July 10 ... Tom Price

The Sunday papers actually got in at 3pm , but Coles was open all day, although there is only one Shell service station in town ... unbelievable!...what a gold mine!

The hard working Blogger

Blog Blog Blog

Here I am, hard at work in my usual position in the van. I really enjoy recording out travels in this way but it always takes between 2 and 5 hours, and it does not always go smoothly. It is really the photos that take the time. For each blog the photos are: viewed, culled, fixed, imported, selected, uploaded, and arranged. Once the activities are recorded there is always editing to do, until eventually a reasonable finished product is achieved. It certainly keeps me busy and I have not had the chance to read as much as I thought I would.

Last night was very unsettling due to a strong wind flapping the awning and stirring the trees. This morning was heavily overcast and cool but we had a tour of the big Rio Tinto Tom Price Mine booked for 10am so off we went.

It was certainly an excellent tour ($28 each),despite the wind and the rain. "Baz" was very knowledgeable and pleasant, and even though he does the same spiel every day, he still managed to sound fresh and his jokes were still funny.

The main pit

Mt Tom Price

Garry in mine gear

Overview of Pits

The actual area being mined was more than 15kms long and 3kms wide, but only one section was in operation today.
There are a total of 13 mines in the area around Tom Price and they are all Rio owned. From this one mine they produce 28 million tonnes / year of high grade ore and are trying to increase that significantly. Originally they thought the mine only had a life of around 30 years but now they expect the ore to last another 100 years. At present they are only mining 0.25% of the total ore body. And to think that Lang Hancock inherited all this land from his grandfather ... he didn't even have to buy it.
The actual scale and cost of the operation is incredulous. We were looking at machines that cost $12 million each and trucks with tyres that cost $80,000 each!
The trains are almost 2.5 kms long and each truck can be loaded with ore in 19 seconds. Each train carries over $5 million worth of ore, and there are 25 trains / day so that means Rio mines a quarter of a billion dollars worth of ore every 2 days just from this small area. The train line is a private rail network, the 2nd biggest in the world, linking all the mines to the port at Karratha. Each ship carries more than $50 million of iron ore.  BHP Billiton send all their ore to Port Headland. If you add the Rio operation to what BHP, Fortesque Metals and sundry small companies mine each day, then Australia is currently producing around half a billion dollars of iron ore every day just in WA. It is a bit hard to have empathy with them when they complain about the carbon tax!
We saw a train being loaded and it was the longest train I have ever seen, despite seeing some very big ones in QLD. It moved very slowly and 6 men operated the loading mechanisms to fill each truck. When it reaches Karratha, the trucks are inverted to empty out the ore and the whole train can be loaded (and unloaded) in less than an hour.

One of the older diggers

Mine truck carrying ore

There are 32 tip trucks and each one costs $4 million; and all up, the mine uses over 1 million litres of diesel / WEEK ! This is brought in from the coast by special trucks, one of which we saw as we drove in, so the local Shell misses out there!
There are two qualities of ore and both are crushed at least twice. They are then loaded onto conveyor belts and moved onto the piles for loading. One mine has a CONTINUOUS (a single piece) rubber conveyor belt that is 22kms long. That would have been something to see when it was being rolled out during construction!

The crushing plant

This loads ore onto the conveyor belt

Most of the workforce either live permanently in the town or there is a contractors village ... and pretty basic it is too. Only the contractors and train drivers are fly in / fly out and both get paid a fortune, up to $240000 / year. A whole new village for 900 people is being constructed just out of Tom Price and that is for the workforce of just one mine.

The tourist operator is doing okay too. We were on a large 50 seat bus that was full. There are 1 or 2 tours a day, every day, and it took 1.5 hours, at a very slow pace. We probably only drove about 7kms. This is certainly a town in which you can make money but I don't know how the baker, or the coffee shop people, or the school teachers can afford to live here.

