara and there are a number of huge mines there, mostly mining iron ore. The whole town is covered in red iron ore dust. Every car, house, path, road and even the trees are covered in red dust.
3 billion dollars worth of iron ore is shipped out of Hedland every year. BHP and Rio Tinto both have big mines there. Rio has minerals and there are large piles of salt as you come into town.
There are enormous ships coming and going through the very narrow port right in the middle of town. Road trains longer than any we’ve seen so far carry buckets of iron ore and nickel to and from the ships and the nearby mines as well as the train.
We also had the opportunity to go down to the beach and watch the Stairway to the Moon again, this time over the mudflats of Cooke Point.
From Port Hedland we drove to Newman in the heart of the Pilbara through the most picturesque countryside with huge gorges on either side of the highway that are part of the Hammersley ranges.We will have to come back to this area and spend more time there