Too bad we left Jenny and the Grong Grong Guys behind, but the heat was unbearable. So was the atmosphere in Henry's Cafe. I had to get out of there somehow very fast. Up to the last minute it wasn't clear whether I'd still continue my trip with Nick or without him, since we quite had some disagreements and I just became very silent. This one da...

A quick 250k has brought us to Port Hedland, the largest industrial port in Western Australia. Over one third of the worlds iron ore is exported from this one place, together with a huge amount of industrial salt. The bulk carriers in the harbour are huge and the freight trains among the longest in the world.The biggest to date consisted of 682 ...

Als wir am morgen erwacht sind waren wir voll von Stichen. Alleine an einem Arm habe ich 25 Stueck gezaehlt. Wir nehmen an, dass es Sandflies waren. Wir waren bereits am Mittag in Port Hedland angekommen. Port Hedland ist Australiens größter Eisenerzhafen und -umschlagplatz. Mit 18'000 Einwohnern ist es eine der größten Städte Westaustraliens. D...

Another industrial town, this time famous for Iron Ore and Salt production. See our picture of the Dampier salt works. We are here just chilling out for a few days before tackling the drive to Broome. Recently to pass the nights away we have been watching Lost. We never had a chance to watch it back in the UK but we have become hooked on it. So ...

As we reached our cruising velocity of 110kph small missiles began firing up off the road and slamming into the bull bars and fender. The giant grasshoppers in this part of the country seem to have a deathwish. They sun themselves on the bitumen, and milliseconds before you run over them, catapult themselves upwards and end their lives in a loud...

Most of the first day was spent on the bus. We stopped off at Eighty Mile Beach and saw all the fishermen. We couldn't go swimming in the sea though as there were sharks, crocodiles & jelly fish! We went through Port Hedland which is a small mining town. We spent the night not far from Port Hedland at Indee Cattle Station. We were back to sleepi...

Travelled back to the coast to Port Hedland, where all the ore from Pilbarra area is shipped abroad to China etc. Its warm - yeh!!!! back in shorts from thermal underwear last night and thick socks etc. Staying here for a couple of days, tonight is the phenomon of Stairway to the Moon - will tell you what that is tomorrow.

Day 1 Driving out of the 'quieter than a ghost town' Cossak we embarked on our relatively short two and a half hour drive to Port Hedland; uneventful all bar a near run in with a huge two metre lizard which decided to ignore the miles of open freeway and make a run for it between us and the truck in front. Approaching the town we passed the rath...

Spent just one night in a campsite here. It was very hot, maybe 42C. Very difficult to sleep in that heat. Got maybe 3 hrs sleep which was not good considering we had a 600k drive the next morning. There is not much to see in Port Hedland apart from salt mountains. We head to Broome in the morning and the German girls are going to spend 2 nights...

The outback is noticeably different inland from the coast. The soil is redder (due to the iron ore) and the vegetaion is more sparce and spikier. Karingi National Park in the Pilbari region has another spectacular gorge, but with waterfalls and pools suitable for swimming. No crocodiles this far inland. Being in a gorge it's a microclimate so th...