Australia 12

The proprietor passed the word around the stations that she was there and prepared to fix anything that could be fixed on her amazing machine. She was always swamped with work from the station hands that rode into "town" with their shirts wanting as many pockets sewn on as she could fit in. They did not care what the colour or material was - they just needed pockets so pockets they got.

It seems that where the road house had hotel/motel units for hire these guys would go in on pay days - have a few beers and hire a room to sleep it off. The trouble is that they never take their clothes or boots off and the spurs on their boots ripped up the duvets. More work for the little Dutch lady and the
Proprietor and his wife had their duvets repaired. Everyone lived happily after.
There was a railway bridge not far from our camp site that was taking trains 24 hours a day from another BHP mine site to Port Headland.

Our overnight camp proved to be a good break and in spite of not having much sleep, we were refreshed and ready to continue to Port Headland.
It also meant we would mooch around the town for a couple of hours then press on to Newman (457km) further on. We are just over half way to Perth and were now preparing to transfer to the Great Northern Highway and the Pilbara region of WA. The mid afternoon heat was pretty intense but not as searing as we had been having and the early mornings were very comfortable
Port Headland is strictly a working town and the main export port for BHP - Billiton - the huge mining company we were to see so much of at Newman.

We have noticed some of the road trains with an addition to their bull bars that can be lowered and extended out like a scoop - probably hydraulically. They must be an improvement on the standard bars because they would lessen the impact of a collision with cattle and wildlife.

This camel is another example of the wildlife we saw - can you imagine the mess a collision between one of these animals and car or truck would make? The camel was quite close to the road.