Port Hedland

I hadn’t realised how tired I’d become with all the driving. Since I was now ahead of schedule, I could afford to stay here for two nights. I’ve been to Cooke Point Caravan Park before, so I knew it was a good spot.

It’s lovely to walk over the sand dunes onto the beach. I took a few photos in the late afternoon:

On the way up here, I’d stopped at Roebourne for petrol and bought a big salad from the BP garage. I felt that I needed more veg in my diet. There was enough for both lunch and dinner. Up to Roebourne I had been overwhelmed with flies whenever I stopped; now they are all gone, thank goodness.

Time to explore Port Hedland this morning:

I observed the comings and goings in the port, and then went to the Visitors Centre for more information. They put the shipping movements on a whiteboard outside, but this doesn’t show the port of origin. I was told that all the ships come empty from China and return loaded with iron ore, lithium and other minerals. You can tell if a vessel is empty because there is a lot of red showing below the black line. If it’s loaded, not much red can be seen.
I also learned that a helicopter flies the pilot out to the ship to steer it into port .

I had seen the Mount Gilboa arrive and the Solar Dolphin waiting to go out later in the day.

A big block of lithium on display in the Visitors Centre.

I had actually picked up a lump of lithium as big as my fist on the beach near Cooke Point. It must have fallen of a ship.

I went for a coffee near the Visitors Centre. It was in an old Fortescue train carriage: