Day 43...to Carnarvon

The country driving down to Cararvon was pretty low scrub most of the way.

A few kms before carnarvon, we started to see the first sign of agriculture in quite some time. The first were banana trees, mangoes, tomatoes, then strwberries, beans, corn, etc.

After lunch we went for a drive down to the harbour. There were quite a few fishing boats there...the ones in the picture look like they're all from the same fleet...there were about 6 of them moored together, all painted the same colour.

Days 41 and 42...Coral Bay

We were awoken very early this morning by the mine workers heading out...doors slamming, reversing beepers sounding, general vehicle noises!!! Bad choice of caravan park!

This is typical of the landscape driving out from Onslow towards the main highway.

On the main highway again....not as flat as the coastal area...pretty sparse vegetation.

Arrived at Coral Bay...very pretty spot. You drive quite a while through pretty sparse greyish coloured scrub. When you arrive, ther are 2 caravan parks, a small shopping centre, and lots of fishing and dive tours. We got into the caravan park ok, but didn't have a powered site. There were signs everywherre in the streets and anywhere you could park overnight, to say NO overnight parking for tents, caravans, cars, swags, etc, etc....they had everything covered. If you arrived and couldn't get a spot in the caravan park, you would have to drive back out for an hour or so before finding somewhere. They sure need more places up here for people to camp.

We went for a walk along the beach once we were settled in, and saw a small crowd of people looking at something at the water's edge. It turned out to be a school of fairly large fish swimming amongst peoples' feet...someone was feeding pellets to them. They were there for ages...the water is the clearest I've seen anywhere.

We went for a walk around the point...the views were amazing.

At the end of each day, when the fishing boats come in from taking tourists out on the reef, the catch is taken to the tables for sorting and cleaning. They brought in heaps of pretty big fish. One fellow was giving fish away, so we got a couple of fillets....they're not allowed to sell any of the fish.

Dave was up early again looking for birds to photograph....he found these swallows sitting above the tap...very cute!

Day 40...Onslow

We left Dampier this morning and headed out along the highway. We hadn't gone far, when we had to stop for a train, heading out to the mines to fill up with iron ore. We counted 204 carriages...at least 10 had gone past before we started counting!

This old train was at the museum. I don't think I've seen one this old before.

Mining is big in Onslow. This is the stockpile for the salt mines. There must be a lot more mining here that we don't see, because there are workers everywhere...

lots of accommodation at this park....presumably cabins for fly-in, fly-out workers.

This memorial is pretty neat. On ANZAC Day, the sun rises in the centre of this structure.

We saw hundreds of budgies flying over this afternoon...they landed in a tree not far away...

Dave crept up and got a few shots.

Driving around this afternoon, we discovered this unreal community garden. It had been featured at some time on Gardening Australia...there was an info sign, and among others there was a picture of one of their presenters. There were several of these corrugated iron containers full of vegies.

They had also built this amazing pizza oven. It has a big steel front on it, and is really big inside.

As well as all the vegie gardens, they had native flower beds, fruit trees, tables and seats, and a couple of compost containers.

Day 39...Dampier

Today we went on a tour of some of the main industry of this area.

The tour left from the information centre at Karratha.

We stopped at the Salt fields first. They're huge.

 The above pond is one of many that run between Dampier and Karratha.

This is the view looking across the stockpiles of iron ore, being loaded onto conveyor belts, then loaded onto the ships.

The salt also goes out along conveyor belts to an island in the harbour, where it is loaded for export.

This is part of the North West Gas Shelf Project. Gas is found 160 or so kms out in the ocean, where it's piped to the mainland, processed, then loaded onto tankers for overseas,

or piped down past Perth to Bunbury

This is an example of aboriginal art found in the area. It is on display at the gas centre.

Under these beautiful palm trees is where we had our morning tea stop, at Dampier.

Day 37...to Dampier

Dave waaas up early this morning and caught these budgies coming down for a drink.

This is the waterfront at Dampier...picture taken just outside the caravan park. The ships are being loaded with iron ore for export mainly to Asia. The whole area is amazingly dust-free considering the amount of iron ore that is transported through the place.

When we left Yule River and started driving south, we started seeing Sturts Desert Peas at the side of the road. Since then we've seen heaps of them....on nature strips, in front of factories, along the sides of the road...very colourful.

These are some of the budgies coming in for a drink.

Day 38...Dampier

Here is the statue of the famous Red Dog from this region.

This is a view of the old area of Cossack. It used to be a thriving pearling town in the 1800s, but cyclones destroyed many of the buildings and luggers, so it's now a ghost town...a pity, because

 it's an extremely beautiful area.

This community garden is at Point Samson, just around from Cossack.

The whale sculpture is one of several in the garden.

There are some amazing coastlines around here.

Sunset at Dampier

Day 36...Yule River

We left Broome this morning and are now heading out of The Kimberly and into The Pilbara.

We're starting to see more wildflowers now...the countryside still changes heaps every day.

We've come across lots of big loads along the way. As well as road trains, there are trucks with huge things on board...probably going to the mines.

Salt mining is big up here as well as the iron ore. This is at Port Hedland. There are huge areas, like lakes of salt, waiting to be collected. Most of it goes to Asia.

We continued on past Port hedland, and found a free roadside camp spot for the night...

there's a river just a bit further down the road.