Category: Western Australia

Exmouth. Often I’ve noted its existence on the map. Never have I contemplated why it was there. Why would you, as Emma pointed out to me. So it was with interest that I was to learn that Exmouth exists with thanks to the US military who, back in the sixties, erected a dozen or so 300 plus meter tall towers used to transmit Very Low Frequency radio waves to their submarines around the world. Apparently, if Cara our glass bottom boat tour guide can be believed, the station is so powerful it can send a message around the entire globe and back to itself. Today the facility is shared by a number of different militaries, including some which to me did not seem natural allies. All well taken care of by the good people at the Defense Department I’m sure. Continue reading “Day 54-56 Exmouth” →

Ahhh Tom Price where the Iron Ore trains are only 2.5 km long. Those dedicated blog readers will know that BHPs trains in Port Hedland were 3 km long. I wonder if the Rio Tinto executives have train envy? Probably not as apparently the new mine manager, just arrived in town, is female and therefore (apologies for making sexist generalisations) does not suffer envy over the size of such things.

Yes, 2.5 km long on average with each made up of 232 carriages. Each carriage holds 114 tonnes of export grade ore (Rio guarantees their customers 62% ore content per tonne) and they load four trains per day before sending them off to Dampier. You do the math, but in short it adds up to a whole lot-a-rock. Continue reading “Day 52-53 Tom Price moving mountains” →

Who knew Port Hedland was a place where you needed to book a caravan site?! Our first rejection! A bit of a google and a few phone calls later we had a spot in South Hedland. It seems most of the caravan park space in Port Hedland is used by BHP workers. We were told the median house price in town is $600k, which no doubt makes the van parks good value! We also missed out on doing a tour of the wharf facilities because you need to book it a few days out and we weren’t staying any longer than necessary. We satisfied ourselves with a visit to the harbour to see the huge ships and a stock up at the supermarket. Greg visited the bottle shop and was queued behind about 6 guys in work gear stocking up. The prices were very good on beer… Either it is subsidised or they just buy in such bulk it is cheap? Continue reading “Day 48-51 Into the Pilbara” →