Juiy 9 ... Tom Price

Pilbara Landscape

We woke to heavily overcast skies this morning and they have stayed with us all day. This made travelling pleasant as it was not hot but we did wish we could have seen the Hamersley Ranges in the sunshine when their vibrant red colour would have been contrasted with the blue sky. However, we were again constantly surprised by the beauty of the changing landscape and, as always, there was so much to look at as we drove along that the day passed very quickly... all 630kms.
Leaving Exmouth we drove for many kilometres with the Cape Ranges on one side and the Exmouth Gulf on the other. We were soon passing through the many large sand ridges that run inland from the gulf.

Burkett Road

One of many sand ridges

We were then back on the North West Coastal Hwy and travelling north ... a new road for us. We reached the half way point at the Nanutarra Roadhouse where we stopped for a coffee and a sandwich, and to top up with fuel ($1.89/litre).
While we have been in this region, the WA Government had suspended all live cattle exports to Indonesia due to inhumane slaughtering conditions in some abattoirs over there. This ban has had a massive affect on the cattle industry, particularly in the Kimberly and it was to the great relief of many when this ban was lifted two days ago. As we travelled today, we noticed a number of empty cattle trucks heading north and this one pulled into the roadhouse when we were there. It was a Kenworth truck, over 60 ms in length and with 78 tyres! Now that's a truck!

A WA cattle truck

  Just past the roadhouse was our turn off to the East on the Nanutarra Munjina Road. As we drove along we crossed a number of river beds. Many of these were dry and sandy but some had water in them because it has been an unusually wet season so far in this area.

Sandy Riverbed

A Pilbara river

Water in the Pilbara

As we drove along the landscape was constantly changing. This road skirts the bottom end of the Hamersley Ranges and they looked both very old and very grand. I literally took photos all day but most were through the windscreen of the car because of the weather and very few of the distance shots adequately captured the scale or clarity of the range. Closer to the road were many piles of these huge rocks which looked imposing.

Rocks and wattle

Again, there were flowers everywhere in bloom, especially the wattle of which there were several different types. Along the roadside there were these lovely purple flowers, and many others that Garry absolutely refused to stop for, mumbling something about "never getting there".

An interested bystander

Mulla Mulla flowers

But the highlight of the day was the eagles. We saw literally dozens of these, feeding on dead animals beside the road and soaring overhead. Some were really huge and very graceful to watch. I have never seen so many before and it is good to know that there is a  healthy population of these birds in this area.

Wedge tail Eagle

Eventually we turned onto the Paraburdoo/Tom Price Road. From here we actually were passing through the ranges and as we neared Paraburdoo we were able to see the areas from which much of Australia's iron ore originates. We had not seen any big trucks on the road because this area is serviced by a private rail line which links all the mines to the port at Karratha.

Paraburdoo was an interesting town and surprisingly large. It is solely a mining town with purpose built accommodation for all the mine workers. This was in the form of houses and hostels, none of which were very attractive, but the public areas of the town had been made to look nice with lots of trees and green grass. On display was one of the "Jolly Green Giants" ... a Terex iron ore haul truck from the 1970's. There was only ever 17 of these working here and they were retired in 1987 but each could carry over 150 tonnes of ore.

Terex Haul Truck

From Paraburdoo it was only another 80kms to Tom Price. Our park is nestled under Mt Nameless, which Garry has hopes of climbing, and it is about 3kms from town. This town was also purpose built in 1963 and it has a Pop of 6500 ... and a Coles! But the big question is ... will it get the Sunday papers before 2pm?