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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
NORTHWEST COAST - Page 4
9 September 2007, Sunday
Today we wanted to have a look at Port Hedland before heading over to visit Mike in Dampier. Starting at around 9.30 am in
Port Hedland meant that everything was still closed. Even the Visitor Centre was closed and the tower behind it too. You
have to pay to climb the tower and have a look at the town from a 27m high tower - so, we skipped this part. Off we went to
have a look at the ships being loaded with iron ore. A small park at the end of the town allows you to see the port - well, we
took a few pictures and that was it. We decided that Port Hedland was not very flash, so we drove towards the Hwy, when I
wanted to drive along another road closer to the stockpiles of iron ore. It said No Through Road - which for me meant that I
have to turn around at the end of the road. I was stopped by a st%$%# bi&%$% in a mine car and she only told me off and
that nothing can be seen on that road - well if you guys want nobody to drive along that road, then put a No Entry sign.... That
was enough for Port Hedland and I can not really recommend a visit to this exciting hole in the middle of nowhere. From here,
we went to Dampier and visited Mike, Abby and Tim. We had last seen them at the Jamboree in Queensland last year. It was a
very nice welcome and good to see them again. Callum from Karratha came by and three Jeep guys talking about cars meant
that the day was gone. We had a nice BBQ at the end before preparing for a 4WD day tomorrow. Here are a few pictures from
the day.
10 September 2007, Monday
Today we went 4WD at Burrup Peninsula, just around the corner from Dampier. Mike, Tim and Callum took a day off and we
went with our three Jeeps. Two TJ's and one CJ. This is rock country and most of the driving was on rocks and some beach.
Great fun and quite a challenge for me with not much 4WD under my skin in the last few month - except Big Red which was
not really a challenge. First we mastered the famous Jump-Up to get to the northern part of the Peninsula which was littered
with some nice rocks. After that, a long rocky climb which I could not do in one go, somehow a threw a large stone from the
front to the rear tyre and that was it, a couple of back and forward trials and off I went with some more right foot action. We
came to a nice valley which had lots of rock art around. This rock art is older than others you find in the country according to
the scientists. That seems to be correct because this is not really painted but chipped and carved into the stone rather than
using paint. Quite impressive and not many people know about it, or at least not many people visit this site at the moment.
The valley also is home to a creek which flows after a cyclone or some decent rain - nice swimming holes when full. From
hear we went to the North-Western tip of the peninsula across from Dolphin Island which had one step rocky drop-off and
one steep hill descent at the end. When I was driving down the drop-off and turned my wheels we heard a hard clunk - which
we did not think was much of an issue. Down at the beach we started to get into the water until we saw the large amount of
jellyfish at the beach. I walked into the water for a bit but soon turned around because of the jellyfish and we just relaxed at
the beach for a while before heading back home. Just after the first hill I heard some strange noise coming from the front of
the car and stopped just to find my panhard rod or track bar hanging down on the ground. The tie rod end had snapped off
the chassis bracket. After looking at the stud which snapped it was clear that this was going to happen sometime, because it
was already halfway through before it snapped today - most likely the noise from the drop-off??? Another fatigue failure on
the car which could have been there for a long time without noticing. Mike used some wire to attach the bar back onto the car
and we also had to re-attach the sway-bar with some wire because I had lost one of the pins in the last few days. We had to
repeat this about 4 or 5 times until we finally got home because on every hill it snapped again. We did get the car home in
limb mode and went on the phone to get the part asap. At the end, we got Eddie in Perth sending it up via Overnight Mail.
Now we had to stay anoher day at Mike and Abby to fix the car. A fantastic day of 4WDriving turned a little ugly at the end, but
still the Burrup Peninsula is absolutely fantastic and you should really have a look at it when you are in the area. Nice
pictures of Jeeps below from us, Callum and Mike. A big thanks to Mike and Callum for their help getting the car back home
and calling around to get the parts asap and getting it fixed.
