Day 29 – 17th June – Newman

Yesterday was a rest and recuperate day… We have well and truly lost track of what day of the week it is so, for us, it felt like a Saturday.  Unfortunately, even on holiday chores need to be done… after spending 5 days in Karijini with no facilities, 4 people can generate a goodly amount of washing (all a lovely shade of red)….  I had several people here at the caravan park come and comment on my “Chinese Laundry” 

Today’s plan was a mine site tour followed by some exploration in and around Newman.  Here’s Dave wearing the correct gear… 

Mt Whaleback is a monster-size mine.  Apparently it is the largest open cut mine in the world.  Our tour bus took us up to a lookout over the pit… because of the sheer size we were pretty far away from any of the action.  Unlike our tour at Tom Price, the bus didn’t go anywhere near the processing plants so we didn’t get to see the buildings where Dave works… 

The closest we got to a Haul Truck is the one at the entrance to town 

After lunch we grabbed our tourist map and headed for a local spot called Kalgan’s Pool.  Just off the main road we had to cross some railway tracks.  As luck would have it a train came past at that very moment.  We all jumped out of the car to hear it rumble past.  The driver toots his horn as he approaches the crossing and then he tooted a couple of time as he passed us.  We had learned earlier on the mine tour that these trains have 2 locomotives at the front, a rake of 130 ore carts, then 2 more locomotives in the middle, followed by another rake of 130 carts.  That’s 260 carts and is about 2.5km long! The train was returning to the mine site so was empty, and it was traveling way faster than I would have imagined.  Call us geeks, but that was the highlight of our day… 

Back in the car we hit the dirt track for a further 24km of corrugations, washouts and wet crossings…

Dave wading through the water to check the depth before we drove through…   He reckons this is all good practice before we hit the Gibb River Rd…

Dodging the locals… 

The destination, Kalgan’s Pool 

On the way home we ducked into Opthalmia Dam, the town’s water supply, for a quick look 

Walking back to the car I almost stood on this guy.  He was very shiny and I would have mistaken him for a worm if we couldn’t see his little forked tongue moving in and out.