Day 125 - Wednesday 8th May 2024

Today was the last of the 600 plus kilometre days (unless I go rogue somewhere) as I have driven from Broome to Port Hedland.

Checked out and away from Seashells at just after 08:30, my first stop was just 30km down the road to refuel (both the car and me with coffee) at Roebuck Plains Roadhouse. Then southwards on the A1 road, and an estimated 6 hour run down to Port Hedland.

I was driving down the west coast, but far enough inland so that I didn't get a glimpse of the ocean. I had a few noted locations for the day, but all the signed turnoffs lead to sand roads, which in my car are a 'no thank you'.

A stop at around midday at the Sandfire Roadhouse for a comfort break, but then back onto the road as I headed southwest. The scenery changed from woodland to plains that were pretty empty barring the cattle being mustered on horseback, and then to the savannah that I've become so used to.  The long straights are starting to become a little tedious now, and it would be quite easy to lose focus ..... that's where the AC into my face and the increased volume of the music comes in handy; I've been quite happily murdering my playlist for much of the day!

Out of The Kimberley and into The Pilbara, I had another brief break an hour from Port Hedland to refocus, and then something that I've not seen for a while; traffic and road junctions! I've not had so many cars around me since Darwin, which was far more interesting than the empty roads I've become accustomed to. As I drove towards my accommodation, I passed a massive train full of iron ore; it's the first time I've seen a train with two locomotives in the middle as well as at the front!

Google maps bought me directly to my accommodation on the sea front, and once checked in at 15:00 I wandered down to the beach so that I have some footage for the day. This is a turtle nesting beach, and away to the left is the port. The port is the highest tonnage port in Australia, with the main export being Iron Ore.


 

Dinner is at 18:00, so while I wait for that I'll see whether Karijini National Park is feasible for tomorrow; it's a fair bit out of the way for my direct route (like three and a half hours to get there, and then five and a half hours to my next accommodation). My gut feeling is that it's too far, but I need to find something to do tomorrow.

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