10/8/20 Derby

          

      Hi there , we're back in service after 10 days out in the bush - but that's another set of blogs yet to come . 

      We've made our way to Derby for a few days or so to get some things before our next adventure . We are staying at Birdwood Downs Station , and it's a great place - no powered sites though , and there are cabins as well . It's getting a little old & rustic , but has great bathrooms & a laundry and the best water - it tastes great .

    Heading in to town , we went out to the jetty as the tide was nearly fully in - only a few metres below the jetty . It's been quite some time since any trains have been on these tracks , and is now used by trucks to deliver to the jetty for loading onto boats .

 

     This old crane would have been in use a long time ago as well , now sitting near the old train tracks and rusting away . 

 

     The views from above were good as well , gives you an idea of how it all sits in place . The water is brown due to the tide height changes - up to 9.5m , so that's a lot of water going in & out of the gulf .

 

    This is looking back to town , surrounded by claypans either side .

     This is looking up the gulf to the open ocean , these are tidal flats , but only have water in them during the wet season rains .

    Back out to Birdwood Downs and  we headed out into the farm to check out the huge Boabs . This one is almost as wide as our ute is long !!!

    Here's another one that was only 400m away , small termite mounds here as well haha !

    Back at the homestead area I spotted a strange bird , so followed it around to get a photo - it's a Pheasant !

    We moved back into town for a few days to charge everything up and went for a drive out & around the wetland project on the edge of town and the clay pans . I think the locals use it as a highway - you can see the dark track where they've been driving stretching off into the distance .

  

      The clay pan is quite firm and easy to drive on - only leaving some tyre tracks .     

     It also looks good from above .

     All around the edge of the clay pan seemed to be a nursery area for Boab trees - there were quite a lot everywhere we seemed to go .

      While getting things organised for our next adventure we took some time out and visited some of the more famous Derby icons - the Prison Boab tree . We'd seen bigger Boabs out at Birdwood Downs , so a photo wasn't required . There's also the longest cattle trough as well . 

      Some black cockatoos put on a bit of a show for us as well - perched in a Boab of course !

      We moved back out to Birdwood Downs again in preparation . Here's map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xwpSKFyMsRKH27Bslg-vC-aMu42NJ_pP&usp=sharing

28/7/20 The road is calling 80 Mile , land of sunsets

       It was nice to be moving again , leaving Port Hedland into a headwind that would stay with us for days to come . We arrived at De Grey River Rest Area and decided to stop for lunch , and the rest of the afternoon and night as well . 

  After lunch we wandered down to the bridge for a look . The treed area beside the river was very sort after several years ago , as it had shade and was closer to the water . That was before it got infested by Noogoora Burr - a noxious weed that closed it down last year . Now the treed area is fenced off with no vehicle access . 

       You can see the rest area on the top left of the photo .

      

       This flower is from the Indian Rubber Tree - somewhat of a new pest here as well .

       Mulla Mulla is starting to appear as well 

      This thistle is spreading rapidly as well - probably due to the flooding from the cyclone earlier this year - water was flowing just below the deck of the bridge , and over the rail bridge further up the river .

   

      Here's sunset over the river and rest area 

   

       After a quiet night with about 28 other vans etc , we headed back onto the highway and into the wind again . We continued past Pardoo and Cape Keraudren , and went on to 80 Mile Beach - After an 11klm red sand track in , you drive over a sand dune to see this - quite a sight to see after all the rugged outback we've been driving through .

     

      Here's the beach from the updated sunset viewing platform .

       This is looking east up 80 Mile Beach . The park is separated from the beach by a sand dune .

       Unlike the above photo , the tide goes out a long way here - about 2klms at the moment , makes for some great sunset photo's as well .

   

       Time for a different angle .

       The sun just melts into the horizon .

       The show continues for another 45mins after the sun disappears .

       Next day we went for a walk along the beach , tide was in and it was more like normal - cars & fishing rods everywhere . Still plenty of shells on the beach

       Yes another sunset and all the different colours for you to enjoy .

        Our visit is tinged with sadness , people we had met at Corrigin in 2015 and again here in 2016 , had both died as a result of a car accident in March 2017 . We had looked forward to seeing them again , but was not meant to be be , our 2 days were left feeling a little hollow . RIP Ray & Wendy .

        Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Xbw8HTsgcPGq4mom307YjCHSRarzoKuQ&usp=sharing

27/7/20 To the Port

     Hi folks , back again - finally back into some phone service to keep you up to date . We've spent nearly 2 weeks at Port Hedland and checked out some new spots and an old one or two .

     We stay at the Golf Club whenever we're here , and this was about 30m from us - the 18th sand green and fairway . The course is in excellent condition , a little oasis in the red dirt & sand .

    This is also the 18th sand green from another angle - from the 10th tee as I was playing .

     I hope you don't get bored with sunsets , because we've seen some great ones while here , and here they are .

       We headed out to Finucane Island - the other side of the harbour from Port Hedlands shops . This is the view from the new (12month old ) BHP Tug Pen , looking back into the harbour .

       Here's one of the new BHP Tugs - exhaust pipes are over 300mm round !!

      After watching things for a while we headed round to the untouched part of the island . You can see the ute parked up on top of the ridge and Lyn is navigating her way down to where I am - still 5m above the waterline .The way all this rock has eroded is quite amazing - but you don't see it until you go down and look back up .

       This is an aerial view , the oysters on the rocks are on the bottom 2m of the cliff , yes the tide was going out .

    

       Down further toward the boat ramp we found our way down to the beach , finding this trident shell and others .

       This is looking back toward the port - all the white blocks are actually the control towers of the ships in port . The bat ramp is around to the right of the photo at the end of the road .

   

       This is the estuary where you can see the different rock shelves in & out of the water .

   

       Yep , here's some more sunsets .

    One sunday we went over to visit our friends Garry & Linda and went out for a drive . The weather was interesting , it rained last night and right up to 8am this morning , but was clearing - made for a good photo though .

 

     We headed south on Pippingarra Rd , it runs parallel to the BHP railway line to Newman . The scenery out here is beautiful , red rocks bursting out of the desert , spinifex and stunted trees & shrubs , wildflowers were also starting to come out to soften the landscape a little .

 

       We stopped beside what remains of a creek , drying out in the heat .

      The railway was beside us and there was a train stopped waiting to go into Port Hedland with it's 340 carriages full of iron ore .

   

   

      Our destination was a spot called Green Tanks - which we found after a short drive through some scrub . It would be a spectacular site when full of water , and the trees , well they're another bonus .

 

      After enjoying a Bbq lunch we headed back out to a mine access road and went for a walk up a large granite rock . One of the locals greeted us .

       Out in the distance were a few mines - not iron ore for a change - these were Lithium Mines .

Views from on top of the rock were spectacular looking out to the Hammersley Ranges .

       The top of the rock also held some of last nights rainfall for a few extra days .

       What a great day we had , good friends , great company and spectacular scenery . Well that's it for Port Hedland for the time being , we head further north tomorrow . 

        Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1UD4WNArYfMKE54WrDF6yJr85ZGQHAakH&usp=sharing