Port Hedland, Western Australia - May 2021

In the last WA blog I said we got a cracked windscreen, just as we had turned onto the Marble Bar Road so we had to detour to Port Hedland instead. Original plan was to go to Marble Bar then back track to Port Hedland and then head down the coast. Being a Sunday, it took a few hours to organise the car insurance. Lucky we have always included windscreen insurance with Suncorp (this was the first time we have had to use it) and we also had 'Ultra Care' with RACQ, which provided accommodation - we have used that once before in Adelaide in 2011. While we waited for the insurance to book the accommodation we sat in the information area just before town. It had this big circular 'thing' which was some part of machinery. Interesting though. The crack was too big to keep travelling and we needed the windscreen replaced.

We ended up staying at Black Rock Caravan Park at South Hedland. For the first two nights we were in a fairly large spot at the front of the park, and would you believe it, across from us were friends we hadn't seen for years. They were only staying until the Tuesday. All the sites had these big anchoring things for roping the caravans down during cyclones. Never seen that before. 

We took the car into the repairers and had a walk around town. The verdict was we needed a new windscreen - we sort of knew that - and it had to be ordered from Perth. Of course. AND it wouldn't arrive until Thursday or Friday. Back at the caravan park we were moved to an en-suite site as the site we were on was booked for the rest of the week. This site was a little smaller and with no trees, but we had the luxury of an en-suite.

We had a night time view of the water tower which turned different colours. We saw three colours the week we were there.

We also had lovely sunsets out the front.

We went to the information centre in town and found out a lot of information, especially about the nearby mining interests. There was a video about the port and information boards showing the ships that were in and other nautical data. We picked up a few brochures and went for a walk around town.

Starting at the info centre we walked around old Port Hedland on the heritage trail. Many of the historic sites are simply an information board telling what was located there, but there still some interesting locations to see. We loved the cut metal shade coverings on some of the walkways, the first of many we were to see in Western Australia.

Down the street from the info centre is Leap Park, also known as Strike Park. Built in the 1990's as part of the Port Hedland development project, the park hosts metal sculptures to commemorate the strike of 1946. The strike involved Aboriginal pastoral workers walking off pastoral stations throughout the Pilbara to protest poor wages and living conditions. On the 1st May 1946 the Aboriginal workers and their families walked off the stations and headed to Port Hedland where they set up camps. The strike lasted over 3 years and there was much suffering in the camps. However the families didn't relent until conditions on the pastoral stations improved. The strike ended in August 1949, and many did not go back to the stations.

 

Across the road is Dalgety House Museum. The English merchant company Dalgety and Co. established offices in Port Hedland in 1899 and Dalgety House was built in 1903 as the managers quarters. It houses typical furnishings from the turn of the century.

Outside Dalgety House on the footpath is stenciled scenes of what looks like the past.

 

Across from the port is The Esplanade Hotel, built in 1904 at a cost of 5000 pounds and named Mackenzie's Hotel. A beautiful three story stone building with intricate iron lace work. 

Damaged in a cyclone in 1940, and again in 1970, the hotel has been extended over the years and stands magnificently next to the port. 

We watched the giant container ships leave the port and , and saw the road trains coming into and out of town. The long trains, some up to 3 kilmetres, were a sight to see. At low tide we drove out onto Spoil Bank Recreation Reserve to watch the ships. A great place for a picnic, just watch for the incoming tide.

Pretty Pool was interesting. Signs recommended to be aware of stonefish, and to wear shoes. Oh and a little further up the beach it is a ‘clothing optional beach’. The road in is sand, and the water was cold.

Peter and Jonnie did the Seafarers Harbour Cruise, circling the harbour providing provisions, support and services to crew of the visiting container ships.The Seafarers Missions began in 1835 in Somerset England, and Port Hedland is one of 29 missions in Australia and 300 worldwide.

They enjoyed it but were a little disappointed that there was no commentary as we had been told there was. There was a talk at the start, before getting on board, and you could ask questions after when having the afternoon tea, but they didn’t know what they were looking at while on the boat.

Port Hedland is the world’s largest bulk minerals export port. It was known as Marapikurrinya to the Kariyarra and Nyamal people and is believed to mean place of good water. The coastline was known to be explored in 1628, but it wasn’t until Peter Hedland reported the deep harbour, and named it Mangrove Harbour in April 1863. In 1896 the site was surveyed and the town was gazetted Port Hedland.

Rio Tinto’s Dampier Salt Limited (DSL), located in Western Australia and comprising three solar salt operations – Dampier, Port Hedland and Lake MacLeod – is the world's largest exporter of seaborne salt, with capacity to produce approximately 10.3 million tonnes every year. 

We looked at the movement of the salt each time we drove to the port. There is a picnic area set up with shade and a free bbq at the viewing area.

The street behind the info centre is an art precinct with murals, art galleries, park sculpture and art studios.

We had morning drinks in a converted Silver Star train carriage - that was cool. We chose a table inside (because it was air-conditioned - 35+degrees outside).

A surprise once we were seated, a friend we hadn't seen for over a decade came into the car and said hello! We both come from the other side of the country and randomly meet again in Port Hedland!!

As we had extra days in Port Hedland waiting for the replacement windscreen to arrive, we had a lot of time to explore. We also had a few other repairs that needed to be taken care of - our car battery died, so that had to be replaced; the 'beer' fridge (aka the car fridge) compressor needed repairing. One of the places we went was the Hedland Emporium. Other happy campers said we need to go and look, 'it's amazing' they said, and they were not wrong. It is one of those shops that sells everything, and I mean everything..... and we did buy a couple of things that we didn't know we needed.

We did spend one night at the free camp at the Turf club and it was fine. Some areas are better than others for TV reception and internet. We moved once to get better internet so I could stream my footie team game. The area is a very large fenced paddock that is protected from the ocean winds. It is walking distance to Koombana Lookout and the beaches.

There were many mention of and brochures about the ‘free things to do in Port Headland, and we did all but the last two.

Free things to do:

- ocean and coastal views from Koombana Lookout; ✅

- sunset over the beach; ✅

- walk on the reef at low tide; ✅

- watch the giant ships come and go; ✅

-walk around the Don Rhodes Mining museum; ✅

- watch the almost 3 km long iron ore trains; ✅

- look at the mountains of salt; ✅

- visit the art galleries; ✅

- spot the turtles Oct to Mar; or (wrong season)

- enjoy the Stairway to the moon. (wrong week)

PetalliTravellers YouTube Link -Port Hedland