Off to See the Wizard - Eighty Mile Beach to Port Hedland

Our next drive was south to Port Hedland.  Once again, the drive was on a rather flat landscape, but we started to see a few wildflowers, although they were not easy to photograph while driving.  This was a teaser of what we expect to see as we travel further south.

As you arrive at Port Hedland there is a sculpture to celebrate the transformation of the earth to processed materials.

We will be based here for a few days, staying with friends.  Port Hedland is not exactly the scenic touristy destination.  However, it is a fascinating destination.  This is the nerve centre of the mining area of north west Australia, being the largest bulk mineral export port in the world.  There are big ships, big trucks and big trains.  What an eye opener.

The day after we arrived we went for a drive around the town.  There is a solar salt harvesting enterprise owned by Rio Tinto.  It covers over 9,000 hectares. They pump sea water into large settling ponds and once the water has evaporated, the salt is harvested into these huge piles.  From there it is trucked to the port, emptied onto huge conveyers and loaded into bulk carrier ships.  It is all exported.  They produce about 3 million tonnes per year.  It is used in industry - PVC, glass, soap and detergent, textiles, industrial chemicals and road de-icing.

We then went down to have a look at the port.  Oh my goodness!!! We watched one ship come in.  They come in, go to a large area in the middle and are turned around to face out of the harbour before berthing.  Four tug boats are used to guide the ships.  A marine pilot is flown by helicopter out to the ship and he drives it into the port, before leaving by a small boat once berthed.  The opposite occurs when the fully laden ships leave. There is room for 20 ships to berth and the port is full at all times.  There are usually between 30 - 50 ships waiting off sure to come in.

Ships can enter the port on any tide, but have to leave on high tide.  Up to five ships can leave on each high tide.  There is only about ten inches clearance underneath the ships when they leave.

We went for a drive in the evening to see the harbour at night.  So pretty.  The ship sitting high in the water is the Fuji Horizon that we watched enter the port in the morning.  The port operations continue 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

There are two water towers in town that are lit up at night.

And that was our first full day in town.

The highlight of our day was seeing the port.