Day 59 Tuesday 5th September.
JD- Big day today, it's Fidges' birthday!! The first half an hour or so was spent watching her unwrapping presents and singing Happy Birthday. Not for too long though as we were heading out to Hammersley Gorge today, as always the schedule was tight. Hammersley Gorge until 2.15pm, Tim had organised to sneak me in to a couple of Rio's mines and possibly their new Silvergrass mine if time permits. The girls and Archie needed to leave shortly after us as Archie had Tee Ball practice and we all needed to regroup so we could drive up Mount Nameless (highest Mountain that you can drive up in WA) for a cold one, birthday cheer for Fidge and to watch the sun set, but still be home at a reasonable hour as the Agnew's were back to work and school in the morning. Like I said schedule is tight!
After the early morning birthday celebrations we set about catering for the day. I thought I was hungry gutted but it seems Tim is not far behind me, so a production line of wrap making was formed in the kitchen. What looked like a meter squared of Fidge's muesli slice was carved up, fruit, chips etc all loaded into the back of the ute along with the all important chilled water, thanks to the resident plumber and his reverse electrolysis contraption hard plumbed in the Agnew's laundry (looked like a plastic distillery to me but it worked a treat) and also the crab nets to catch some Yabbies. All loaded up and we were off. We had the usual jostling for the front position (no dust), although it was briefer than previous mornings as intelligently Tim let the birthday girl through with minimal contest. The closest beach to Tom Price approximately 420km away and apparently last summer they had 6 weeks of weather over 43 degrees apart from the local pool, Hammersley Gorge is the closest dry season swimming hole to Tom Price. Just a hop, skip and a jump in Pilbara terms....80kms away! Like the gorges in Karijini, you wouldn't know Hammersley Gorge was there until you're on the edge of it. We swam, fished for Yabbies, climbed up to the upper pool, swam through that to the spa pool which is a 3m circular pool below a waterfall (apparently no one has touched the bottom). Grace and I swam the 150m or so to the end of the lower pool. Before too long it was time for Tim and I to head off for his "unofficial" mine tour. I haven't worn long pants or a long top for that matter since we left Alice Springs, so it was a bit of a shock to the system when I pulled on my jeans and a borrowed work jacket before Tim and I left Hammersley Gorge. When costs were being cut a while back the mine entry gate houses became unmanned. So now to enter each mine a pass card is required and there are a number of security cameras at each gate that are monitored at the mine and from Perth. The purpose of the long pants and jacket was so I wouldn't draw the attention of the camera monitor people in Perth, my normal attire of board shorts, thongs and (maybe) a tank top almost certainly would. Tim would be in more trouble than a Werribee duck if it was found that he entered the mine with someone who was without the necessary clearances and training. I greatly appreciate the risk Tim took to get me in, the scale on which the mining operations take place is truely astounding and something that has to be seen to be understood fully. Mountains are moved, blasted away by explosives, loaded into unmanned remotely operated GPS positioned massive dump trucks by huge excavators, loaded onto kilometres of conveyor belt to be centrally processed and carted by the (soon to become driverless) 2.5km long trains, 400+kms to Karratha or Port Hedland. Unfortunately time didn't allow us to get to Rio's latest mine, Silvergrass, but I'm sure the model used will be the same.
Approximately 80km from the east gate to Tom Price, tempting to stretch the legs of Tim's V8 cruiser to make up some time but we were still on a Rio owned road, the imposed speed limit is 90km/h and it's patrolled. Good opportunity to sit back and chew the fat!
We arrived back at 6 Lilac Street on time and having discussed and solved most of the worlds problems, Nicole and Fidge had already loaded the ute with some snacks and cool bevies ready for the short drive up Mt Nameless. We were ready but Arch wasn't he was still at Tee ball practice. We headed up the hill while Fidge and Nully stayed back for half an hour to collect Archie and follow us up the hill. Mt Nameless overlooks Tom Price from the south east, the road up to the lookout is particularly rough. So rough in fact that some of the glass bottles broke in the esky on the way up. Once on the top, there is at least a 270deg view stretching from the Tom Price pit in the South East to Karijini to the North to the mines we had visited earlier in the SW. Beautiful view and a great way to really get your bearings. After, maybe the fourth rendition of Happy Birthday and possibly the tenth for the day it was getting late and we still had Fidge's birthday dinner prepared by Lotte and Grace to devour back at the house! Once home, all hands were on deck to prepare the satay chicken pies and the double sponge birthday cake. With the final candles blown out and the last Happy Birthday sung it was time for bed. As said the Agnew's had work and school in the morning. We had initially planned to depart for Exmouth in the morning but considering we had been so busy we weren't prepared. So with encouragement from the Agnew's the decision was made to say the Wednesday and tackle the 600km drive to Exmouth early Thursday morning.
The extra day at TP was a good idea. We spent Wednesday cleaning, washing, restocking, putting the bikes back together and playing with Archie who was home sick, Nully and the chickens. Like most of the days on this trip, it went very quickly. Before long Lotte arrived home from school, Fidge arrived sometime after 5pm and Tim looking a bit weary walked in the door around 6.30pm. Quiet night was in order. It was with much sadness we said our goodbyes. We will miss each one of them until we catch up again. THANK YOU, TIM, FIDGE, LOTTE and ARCHIE for making our stay so much fun!
It was suggested we stay another day but we had had a fantastic past 5 days and we wanted to leave on a high note. If we were just hanging around we would become pests, it was time to move on. Plus I could sense the van was eager to continue its quest to guzzle as much diesel as mechanically possible in the remaining days of our trip!