09 Karijini and Tom Price/Parraburdoo

 From Port Hedland,  we drove with the mining road trains on the road towards BHP's mine at Newman. Newman sends ore by rail but there are several smaller companies that send ore to Port Hedland by road. Most are road trains with four trailers

We turned off the busy mining road into Karijini National Park. From Dales Campground we visited Fortescue Falls, 275 steps down,

Look carefully at the rocks, stacked like a wall, all natural.

and the beautiful Fern Pool

We moved to a different campsite, the Eco Resort which cost a lot more and the main difference was a restaurant and warm water for showers. Some of you may know Mark and Monica Short, who we met here for dinner.

The nearby Joffrie Falls were in a very deep canyon, and people (not us) climbed downand swam in the water at the base

Some took their own airbeds.

Tom Price and Paraburdoo mines are owned by Rio Tinto and send ore for export to Dampier on their private railway, each train is 2.6 km long. It has 3 engines and 236 ore cars carrying approx 120 tons of ore each. Four trains fill one ore ship.

We did a mine tour, this is just one of several large pits.

A series of large holes are drilled, filled with explosives then the rock is blasted. Trucks carry 240 tons each to a central crusher, where is some dirt is removed and the ore is put into a stockpile, then loaded onto the trains

At Paraburdoo, we met up with David and Priya Morgan and their two gorgeous girls. David is the BCA supported Minister at Paraburdoo/Tom Price, and comes from Engadine.

Next we go back to the coast at Karratha.