Tom Price is named after the raw materials expert who recognized the potential of the area during Lang Hancock's time. He was an American who unfortunately died of a heart attack on the very day that the project was approved but it was his enthusiam that convinced everyone that this was a viable project. It is a very attractive town with lots of green grass, trees, sporting facilities, a drive-in theatre, swimming pool and shopping centre. All the shops are limited to essential services though and if you wanted to buy a new pair of shoes it would be a 400 km trip to Port Headland. There is a big new development underway so you might be able to purchase a new dress here in the near future.

Tom Price

Township

Township

Just out of town is a lovely area that has been developed for family picnics called Kings Lake. It is shaded and grassed but you can not swim in the water there despite 45-55 degree heat in summer! Due to the lack of rainfall, the water stagnates and the algal content makes it unhealthy. The park does have beautiful views though, especially of Mt Nameless.
Tom Price is the highest town in WA, and the mountain is one of its tallest. Garry asked about its name and was told this story. In 1963, the whole town, railway and port at Karratha were constructed in less than 18 months ... quite amazing. Everyone was so busy that when they were asked by some Japanese visitors what the name of the mountain was, they said they hadn't thought about it and it was nameless. The visitors interpreted this as a name so that is what it became known as. We were told this same story a couple of times so, for want of an alternative explanation, we have to believe this tale.

Mt Nameless

Kings Lake

Despite the dreary day, the wattle is in flower and looking very cheerful. We have had another interesting experience and even though we might question the environmental ethics of what is happening here, it is certainly staggering (for good or bad?) in its size.
Still, I look forward to being reassured of a balance tomorrow when we visit the National Park.

Nature will endure!

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?

July 8 ... Exmouth

Today is our last day here and it was shaping up to be the perfect end ... until we came back to the park to find our sheets and quilt cover dragging in the red clay. Both had to be rewashed and then dried tonight so it has been a busy afternoon and really annoying.
What is amazing to Garry and I is how much we have not done in our 12 days. This was partly due to the weather which has been very windy, cool and cloudy on some days, but also because there really is a LOT to do here. Fortunately, for the last two days we have had perfect weather, so we have been driving down to Turquoise Bay in the National Park to go beaching. At last the water there has started to warm up a bit because it has been REALLY cold, but it always looked too inviting not to go for a swim and a snorkel.

Turquoise Bay

Snorkeling at Turquoise Bay

Garry has loved the snorkeling. He has seen many beautiful fish but the highlight for him is always the turtles. The water is crystal clear and quite large fish swim right up to you, even in the shallows.
I really do love the beach but I have equally enjoyed our drives to and from. It takes a little less than an hour if you go directly, but we rarely do, as there are just too many things to look at.
Beside the road there are flowers of every colour. Most are low growing but they tend to mass and so produce a "bright patch" that attracts the eye.

Red

Yellow

Pink

Purple

Green

 And there are different animals every day. We always see some emus but because we have been driving home late in the afternoon we have also seen lots of kangaroos. These ones must be used to traffic as they continue to sit beside the road as the cars zoom past, even motorbikes don't scare them off. There are also a number of bustards in the National Park. I have seen these before west of Mackay, but the birds here are more squat, and they are big. The one pictured I think was a male as he had a wing span easily over 2 ms and we were very impressed when he flew off. According to Wikipedia, they are the biggest flying animals in the world as they weigh in around 17kg.

Cute little fellow

A Bustard

We have also been back to the lighthouse lookout many times and this morning we stopped and had morning tea while we whale spotted. There are lots of them moving up the coast now and they swim just outside the reef so they are quite easy to see. This lookout is spectacular and the views it gives of Ningaloo Reef are really beautiful.  Every time we stopped here we found it stunning.

Rain clouds at sea - 2pm

And they were good too!

We did try to sample all the gelati flavours during our stay, but we were beaten in our efforts by a shop with very odd opening hours, so we moved on to Simmo's Ice-creams. These are a WA brand and they are also delicious. 
And that about wraps up our time at Exmouth. We could easily visit here again as it has to be one of the most beautiful and interesting places in Australia.

July 3rd ...MAP of Route to date

Route in black ... 7500 kms.

