Day 70 Port Hedland, WA

Day 70.  Ten weeks on the road and we haven't killed each other yet 😂😂😂😂😂

It's been one helluva ride so far and can't wait for the rest.

So, today was our Seafarers Tour of the Port Hedland harbour.  Before we started our tour we were shown a power point presentation showing us the role that the Seafarers Mission plays in the harbour community. The Anglican Chaplain who led the presentation, explained about the primary role of the Seafarers Mission which is to care for the pastoral, practical and spiritual welfare of seafarers of all nationalities and faiths.  The Seafarers building is like a mini supermarket where sailors can purchase items that are highly prized for eg chocolate and wool doonas!  It also has an internet room where the sailors can connect with their loved ones.  As most sailors are at sea for nine months it must certainly feel like a home away from home where they come and enjoy the hospitality of the mission.  

The presentation then shifted to the harbour itself and the way that the ships move in and out of the harbour.  It then detailed the quantity and monetary value of the goods shipped out of this port.  I can't remember all the figures but BHP alone shifted $90,000,000,000 of iron ore through their facility last year.  The main players at the port are BHP and FMG (Fortescue Minerals).  We were told that apart from having their own ships they also have their own tugs. 

Our tour transport.  A little damaged.

We boarded our little ship for the harbour tour and we also had onboard an engineer who we dropped off at one of the ships.  We also watched the Pilot Helicopter land and then take off again, delivering the Pilot to the waiting ships. The tour was very interesting and the harbour is huge but coming alongside those massive ships is awesome.  I noticed that everything within the harbour area is covered in a layer of red dust, and I can understand why the "satellite" city of South Hedland was established some 11kms from the Port. It would have been to get away from that red dust.  The tour went for around 2 hours and the $50 we paid to go on this tour goes straight back to the Seafarers Mission so it was dollars well spent.

We arrived home in time for lunch that had been cooking in the slow cooker.  Beef Stew with mashed potato and greens.  It felt good to have a feed of vegetables and we made real pigs of ourselves!

This evening we drove to the Redbank Bridge Lookout that is a prime location for a little "train spotting".  It also looks out onto BHP's salt mine where there are massive hills of salt waiting to be shipped to goodness know where in the world.  We were told that those mountains of salt turn pink at sunset but we waited and didn't see any change in colour.  One thing we can say about Port Hedland is that everything here is the biggest.  The biggest harbour, the biggest exporter, the biggest ships, the biggest mounds of salt and most certainly the biggest trains.

Tomorrow evening we are embarking on a Sunset Tour of the harbour where we will get to see everything in a totally different light (excuse the pun).  From where our caravan is parked we can see the glittering lights of the harbour and it is absolutely beautiful so I can't wait to see it a little more "up close and personal" tomorrow evening.