Seashalia: Finally, driving south to Port Hedland 16th August 2012

16th August 2012

Ah, what a sweet relief it was to receive our Ute back. It is going well and without any problems. We left Broome about two weeks ago and drove to 80 mile beach, about 360 ks south. All this driving was pretty much across The Great Sandy Desert . We drove about 12 ks on a dirt road to get to 80 Mile Beach. It is pretty much strictly for fishermen and women with lots of pretty shells on the beach. There are people here from all over Australia, who stay for up to six months here and then have six months at home. Most people say there are not a lot of fish this year. There are, however, lots of sharks, large sea snakes and large jelly fish which the fishermen do not like. It seems to almost be forbidden to actually get into the water. The beach is pure white and goes as far as the eye can see, on a firm base. Some kindly folk accompanied us four wheel driving on the beach, which was fun.

We then stopped in Port Hedland for a few days. It is an absolute ruin of a place. It is entirely under reconstruction. The 100 year old main street is all fenced off and the shops are not operating except for the PO and the Information Centre. People say there are no ladies dress shops here. We haven't seen one. The main part of the town is a wasteland which fills with ocean water when there is a cyclone. So Port Hedland is built up on a ridge between the ocean and the wasteland. There is another town called South Hedland. Total population is 40,000. There are lots if big He-men here, but not so many women. I think it is just work, work, work, pick up your fat pay packet and back to work again.

Rio Tinto and associated friends are the King Pins here and multi billions of dollars are being spent for the mining companies, but not for the town. The town folk just want them to pack up and go away as they lose all their memories to the mining. The mines are putting in a new loading bay for the massive ships, 3.5 km out in the ocean. It will fill 8 massive ships simultaneously with iron ore for China, where it will be processed into iron and we then buy it back. There are 500 km of railway tracks, the trains are up to 4 km long and some contain 120+ carriages of ore. The way they have transformed the earth is unbelievable, its the big "take-over" all right. The devastation is as big as the money that has been spent. Rent on a tiny cottage in the van park is $2,000 to $3,000 per week for a foreman contractor.

The prettiest thing in the town, and maybe the only thing, is the Olympic Swimming Pool together with a diving pool and wonderful children's pool with a car sitting in the pool for the children to play in. The Council is really trying to improve the town.

We found some lovely young couples at the church in Port Hedland and one couple knew us from Kanwal days and now they have three children. There were about 50/50 whites and Aboriginal folk there. We were taken four wheel driving out on reclaimed sand from the ocean floor towards the end of the day, where we had an enjoyable time together.