9 September 2007, Sunday
Today we wanted to have a look at Port Hedland before heading over to visit Mike in Dampier. Starting at around 9.30 am in
Port Hedland meant that everything was still closed. Even the Visitor Centre was closed and the tower behind it too. You
have to pay to climb the tower and have a look at the town from a 27m high tower - so, we skipped this part. Off we went to
have a look at the ships being loaded with iron ore. A small park at the end of the town allows you to see the port - well, we
took a few pictures and that was it. We decided that Port Hedland was not very flash, so we drove towards the Hwy, when I
wanted to drive along another road closer to the stockpiles of iron ore. It said No Through Road - which for me meant that I
have to turn around at the end of the road. I was stopped by a st%$%# bi&%$% in a mine car and she only told me off and
that nothing can be seen on that road - well if you guys want nobody to drive along that road, then put a No Entry sign.... That
was enough for Port Hedland and I can not really recommend a visit to this exciting hole in the middle of nowhere. From here,
we went to Dampier and visited Mike, Abby and Tim. We had last seen them at the Jamboree in Queensland last year. It was a
very nice welcome and good to see them again. Callum from Karratha came by and three Jeep guys talking about cars meant
that the day was gone. We had a nice BBQ at the end before preparing for a 4WD day tomorrow. Here are a few pictures from
the day.
10 September 2007, Monday
Today we went 4WD at Burrup Peninsula, just around the corner from Dampier. Mike, Tim and Callum took a day off and we
went with our three Jeeps. Two TJ's and one CJ. This is rock country and most of the driving was on rocks and some beach.
Great fun and quite a challenge for me with not much 4WD under my skin in the last few month - except Big Red which was
not really a challenge. First we mastered the famous Jump-Up to get to the northern part of the Peninsula which was littered
with some nice rocks. After that, a long rocky climb which I could not do in one go, somehow a threw a large stone from the
front to the rear tyre and that was it, a couple of back and forward trials and off I went with some more right foot action. We
came to a nice valley which had lots of rock art around. This rock art is older than others you find in the country according to
the scientists. That seems to be correct because this is not really painted but chipped and carved into the stone rather than
using paint. Quite impressive and not many people know about it, or at least not many people visit this site at the moment.
The valley also is home to a creek which flows after a cyclone or some decent rain - nice swimming holes when full. From
hear we went to the North-Western tip of the peninsula across from Dolphin Island which had one step rocky drop-off and
one steep hill descent at the end. When I was driving down the drop-off and turned my wheels we heard a hard clunk - which
we did not think was much of an issue. Down at the beach we started to get into the water until we saw the large amount of
jellyfish at the beach. I walked into the water for a bit but soon turned around because of the jellyfish and we just relaxed at
the beach for a while before heading back home. Just after the first hill I heard some strange noise coming from the front of
the car and stopped just to find my panhard rod or track bar hanging down on the ground. The tie rod end had snapped off
the chassis bracket. After looking at the stud which snapped it was clear that this was going to happen sometime, because it
was already halfway through before it snapped today - most likely the noise from the drop-off??? Another fatigue failure on
the car which could have been there for a long time without noticing. Mike used some wire to attach the bar back onto the car
and we also had to re-attach the sway-bar with some wire because I had lost one of the pins in the last few days. We had to
repeat this about 4 or 5 times until we finally got home because on every hill it snapped again. We did get the car home in
limb mode and went on the phone to get the part asap. At the end, we got Eddie in Perth sending it up via Overnight Mail.
Now we had to stay anoher day at Mike and Abby to fix the car. A fantastic day of 4WDriving turned a little ugly at the end, but
still the Burrup Peninsula is absolutely fantastic and you should really have a look at it when you are in the area. Nice
pictures of Jeeps below from us, Callum and Mike. A big thanks to Mike and Callum for their help getting the car back home
and calling around to get the parts asap and getting it fixed.
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| Big tanker waiting to be loaded. |
| The lookout at Redbank - salt and iron ore together and the train track for the longest iron ore trains from Newman and other mines in the Pilbara. |
| Roeburne fuel station - fantastic sign... |
| The port in Port Hedland... and Redbank below |
| Letting the tyres down to 18 psi for rockcrawling and comfort. Nice Jeeps. |
| Mike on the right and me after letting the tyres down. |
| Mike in the CJ going up the famous Jump-Up. |
| I also made it up. |