We drove on to Port Hedland and were feeling much better as the weather improved and the sun was shining. We set up for an overnight stay, then had a relaxing bbq dinner with our friends. It was very warm until the sun set and then there was a lovely cooling breeze from the sea. We had a big shady tree over our site but when we went to bed we realised that as the wind increased, so did a terrible scratching and scraping noise made by the branches moving back and forth across the top of our caravan. Manfred went out and just moved our cute little lightweight caravan a little bit forward on the site and away from the tree. Problem solved and then we were able to sleep.
There was a beautiful sunrise the next day. We left about 9am, but Dave did a little tour of Port Hedland for my benefit since I was the only one who had never been there before. It's a very unusual place. Everything is red from the dust, even the white plastic chairs that seemed to be everywhere on people's verandahs etc. Lots of houses are built using corrugated colourbond, the roofs, walls and everything. Some of the old houses still have 'sleepers' across the roof in case of cyclones (to hold the roof down). There is a lot of industry here, mainly iron ore being loaded onto ships in the port. We watched a huge ship coming into dock. There were absolute mountains of pure white salt too. It seems like a very busy place, but not very attractive because it's all about the industry.
We re-fuelled and then set off again. It was a beautiful day and there were fewer clouds as the day went on. We stopped at a rest area for morning coffee and fruit cake. There's not much fruit cake left! We have eaten it every day with our morning coffee.
We had another re-fuelling stop where we had to show either a driver's licence or credit card before we could operate the fuel pump. We turned off the main NW highway onto an unsealed red dirt road. We took it very slowly although the road was in pretty good condition and after 10kms we arrived at 80 Mile Beach. We were surprised to find a queue of motorhomes and cars with caravans waiting at reception to check in. The caravan park is the only sign of civilization at 80 Mile Beach and they don't take bookings. There is nothing else there. By the time we got to reception there were no powered sites left so we had to take an unpowered site. Norma and Dave did too, but their plan was to stay only one night, whereas we had planned to stay for 3 nights. So we decided to pay for only one night and hoped that we would be able to move to a powered site the next day. It is such a huge caravan park and not what we expected at all. While at reception we were told that it was 'Roast dinner night' since it was Sunday, and so we booked that too! When we finally got to our site it was on a grassed area, far, far away from reception, we discovered a few things that the bumpy unsealed road had done to our caravan! The extra bolt on the inside of the caravan door had fallen off and was on the floor. The shelf that Manfred had made, painted, put cup hooks on and installed above the sink had also fallen down and was on the sink bench. One of the bolts on the outside of the caravan, that holds down the roof while travelling, had come loose. Manfred set to work to fix all these things. He was disappointed. We were told we could use a generator in the unpowered area but thought we could manage without using it. Norma, Dave, Manfred and I then went for walk on the beach, which is really huge - no wonder it's called 80 Mile Beach. The tide was out and there were a few people fishing, walking, relaxing etc. I found some beautiful shells, it was too tempting not to pick them up!
We had "Happy Hour" at Norma and Dave's site, quite close to our own site and then at 6pm we walked all the way back to Reception and joined the queue for roast lamb dinner and dessert (choice of Banoffe Pie or Rhubarb and apple crumble). Dinner was $20 each which we thought was pretty good. There were such a lot of people queuing for dinner and we thought what a marathon effort for the kitchen staff to create all those meals.
It was pretty quiet when we walked back to our sites, all except for our immediate neighbour who had decided to start his generator because he was having trouble with one of his extra car batteries. Luckily for us, generators had to turned off by 10pm, so we planned on having a good sleep. However, we didn't have a very good night. We were woken by the really strong wind that came up during the night. It seemed as if the roof of the caravan was going to lift off! There were lots of strange noises and it was quite some time before we could sleep again. The upside was that we saw the brilliant starry night sky. In the early morning we went to the beach again and decided that it probably wasn't going to be good for fishing. The water was very shallow and there was hardly any tidal strip of sand on the beach. By 8am I was back in the queue at Reception to see if we could change to a powered site. It's so much easier if you can plug into electricity. There appeared to be many caravaners leaving so I was hopeful. We decided to stay only one more night since we thought the fishing was not going to be good. Norma and Dave packed up and left, heading to Broome, and it seemed strange to be without them. We moved the caravan to our new powered site which was next to a nice lawn area so on one side we had no neighbours. I decided to do some laundry which cost only $3 per load so cheaper than other places we had stayed. It was so windy that the washing hanging on the line was horizontal! I met 2 German girls who wanted to borrow my pegs. There is no way you could just throw your washing over the line without pegs. The washing was all dry after about 2 hours - amazing.
After lunch, we took the car down onto the beach and tried a bit of fishing. Manfred caught 6 lovely fish but he put them all back. I got a few bites but caught nothing!
