Why didn’t anyone warn us about Port Hedland? The place is so noisy, day and night, that a normal person can’t sleep. It was like having the 2 engine, 116 wagon train doing continuous laps of the Caravan Park. A finger in the ear works only for as long as you can keep it there.The Caravan Park was really taken over by workers, there were 4 washing machines but only 2 could be used by tourists te others were labelled, “For Work Clothes Only”. A worker at the Caravan Park told us he had been paying $1400 a week for a 2 bedroom house and was now paying $350 or so a week for his caravan site.
It was a relief to leave the noise and traffic and head towards Newman. We stopped at Auski or Munjina and it was like a Miners’ Canteen. There are lots of references in the newspapers to problems with “FIFO”s and it took me a while to work out it meant “Fly In Fly Out” however at Munjina there were Tshirts for sale with a different explanation. “Fit In or F….. Off” – spelt out clearly of course.
We have a good sized campsite but there is no shade at all and the wind made putting up the annexe a hard task. We went for a walk to Fortescue Falls and the Fren Pool which were refreshingly cool areas but there were too many noisy people and unsupervised children to make it relaxing. I heard the familiar phrase, “Why aren’t these kids in school?” After the walks I had to sleep and luckily the Camper was cool enough. My thermostat doesn’t seem to work properly and I overheat too quickly.
There are signs about warning us of problem dingoes but we haven’t seen or heard any.
Fluoro Rules OK? -Auski Roadhouse
Karijini Campsite at Dawn
Comments on: "Karijini National Park" (4)
Yes, Port Hedland is a real ‘work town’.
When my sister lived at Tom Price there was a little plane (8 seater) which flew to all the towns up there dropping off people, mail, etc. These days there are at least 7 x 747s flying in and out of Port Hedland every day – carrying the ‘fly-in, fly-outs’. It doesn’t add to the ‘community’ at all.
Don’t be put off though. Make sure you visit the North-West Shelf Gas Works area – the size will ‘blow your mind’!
Great pic of dawn at Karijina National Park.
Happy travels.
Love
Cindy
P.S. Pam leaves Friday night for 5 weeks in the USA and Canada, lucky duck!
Love that last photo, it looks like all the dramas leading up to that campsite were worth it!
That was BEFORE we had to take the annexe down because of the wind but it does look pretty idyllic.
Well written, I could visualise and got a feel for the area.