July 2018 – Chris & Merelyn's Travels

Marble Bar ..Day trip

Yesterday we decided to go for a day trip out to Marble Bar, it’s only a couple of hours drive from where we are staying. We’re both starting to get itchy feet, to be on the road again. We left about 9am and called into Dooleena Gorge just before Marble Bar. Like most riverbeds up this way, the area was completely dry, but still worth a look and a couple of photos.Then it was into Marble Bar.

We had lunch at the Ironclad Hotel. We were quite surprised at how busy the town was, and our burgers for lunch were huge and delicious.

Then we went for a wander over the rocks at Chinamans Swimming hole. Very slippery to clamber around and by then it was quite hot, around 30 degrees, but worth it to see all the amazing colors through the rocks, which are smooth and look like marble. Took lots of photos here.On the drive you could notice the wildflowers starting to come out and came across a patch of WA Sturt Pea. Just beautiful. We have a couple of weeks off from the 4th Aug. So looking forward to catching up with good friends Tom and Kathy and travelling South with them to see more of WA’s wildflowers. So till then keep well and happy. x

Port Hedland update

Well we’re still here, and quite enjoying it, been 3 months now. No winter and the temperature sits between 12 overnight and 28 during the day, starting to warm up now, so almost time to move south. So far our plans have worked out well, with us both getting plenty of work. We’ve made new friends that we will keep in contact with and hopefully catch up with over east some time in the future.Chris’s previous boss and his wife live across the creek behind us, so we go over occasionally for a night out and I feed the chooks when they are away. Walking across the dry creek bed is interesting, coming home at midnight can be a bit tricky, as chris tends to get lost and fall over (drunk as) , makes for a good laugh, all by the light of a full moon.Over the last week we haven’t had any work due to shortages at the mine, so as well as Chris having a rest we’ve been able to go swimming a few times. South Hedland has one of the best aquatic centres we have been to, and we’ve swam in lots of pools, on our travels.Last week I spent some time in at Port, watching the tugs bring in the boats to be loaded, it’s a favourite pastime seeing how these little vessels manoeuvre huge ships around. Also just out of town are the salt pads, a good place to take photos of salt being scooped up into big piles, ready for loading.

Hope I’m not boring you with all my photos, but this is certainly a unique place, when you take the time to look around. Cheers for now. X

Port Hedland WA

Hard to believe we have been here in Port Hedland for 9 weeks now, and what’s even more unbelievable is I’m quite happy here. Chris is back carting copper out of Telfa mine and back here to Port. So is doing an average of 16 hrs, 6 days a week. I also have been given about 20 hrs cleaning a week. Certainly no time for boredom.

When we arrived here, there seemed to be a problem with the gearbox in the car, had it looked at in town and sure enough it needed to go down to Karratha. Thankfully the gearbox was replaced under warranty, although we were without our car for 5 weeks. Just as well we got here and not held up on the road somewhere, were able to use a work vehicle when needed. We had a trip down to Karratha, lunch, and a nice day out, when it was ready to be picked up. Had a drink at the renowned Whim Creek Hotel, on the way home.

I haven’t taken many photos yet. The sunsets are beautiful, and the lights around Port are magical. We have gone in for dinner on the waterfront a couple times. They hold night markets, when there’s a full moon, and viewing the stairway to the moon is something not to be missed.