There was another lovely sunset, with clear skies and the wind had dropped. We cooked up some dinner and then watched a dvd on the little tv we had brought with us. So much better with electricity, and I had the fan blowing on me too.
There was a beautiful sunrise the next day. We left about 9am, but Dave did a little tour of Port Hedland for my benefit since I was the only one who had never been there before. It's a very unusual place. Everything is red from the dust, even the white plastic chairs that seemed to be everywhere on people's verandahs etc. Lots of houses are built using corrugated colourbond, the roofs, walls and everything. Some of the old houses still have 'sleepers' across the roof in case of cyclones (to hold the roof down). There is a lot of industry here, mainly iron ore being loaded onto ships in the port. We watched a huge ship coming into dock. There were absolute mountains of pure white salt too. It seems like a very busy place, but not very attractive because it's all about the industry.
We re-fuelled and then set off again. It was a beautiful day and there were fewer clouds as the day went on. We stopped at a rest area for morning coffee and fruit cake. There's not much fruit cake left! We have eaten it every day with our morning coffee.
We had another re-fuelling stop where we had to show either a driver's licence or credit card before we could operate the fuel pump. We turned off the main NW highway onto an unsealed red dirt road. We took it very slowly although the road was in pretty good condition and after 10kms we arrived at 80 Mile Beach. We were surprised to find a queue of motorhomes and cars with caravans waiting at reception to check in. The caravan park is the only sign of civilization at 80 Mile Beach and they don't take bookings. There is nothing else there. By the time we got to reception there were no powered sites left so we had to take an unpowered site. Norma and Dave did too, but their plan was to stay only one night, whereas we had planned to stay for 3 nights. So we decided to pay for only one night and hoped that we would be able to move to a powered site the next day. It is such a huge caravan park and not what we expected at all. While at reception we were told that it was 'Roast dinner night' since it was Sunday, and so we booked that too! When we finally got to our site it was on a grassed area, far, far away from reception, we discovered a few things that the bumpy unsealed road had done to our caravan! The extra bolt on the inside of the caravan door had fallen off and was on the floor. The shelf that Manfred had made, painted, put cup hooks on and installed above the sink had also fallen down and was on the sink bench. One of the bolts on the outside of the caravan, that holds down the roof while travelling, had come loose. Manfred set to work to fix all these things. He was disappointed. We were told we could use a generator in the unpowered area but thought we could manage without using it. Norma, Dave, Manfred and I then went for walk on the beach, which is really huge - no wonder it's called 80 Mile Beach. The tide was out and there were a few people fishing, walking, relaxing etc. I found some beautiful shells, it was too tempting not to pick them up!
We had "Happy Hour" at Norma and Dave's site, quite close to our own site and then at 6pm we walked all the way back to Reception and joined the queue for roast lamb dinner and dessert (choice of Banoffe Pie or Rhubarb and apple crumble). Dinner was $20 each which we thought was pretty good. There were such a lot of people queuing for dinner and we thought what a marathon effort for the kitchen staff to create all those meals.
It was pretty quiet when we walked back to our sites, all except for our immediate neighbour who had decided to start his generator because he was having trouble with one of his extra car batteries. Luckily for us, generators had to turned off by 10pm, so we planned on having a good sleep. However, we didn't have a very good night. We were woken by the really strong wind that came up during the night. It seemed as if the roof of the caravan was going to lift off! There were lots of strange noises and it was quite some time before we could sleep again. The upside was that we saw the brilliant starry night sky. In the early morning we went to the beach again and decided that it probably wasn't going to be good for fishing. The water was very shallow and there was hardly any tidal strip of sand on the beach. By 8am I was back in the queue at Reception to see if we could change to a powered site. It's so much easier if you can plug into electricity. There appeared to be many caravaners leaving so I was hopeful. We decided to stay only one more night since we thought the fishing was not going to be good. Norma and Dave packed up and left, heading to Broome, and it seemed strange to be without them. We moved the caravan to our new powered site which was next to a nice lawn area so on one side we had no neighbours. I decided to do some laundry which cost only $3 per load so cheaper than other places we had stayed. It was so windy that the washing hanging on the line was horizontal! I met 2 German girls who wanted to borrow my pegs. There is no way you could just throw your washing over the line without pegs. The washing was all dry after about 2 hours - amazing.
After lunch, we took the car down onto the beach and tried a bit of fishing. Manfred caught 6 lovely fish but he put them all back. I got a few bites but caught nothing!
There was another lovely sunset, with clear skies and the wind had dropped. We cooked up some dinner and then watched a dvd on the little tv we had brought with us. So much better with electricity, and I had the fan blowing on me too.
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