Port Hedland

We arrived at Cooke Point at about 10.00 am and checked into a studio cabin. Then into town and went to the lookout and just missed an ore carrier going out, accompanied by 4 tugs. We noted that there were 23 vessels waiting to come in. Of the 17 berths, 11 were occupied and 6 were available, posing the question why some of those queued up did not come in.

In the afternoon we went for a harbour cruise round all the berths, which J was absolutely delighted with (at $45 each, it was money well spent). It was organised by the Seafarers Centre, which provides free transport on and off the vessels for the crew of all the ships.

The last photo shows the crew climbing the gangway to their ship after a few hours on land. They were on the same boat as us on our harbour tour: about 12 of them from Hong Kong I think. The Seafarers Centre provides a small bus to take them to the supermarket, supplies them with phone cards, changes their money and puts on religious services in many languages.