We are in the red, rugged heart of the Pilbara. Seriously heavy industry abounds and everything is massive. The trucks, the rocks on the road, the giant cranes constructing much needed workers accomodation in Karratha town centre.
In Port Hedland, which is possibly the ugliest town i have ever seen, the most arresting thing was the size of the salt pile out by the Port. It was 20 kms away from us, but looked about half the size of Coolangatta Mountain.
I have loved seeing the iron ore trains the most, however. They seem to have two engines at least and about 150 trucks behind them. They stretch out across the rocky desert and both Tom and I found ourselves like little kids, entertaining the idea of being one of those train drivers. How long would it take for the sheer excitement gained from driving such an extraordinary beast to wear off?
We were very fortunate to receive wonderful hospitality from our friends Wayne and Evette, whom we met in Tasmania a few months back now. They opened their house to us and we hope to return the favour one day. Perhaps because of their warmth, I liked Karratha much more than Port Hedland. It had a smallish town centre and a settled sort of bustling air. Everywhere you looked there would be a worker dressed in the regulation long blue trousers, luminous vest and work boots. Man or woman, young or old, there they were. And they were there at all times of the day due to shift patterns, which I guess helped the general air of busy- ness.
Karratha is the newer town, but you can venture further west out to Dampier, which is a much older settlement. It fronts on to the waterfront and is quite idyllic, until you spy the massive wharfs and ships that account for the wealth of the region in the iron ore that they transport. Dampier is also the home of Red Dog and we took our obligatory pic with the famous statue, much to the boy's excitement. It is something to imagine the conditions that those early miners lived in- metal dongas, no air con, and everywhere red, red dust. It's positively luxurious now, in comparison.

From Karratha, we took the most direct route to the town of Tom Price, about 300kms southeast. This route involved 180kms of dirt, 130 of which were the Rio Tinto mine road which required a permit to drive. The road ran no more than 15 m away from the connecting rail line and we saw many of those big trains which was enthralling. The scenery was beautiful too, an unusual mixture of low spinifex shod hills with tops the colour and apparent texture of red velvet cake. Close up, these exposed tops were of course iron ore rocks- the promise of the richness that lay beneath.
Tom Price turned out to be a neat, small town with a permanent population of only 3000 odd. However it has an acute shortage of accomodation thanks the the fly in fly out work force pushing the average rental up to the ludicrous heights of 2000 a week. The median age in the town is 29 and it is the most affluent non metro centre in WA.
We have found a home in the far more reasonably priced caravan park (which is still costing us $400 a week). I start work at the hospital tomorrow and fingers crossed the Tom's work opportunities pan out as well. Today it is raining and wonderfully cool which seems a sort of miracle out here. Long may it last....