July 3rd ... Exmouth

Initially, Garry and I were thinking that 12 days in Exmouth might be a bit long to fill in but we have quickly come to realize that it will not be hard at all. We had a couple of cloudy days where we caught up with things like shopping, washing AND completing and submitting my french assignment. We also did some walking around the town and have really come to like Exmouth. It is very spread out and is developing quickly, but it is a well cared for place.
The local Town Beach is not much though. We went down for a walk and a swim one afternoon and, admittedly it was low tide, but it was very rocky and the water was murky. It was not at all inviting and we decided that a "little" drive for a swim was probably worth it.
On the plus side we have found the best gelato I can ever remember eating, much better than at Griffith. It is freshly made every day and it is really creamy and delicious. We intend to try as many flavours as possible!
After two days of being sedentary, we packed up the van yesterday,Saturday, and set off to explore some more. Firstly we drove out to Bundegi Beach as it is the closest to us and so the most likely for a swim. It is near the Australian /American "Harold Holt"  Naval Communications Base and it looked quite nice with a sandy beach and clear water. Unfortunately it was copping the full brunt of a fairly strong and cool wind yesterday, so we didn't stay long. On the way there I had seen three huge kangaroos bounding along, and a little later we saw an emu with four chicks casually crossing the road.

The Harold Holt Naval Communications Base

 We then ventured over to the other side of the Cape, calling briefly at the Lighthouse Lookout, but it was too gusty to see any whales or to stop for morning tea. However, from there we could see lots of small bays that we decided to explore.

Surfer's Beach with lighthouse

There are literally dozens of well maintained dirt tracks leading from the main road to various beaches, and we spent the next four hours going up many of these to look at the scenery. Without exception, each one was really beautiful. Some were a little rocky but each beach offered a different experience.
We first called at Mauritius Beach where we realized that the wind was not too bad and that a swim would be possible, but food had first priority so we tracked down the perfect lunch spot with amazing sea views at Jansz Beach.

Garry on Mauritius Beach

Wobiri Beach

Lunch at Jansz Beach

After lunch we spent some time walking the full length of the beach and watching the fishermen. There were literally dozens of turtles in the water and apparently they are often hooked accidentally, and this is what happened as we watched one man reel in his "catch". He immediately cut the line once he realized but it was a shame as the turtles seem to have an idyllic existence here.We had intended to go for a swim but a fisherman warned us of reef sharks so we opted for a paddle instead.
The beach was also littered with reef debris, particularly sea urchin skeletons. On the beach these look very attractive as they have beautiful patterns and are coloured purple and white, but on the reef they are black and covered in poisonous spines. They also eat the coral which is not a good thing. The "shells" we found were all broken at the top and a man told us that the parrot fish break them open with their beak and eat the flesh. The empty shells then wash ashore where the sun bleaches them and the spines break off. This is illustrated in the photo where the various stages are depicted.

Sea Urchin Skeletons

 Another fisherman told us of a beach where there were supposed to be dugongs with their pups so we were into the car and off! It was on the SS Mildura Wreck road and again we had a pretty long beach walk. Unfortunately, if it was the right place, it was REALLY low tide and there were no dugongs to be seen, but the beach offered plenty of other interesting finds and I collected a variety of some of the nicer sponges. We will return on the high tide to see if any dugongs are actually about.

Sponges from the reef

"Dugong" beach at low tide

We had really enjoyed a lovely day but it was now getting late and so we headed home determined to spot some more emus. Garry is the best spotter and we saw a number of them quite close to Exmouth. While we were stopped a large eagle also glided by and I have to say that it is the wild life that adds so much interest to each of our drives.

An Exmouth emu

An eagle on the wing

Today being Sunday, we went out for breakfast at a little cafe in town. We do this to help keep track of the days and also, it is enjoyable. There was a market on across the road but most things were quite expensive. Garry is now feasting on prawns "that were swimming yesterday" for lunch and I am looking forward to gelato for afternoon tea. It is 23 degrees and this is a pretty nice way to be spending a "winters" day!