​Back to the Pilbara one last time - end of July to early August 2017

North West Shelf project. It's a huge spread of metal - towers, gas round storage thingoes. Quite awesome and incongruous in this wild countryside.

We're in Carnarvon, the only point on the Australian coast line where the central desert extends to the sea! However ...... back to the Pilbara one last time. We were beginning to feel a bit tour-ed out having done a number over the last few weeks all centred around the mining and resources export sector - Woodside visitors centre with a comprehensive video and displays about the North West Shelf LNG operations, Cape Lambert iron ore facility, Port Hedland. But they have been fascinating and I highly recommend them.

A monument to those people who rescued miners in the early days. Burn off jet in the background.

Cossak beach were once they held the annual horse races. Cossak on the Point Samson peninsula was evidently the first settled in the Pilbara and the first pearling port. So many stories...... hmmm.

The Pilbara contains almost 15% of the worlds economically mineable iron ore deposits and produces 300 million tonnes of exports pa. Wow! And astonishingly there's still loads more. Must run out some time! My head is filled with names which are synonymous with mining - Newman, Tom Price, Wittenoom (that name sends a shudder through many but we visited it), Marble Bar (the prospect of gold and jasper - goodie!!) and of course Karratha and Dampier.

The ghost town of Wittenoom shut down in the 1960s. It has been wiped off the map at the official level - no road signs or directions. They don't want people there but there are still a few residents and others like us curious to visit the place.

One tends to get a bit mining-focussed but the Pilbara is a fascinating region independent of its rich natural resources.
To be continued.....