The Pilbara Coast

A brief overnight stop at West Peewah River left us in good stead to explore Port Hedland the next day. Port Hedland is home to the largest commodity port in Australia resulting in huge ships primarily exporting from the Pilbara iron ore industry. We spent the day exploring town, picking up a few more vital supplies, staring at giant ships and exploring an outdoor mining museum rich in local history and mining/transport equipment. The museum had a dozen pieces of equipment, including an old dump truck, crane that was in operation for 70 years and a tank from WWII converted into a bulldozer. A well enjoyed stop over at Port Hedland eventually ended as we made our way out of town with our eyes set on another rest area – woohoo free camp.

Look at this HUGE Ship!

Turns out De Grey River rest area was far closer to a camp spot, with sites extending a few hundred metres along the river, away from the highway. With this beautiful location came a large number of caravanners and campers, but with our small package we were able to get a bit further from the road and closer to the river, avoiding the masses and the chorus of generators.

Our campsite at De Grey River.

Road Train crossing the De Grey River Bridge.

We left fairly early the next morning, knowing for once that our next campsite was nearby. Cape Keraudren came to us highly recommended and for great reason. This u beaut spot was great from the very start, with a friendly ranger to give us some local knowledge (sure we parted with some cash but we felt fine with that). Our camp spot saw us on a meadow overlooking a gorgeous turquoise bay with plenty of room to move. Within seconds we had spotted our first skippy and we knew this place would be teaming with wildlife. Immediately settled and content, we chilled out for a while until low tide came around and we explored some of the rock pools. We found loads of cool looking shells and marine life including crabs, fish, oysters and coral.

Look at how blue the bay was!

We eat pretty good food on the road...

Our site offered us plenty of seclusion, with about 10 campers along our stretch of coastline; however this came at a cost of a 5 minute walk to the loos. These walks were always fun as we would see different wildlife along the way, my favourite being the giant but friendly bulls who eventually even visited our campsite. With all the fun we had we decided another day was in order and settled in for the evening knowing we didn’t have to pack up and continue driving north.

Me being a little silly with some of the stuff found on the beach.

The next day saw us exploring the mudflats at low tide on the other side of the cape. Here we saw people hunting for octopus (for bait), however we were content just looking at the crabs, hermit crabs, sea slugs/snails, sea cucumbers, and an octopus. Our walk continued along the beach spying all sorts of things the waves had churned up and left on the shore, ending at the twisted remains (due to a recent cyclone) of the start/end point of the Rabbit Proof Fence (first built in 1907), that spans some 1832 kms through Western Australia from here to Starvation Point in the south (which we visited several weeks back). That afternoon we tried our hand at some fishing, however had no luck, but were in no way disappointed with such paradise around us.

Fishing at dusk - We didn't catch anything, but with this view who cares!

The next day we had to say our goodbyes to the cape and the friendly bulls in the middle of the track, as we made our way north towards Broome. Not in any kind of a hurry, we decided to have a look in at 80 Mile Beach near the caravan park. Turns out this was a great idea, as within seconds we found an easy 4x4 track onto the beach and settled ourselves several kays along the rock hard sand away from the crowds. We enjoyed a spot of lunch, some fishing (again to no avail) and collected a few shells (and looked at a whole lot more). We still had several kms to go to reach our rest area for the evening so we dawdled off the beach to find an ideally placed car wash (ie tap and hose, nothing flash out here).

Us at 80 Mile Beach - look at how white the sand is!

While waiting for some grey nomads to finish cleaning their bus we spotted some backpackers in a troopy having a cold shower under a nearby palm tree. Thinking we would be as opportunistic as possible we threw on the bathers and took the time to scrub the mud off both the car and ourselves – no easy feat. Luckily some old folks driving by reminded us to wash behind our ears – I think they were having a chuckle at “the kids these days” and what they’re willing to do for free. Although this took us a long time it was definitely worth it, and with the sunny winter days around here the camper was almost blinding, and the reflection from the bonnet was a sight unseen in a long time. Finally I could get in the car or camper without getting red dust all over myself.  

Before and after pictures :/

Behind our shiny camper is the wonderful five-star shower we used!

Since we had not factored in our cleaning spree, we rocked up at our overnight stop sort of later than planned, however still with enough time to light up a fire and cook up some lamb chops on the open grate.  Without anything to see or do (it is a rest area after all) we moved on early the next morning, however pulled off the highway well short of our next overnighter due to the allure of a road sign – a resort! Eco Beach Resort was only a few dusty, corrugated kms off the highway but provided stunning beach access, complete with crystal clear water, brilliant white sand and shady huts complete with hammocks to soak up the view. We wasted away the rest of the morning swinging in the hammocks chatting and staring at the water in front of us. On our way to the car to get going and have a quick lunch, we thought we would briefly check out the lunch menu and lo and behold, an hour later our weekly food budget was (well) spent on lunch. Oops but yum.

Feeling rather guilty from our earlier indulgence we decided we needed to stay at a free camp (the Hulk is our resort anyway) that night. The Camps book mentioned a rest area at Roebuck Plains, and after zipping past a small parking area on the side of the road, checking our distances and returning to said clearing, we found our stop for the night. This at least put us in a good position to reach Broome early in the morning and enjoy all of what town can offer on a sunny Sunday in the tropics.

Lesson of the Week: it is possible to enjoy cold showers in the middle of winter, you just need to know where to go (hint, try north).