Through the Pilbara

Been physically threatened and verbally assaulted off our farm job was a definite first for both of us. 

We were a little scared, rushed off the property, threatened of no payment, and slightly worried about our well being we assertively decided to get the hell out of Broome. We had no idea whether these threats we real or just tough talk. We didn’t want to hang around to find out and when you’re in a town in the middle of nowhere and where everyone knows everyone things could happen.   Another issue we had were some flight itineraries that were left on the fridge at the farm. Assuming the worst we considered that that son might become revengeful and possibly cancel or change our flights. He had our names, date of birth, address, and flight details; technically nothing was there to stop him. So before we left we cancelled our flight to Perth from Broome and confirmed that our flights could not be cancelled without Identification. It may seem over protective now but during the whole event it seemed like anything could be possible.

Eerie morning heading out of Broome

We finally left the beautiful town of Broome now forever remembered as ‘that town’ heading south leaving our problems behind us. So what we thought... We got into Port Hedland to meet up with our good friends Emily and John (john was unfortunately absent with work), and to check out the local area but leaving the car outside our friends place for no longer than 20minutes someone had engaged one of the 4WD hubs. Unaware of what happened we drove off and soon heard metal grinding and lack of control on the front right side. We were so worried especially when we checked out the front wheel which felt like it was just going to fall off and even more so when the 4WD hub was almost smoking hot. It costed us $490 for that little stunt; $145 an hour for labour and a new wheel bearing. At the end of the day, a simple wheel bearing is nothing compared to a new front differential. What a few days ... luckily for us, things didn’t happen in threes.  We were blessed that this happened at Hedland with the comfort of friends and with a lovely place to stay and recover. So in this blog, Dave and I would like to thank our lovely friends again for their help and the cooled, relaxed manner towards us hanging out at their place while we waited for our car. It made the whole experience so much better knowing that we had friends there to help us out.

Pilbara landscape

Travelling throughout WA, there is a lot of driving in between towns which both of us had underestimated when looking at the trusty HEMA map. Quickly viewing the maps we overlooked the distant markers; the 400 km of nothing didn’t quite sink in when it’s just a little number on the page. Until we compared it to the east coast did we final realise how far we had to drive to get anywhere.  Sometimes the most interesting thing is just the local servo station which in most cases I couldn’t pronounce its true name. We almost ended up tasting every isolated servo pie along the western coast along side with many other tourists and more commonly very interesting truckies. 

I was also spoiled with seasonal wildflowers along the road side which always made for something very pretty to look at.

Wildflower season

For anyone that has seen Red Dog at the cinemas this may trig your memory. We made a definite side stop to Dampier to see the legendary statue of Red Dog. It seemed to hit home for us knowing that we’ve been travelling in his footsteps.

The plaque read:

“The stories this old dog could tell

If only he could say

Would add a page in history

For ever and a day

But still he’ll be remembered

By those who knew his way

The Red Dog of the Pilbara

From the north of W.A.”

We just wanted to wave hello
Some free campsite one the west coast Pilbara