Alan & Lyn's Huge Adventure: Port Hedland to Albert Tognolino Lookout 12/9/15

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Port Hedland to Albert Tognolino Lookout 12/9/15

Awake early again , so up & away getting organised to get the computer fixed - rang at 8 am & left a message , but they haven't rung back ! Their loss , we decided to hit the road , the computer can wait !! Having not prepacked anything last night , we had it all to do , and we're still out the gate at 9:15 am , even after chatting to another owner for 15 mins.
Out and onto the highway , there is work being done everywhere - a new rail line , new tower line for electricity, and roadworks a plenty . This appeared to be the busiest road we've been on for quite a while - road trains everywhere !
About 35 kms out we turned south toward Newman , the road appeared to be flat , but was climbing all the way . There were wild flowers out in lots of places , we stopped a couple of times for photos .

At the 3rd stop , I was trying to get some photos of a plant that grows prostrate along the ground and is covered in masses of flowers - it looks a bit like a pillow that has been blown apart . We stopped near one and pulled up right beside a Sturt's Desert Pea - it's the first time we have seen one live !!! Quite a remarkable flower for an insignificant plant . Wandering around we found a lot of other flowers as well .

Driving further was a delight , we started to see the mountains of the Pilbara , and more and more wild flowers . They were covering the red soil and made quite a contrast to the spinifex grass . The views were amazing, kilometre after kilometre , flowers & red soil & rock & grass , it was hard to look toward the horizon .

We had a driver change and continued on , there appeared to be no end to the pink , purple , mauve and yellow flowers - many of which I have been wanting to capture in photos .

We arrived at Auski Roadhouse and refuelled $1.64 a litre !
Off again but not far this time - only about 15 kms , finding Albert Tognolini Lookout , we drove up and parked , walking to the lookout over the valley and the road below snaking through it .

After a few photos , we found the most insignificant flower in amongst the rocks . It's only about the size of a 50c coin !

Then we found a little lizard sitting on a rock , we drove up the track and found our patch of dirt for the evening . We are overlooking the valley below , and there is room for many , many more vans .

We have clouds today , and as the afternoon has continued , we have about half the sky covered , it's helped keep the temperature down a bit , although it did get to 33 today .