23rd - 25th September 2016
Looking down to the caravan park.
Newman
Port Hedland
Couldn't wait to get down to the Port and see the massive ships being loaded with iron ore. The volumes of iron ore shipped overseas are staggering! Ships are massive. The trains coming from Newman go on for ever. Love it.
You can see the ore pouring into the containers in this shot.
By the time this ship is loaded you won't see any of the red colour of the ship. It will be so loaded down with ore.
This ship is just about loaded and ready to depart.
Next one ready to load.
Next ship arriving in port.
So after spending quite a while watching the ships, time to see what else is to see!
View of the Port from across the bay.
A walk around the swimming beach - Pretty Pool.
Stop off at the lookout.
Wander around "town" and the museum and gallery.
These statues were cool. Made up of small pieces of metal.
Seahorse in the gallery. I just thought it was beautiful.
Too much excitement for Dezzi!!!!
It's impossible to get a photo of the entire length of the trains.
Port Headland and Dampier also export salt. There are mountains of it. Apparently this salt is shipped overseas and mainly used to put on snow!
Blows me away to see massive tractors driving all over piles of salt. The process and stats I found really interesting...I'm weird, I know.
So for anyone else like me, here are the facts and figures.....
Port Headland is a dry, dusty mining Port. Not particularly a prime holiday destination, but so interesting if you love industry like me!
We are heading inland to do a loop to Marble Bar, Newman, Karajini National Park, Tom Price and Millstream Chichester National Park. Lots of red, dusty road ahead!
Every time we hook up check the blinkers and breaks. This does not always go smoothly. Too much dust getting into everything. Drives Dezzi nuts.
Dezzi the fix it man!
Smoko stop on the way.
Coongan Pool Free Camp
One of the best things about travelling full time is finding great free camps. This was a beauty, and we had it all to ourselves. Arrived at lunchtime, so a lovely lazy afternoon. Camp fire, and no noise!
Dez found a new mascot??? I don't think so!
Marble Bar is touted as being the hottest town in Australia. Luckily not while we were there. It gets this claim to fame when in 1923/1924 the temperature sat above 38 degrees for 160 days! The highest temperature recorded that summer was 47.5! The highest recorded temperature 49.2. And these kind of temperature run for around 154 days every year. And just think, no fancy aircon back in those early days either.
In fact while we were there incredible storm clouds rolled in. Only a shower of rain though. Made for a fabulous sunset.
There is a bit to see around Marble Bar, including "the" marble bar. When originally discovered it was thought to be marble. Turns out it was jasper not marble. Jasper is an aggregate of micro angular quartz and chalcedony with some iron in there to give the red colour. Looks great, but not worth anything.
This is the Marble Bar.
A bit out of town is an area where you can fossick for bits of jasper.
A bit further out is the old Comet gold mine. It has been closed since 1955 due to too much water underground. Good bit of history to look at though.
The town of Marble Bar.
About the only impressive building in town.
The old water pump building.
The pub.
The Main Street. Not much happens here!
The road from Marble Bar to Newman....time to hit the dirt again.
Road trains and a reminder we are in the heart of the iron ore mining region of Australia. Just a few spares!
We drove past the camp for Roy Hill Mine. Not my type of accommodation.
Looks more like a prison camp - probably feels like it for some, too!
Starting to see the famed West Australian wild flowers everywhere. Beautiful!
Luxury at Newman. The Tourist Information car park. $10.00 for the night. Complete with fish and chip food truck, and coffee shack. Nothing else required ha ha!
Newman was established as a major mining town in the 1960's. It's not hard to spot the tourists. They're the ones not wearing high viz shirts. And their cars don't have a number and a yellow stripe down the side. Mining is what this town is all about.
The main purpose of coming out to Newman was to do a mine tour and really get a feel for the mining industry. So we donned our very attractive hard hats, safety glasses and high viz vests!
The Yarnima power station is a combined cycle power plant consisting of three Gas Turbine Generators, three Heat Recovery Steam Generators and two Steam Turbines. The power station is gas fired using 47klm spur line from the Karratha to Kalgoorlie gas pipeline, and can generate up to 198 megawatts of power. That means nothing to me, but I guess it must be impressive!
And to top it off a lovely morning tea back at the Information Centre.
So for anyone who loves facts and figures here are a few from BHP Billiton.
Mt. Whaleback is the largest single open-cut iron ore mine in the world. Currently 5.5klm long and 2klm
Wide.
In the 2014 financial year BHP Billiton iron ore produced 225 mega tonnes from its W.A. Operations.
In the 2015 financial year the expectation is for 245 mega tonnes, with the long term plan to grow to 290 mega tonnes.
Ore trucks - currently have approximately 40-50 240 tonne trucks in fleet made by Caterpillar. Air conditioned, power steering, usb ports, CD player, 6 gears forward and 1 reverse. I hear tell some even have small microwaves to warm up their lunch!
Railroad: BHP Billiton Iron Ore is the longest privately owned railroad in the Southern Hemisphere 426klm from Newman to Port Hedland. Since the railroad was completed 1 billion tonnes of iron ore has been railed out of Newman. The average train is 2.6klm long, consisting of 4 locomotives, 264 ore cars and one driver. Loaded trains pull a payload of 33,000 tonnes. When fully loaded the train travels at 65klm p/h. In 2001 the world record was broken with a train 7.3klm long, 8 locomotives, 682 ore cars and one driver!!!
The tyre store holds approximately $2 million of tyres at any given time. Each tyre costs $40,000 and lasts between 9-12 months. Each tyre weighs up to 5 tonnes.
It's massive business, and these are just a few of the stats.
Before heading out, a drive up to the radio hill lookout.
Looking down to the car park camp!
Absolutely loved getting a feel for the mining industry.
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