25. The one with the record-equalling day

Total distance travelled: 23,235 km (+1,972 km)

Carolyn and I had wildly different expectations of Port Hedland before our arrival. The word "port" inspiring recollections of Williamstown, Vic for Carolyn, but the satellite view from checking maps beforehand had me expecting an industrial dustbowl. The reality as we found was somewhere in the middle. Yes, it has a coastal location, palm trees, swim-able beaches and reasonable facilities, but there's no escaping it's purpose: getting mind-blowing quantities of valuable dirt onto boats as quickly as possible. To this end, the infrastructure in this town makes Melbourne look like a toy set.

As you enter town you first encounter the salt evaporating ponds next to huge white mountains of salt waiting for transport to the docks. Nearby, super-long 4-engine, 270-carriage autonomous iron ore trains rumble slowly past at all hours, heading towards the 19 bulk loading vessels waiting in the harbour. The highway cuts through the middle, filled with 60m-long road trains, also

ferrying minerals towards the docks from the surrounding mines not serviced by the rail network. This is an operation that never sleeps, but as night falls, the lights of the port make for an impressive sight.

After a short stay in Port Hedland to restock, we then detoured inland towards Karijini National Park. Aside from the majority of vehicles on these roads being road trains, the other surprise came when we started driving through mountains - a welcome change from the flat, wide open plains we'd been driving for such a long time!

To provide some respite from the heat, we based ourselves out of Auski Roadhouse despite having been warned by other travellers. Yes, it was basic and dirty, but the patch of green grass next to mining workers huts was all we needed, and the power allowed us to run our air-conditioning 24 hours a day. Although random outages while they started & stopped generators gave us a few nervous moments (and blown fuses).

With an approaching heatwave and limited places remaining open in the "wet" season, we only gave ourselves 1 day to explore some of Karijini's famous gorges. It wasn't the 6 days we'd originally planned before diverting to Nhulunbuy, but we still made the most of our opportunity. We started with a walk thro?ugh Dales Gorge, which contained Fern Pool and Fortesque Falls - both of which we had to ourselves while we took a refreshing swim. From there we briefly visited Kalamina Gorge and Falls without walking its full length. Unfortunately the road out to Weano and Hancock Gorges was closed during wet season, so we diverted to Joffre Gorge instead. Our disappointment soon turned to amazement as we scaled down its walls. Once again we had the entire gorge to ourselves, although we didn't swim after watching a snake slither it's way across the water's surface as we arrived! We clambered across a rock face further into

the gorge and passed through a narrow opening. Beyond it we found an enormous amphitheatre with a small waterfall still trickling into the gorge in the 45 degree heat. It was the type of natural space that instantly makes you feel very small. While not the ideal season to experience Karijini, we left amazed at its beauty, and thankful to experience it without the crowds that normally flock here during the cooler months.

The next day we departed Auski to drive north to Point Samson, near Karratha. While forecast to reach 47 degrees, our car thermometer passed that mark at 9:30am, and continued to climb as we drove further! Eventually the thermometer peaked at 56 degrees just after 1pm, no doubt affected by the searing heat radiating off the highway. The extreme heat caused the Trailblazer to limit its power, leaving us crawling into headwinds at less than 60km/h at times, and required many rest stops to nurse the engine to our destination. Fittingly, the sign at Roebourne petrol station confirmed the obvious while we refuelled: "long range weather forecast: hot, hot and damned hot". Later we learned that nearby Onslow had just equalled the highest officially recorded temperature in Australia: 50.7 degrees.

Naturally we had 2 priorities when arriving in Point Samson: plug in to run the air-conditioner, then jump into the pool ASAP! While the pool's water may have been approaching the temperature of a spa in Melbourne, it still provided sweet relief. Of course we weren't the only ones hiding in the pool, with Josh and Acacia

quickly making friends with a family from Karratha also staying there. They proceeded to spend the next few days swimming and playing cricket whenever a spare moment presented itself.

Point Samson proved to be a peaceful and idyllic seaside hamlet from which to explore the surrounding region, with the beaches filled with many interesting shells and Honeymoon Cove providing a picturesque swimming spot. Further afield, Karratha surprised us with its clean streetscape - reminiscent of Cairns without the Esplanade. While there, we also caught up with the Hrabe family, who treated us to a wonderful dinner while we swapped stories of recent adventures. Dampier, of Red Dog fame, is a short drive from Karratha, with it's shores filled with a mix of iron ore bulk loading infrastructure, local fishing boats, and locals swimming. We could have easily stayed in Point Samson longer, with many more places left to explore, but the allure of the azure waters drew us further south.