Marvellous Marble Bar - 27th & 28th July

Since we were to be stuck in Port Hedland for 5 days I hatched a plan to show my Trishy the beautiful Jasper at Marble Bar. Being limited to the bitumen it is a 200km trip out then 200km return trip, to visit Marble Bar. To pack up from Port Hedland and go and set up camp at Marble Bar would then mean that on leaving we would have a 750km ride to Broome or an uninspiring and expensive overnighter at the Sandfire Roadhouse, then on to Broome.

My ingenious plan was to leave the tent set up in Port Hedland while waiting for the trailer tyres and ride out to Marble Bar with just the bikes and stay the night. Trish jumped at the idea and so when I had finished patting myself on the back for being so clever a booking was made at the "Iron Clad Hotel". One price if you didn't want a tax Invoice and another price if you did. Not cheap but probably the sort of price we would pay at Sandfire and a hell of a lot more interesting. I haven't been to Marble Bar since I was a kid and it would be better to go the hottest town in Australia while the weather is cool rather than when we come back home in late October. A few more pats on my back for that thinking!

With memories of trying to splash water on the Jasper ( the early prospector that discovered it thought it was Marble but it is really Jasper ) to bring out the colours I decided to go armed with our collapsible bucket and an axe to get some samples for home. It was great to get in a good ride without towing the trailer and the scenery on the way out was amazing. With 500mm of rain in the previous month everything was sooooooooooo green.

Several slinky dogs greeted us and the array of seedy bar customers meant that this was going to be an interesting time. After the initial "NO we haven't got any rooms" to finally sorting that out and we were the ones that had booked. What the???? With no idea what sort of accommodation we would get after our Service Station experience we were a little unsure as we were shown out the back and pointed past construction fencing, construction plumbing and piles of rubble to some rooms up a dusty bank. One look at what the road in was like, I knew Trish ( I hate gravel ) Bensley would be thinking so I offered to be her Super Hero and ride her bike in. Then of course wait for a few more pats on the back and loving looks.

To our surprise once we opened the door to the room there was a very nice Motel style room. Well-appointed with Queen Size bed and excellent ensuite. Once settled in and after picking our way past the piles of dirt and construction we had a tasty steak sandwich and planned our ride to see the famous Marble Bar. A couple if inquisitive and very friendly little Aboriginal boys wanted to know all about our bikes and they had their own little What the??? Moment when they saw my screen go up and the GPS come out. 100 questions later we finally got away and rode two up on the Honda ( remember Trish the gravel hater and Dave the Super Hero ) to Marble Bar Pool. The Jasper was even more amazing than I remembered as a kid. As I deftly threw buckets of water around Trishy was sooo impressed.

Finally we drew ourselves away and headed for the Comet Goldmine Museum on 7km of scary gravel. Super hero to the rescue. The little museum was interesting and was run by a skinny bearded guy who looked like he was left over from the gold rushes of the 1800's. After negotiating our way back down the rocky, rutty gravel driveway with Trish's quivering voice on the back saying "I trust you implicitly" as she dug her nails into my ribs, we headed for the jasper deposits where you are allowed to take samples. Lots more "I trust you implicitly" as we negotiated an even worse gravel road.

There before us was the rock hounds dream, piles of pretty jasper and we could help ourselves. Out came the trusty axe that I had been carrying just for this purpose. After a lot of whacking and cracking of rocks we came away with some nice specimens. Satisfied, it was back to the Iron Clad Hotel. It appears that cash is the order of the day out here but no one tells you to come carrying the readies. Drinks are cash, meals are cash and later we were to find out accommodation is cash.

With the juke box cranking with all the old country songs we enjoyed a very nice Chicken and Bacon Carbonara. With the distant sounds of the juke box we negotiated our way back to our room and settled in for a good sleep in a real bed.

After breakfast it was time to do the Town Heritage Walk. Surprisingly the dusty mining town of my childhood was very neat and tidy and we enjoyed our stroll to the water tank look out and past signage for buildings that no longer exist. We did get a laugh when we got to the derelict Catholic Church all lonely on the hill and there in the back room on the table was a Hustler porn magazine, where the local kids must come for a bit of sex education.

Finally it was time to do the ride back to Port Hedland and although it was over the same 200km we were both looking forward to it as it is so beautiful at the moment.

Super Dave