Fri, 23rd Aug, 2019 Roadside stop, south of Tom Price to Beasley River Rest Area, north-west of Paraburdoo, WA (Paraburdoo)

6am 13 degrees – stayed in bed.

8am 15.3 degrees, cloudy and no wind.

The sky cleared as we headed off to Paraburdoo which is another Rio Tinto township.

Passed some nice clean vans heading north – obviously they haven’t been on the dirt like us! Steve said – “our girl, Nova, she is one with the country, she carries it on her”.

Pleasant drive through flat mulga plains surrounded by the ranges of hills. Over a rise for a nice view of another hill and the roof tops of Paraburdoo.

Checked out the Resilience sculpture at the northern entrance of town. Very impressive and lots of information about it as we walked up the trail to the top of the rise.

Drove into town, clean and green and spread out. Nice homes and single accommodation units and even a school with a big green oval. They have a drive in theatre like Tom Price.

Stopped at the Information Hut which had an old Bedford van as a coffee shop. Paraburdoo was developed in the early 1970s to support Hamersley Iron’s (now Rio Tinto) local iron ore mining operations, and was gazetted as a town in 1972. Once mined, the iron is transported by rail to Dampier and shipped overseas. It has a commercial airport which is the main one for the inland Pilbara region.

Red Dog is believed to have born here.

We decided to have our cuppa at Kellys Pool and headed out of town. Their big truck is green.

The track was rough and no signs but I could see it on Wikicamps. We passed old accommodation quarters for the mine then turned off to the pool which is just across 7 Mile Creek from the mine. One of the mine workers we chatted to at Hamersley Gorge said that occasionally a nugget comes out with the iron ore – one nice nugget was seen then it disappeared – probably into someone’s lunch box. He said there are a couple of gold prospecting leases around here as he went out with one guy and found a few bits.

Found a shady spot under the gum as it is quite warm today. The pool doesn’t look very inviting.

Rang Mum and Dad. Mum said Dad’s knee seems to have improved after the injection which is great. He will be running around after he gets the next one done! They enjoyed the mackerel fillets last night that Jon gave them – they also have Coral Trout too. Had a cuppa then headed back.

Before we crossed 7 Mile Creek there was big signs warning about flash flooding. Back onto the bitumen then we headed north west then turned westward. Still on open plains between ranges of spinifex covered hills.

Into Cheela Plains which is a Station Stay but we are stopping at the Rest Area a few kilometres further on by the Beasley River. No water in it – just a lot of sand.

Parked up under the shade of the trees. Warmer day, 31 degrees now there is no cold wind blowing. There are a few other campers here already.

We chatted with a couple from Campbelltown, Tassie, who were just stopping for lunch. They left the cold 3 months ago and have driven up to Cairns, did Cape York then across NT to Cape Leveque etc and down to here in their car with a tent. Glad we are going slowly, that’s sounds too many kilometres in a short time. We did enough of that when we were younger and working.

Relaxing afternoon. Wrote my blog and read our books. More people arriving. A lady nearby had some lovely music playing and the birds were joining in.

Grabbed our drinks and went for a walk. Ended up chatting with Karen and Doug from Nowra, NSW for ages.

7pm 27 degrees, all the windows and vents open for a change.