Today we travelled 420km on the Great Northern Highway to Port Hedland. The title should have read, “Trucks, trucks and more trucks.”

Mulla Mullas (Ptilotus sp) outside our room at Tom Price

Not far out of Tom Price, we encountered our first very wide load of the day.

Luckily, they soon came to a stop and the pilot vehicles stopped oncoming vehicles and we were allowed to pass.

We did a 3 hour hike onto the massive Punurrunha – Mount Bruce at 1,234 m above sea level.

There are viewpoints over the Marandoo Mine which has been operating here since 1994.

The trail follows ridge tops with a few rock scrambling points along the way.

I didn’t take my SLR zoom lens onto the mountain to minimise my load – the 5D and water was enough to carry. And this Brown falcon posed for a while. I used my phone camera on full digital zoom to capture this image.

There were some steep sections.

Although made of ancient sea sediments with rich iron content, Punurrunha does resemble a volcano at times.

“Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” – David McCullough

On the way down

Ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus caudicinctus)

Landscapes on Karajini Drive

Snappy gums and a spiky yellow plant off the Great Northern Highway

Albert Toglonini Rest Area commemorates a former Commissioner of Main Roads who early in his career was responsible for major improvements of sections of the Great Northern Highway. Nice to see a public servant and not just politicians who get recongised. The rest area is above the escarpment looking down the road heading north.

Trucks have a very steep climb from the plains below the plateau.

Looking back towards the mountains of the road pass.

Auski Roadhouse – apart from the scattered groupings of grey nomads in dusty and rocky roadside camps, this is the only “civilisation” between the outskirts of Port Hedland and Tom Price (shop or habitation) in our 420km of driving today. Turn left here, travel 40km and you end up at Wittenoom – made infamous as the deadliest town in Australia from asbestos waste (referenced in Blue Sky Mine by Midnight Oil).

Typical of the trucks we passed and overtook the last four days. Some are up to 60 metres long.

Red dust is on everything. Our car mats are filled with gravel and iron rich dust. We bought a vacuum cleaner in Port Hedland later to clean the car – it wasn’t cheap for something that mostly sits there and gathers dust.

The ranges fade from view

Numerous granite outcrops are seen from close to the road to the horizon.

Wildflower stops – Ptilotus axillaris – a low growing species forming mats across the ground.

Eucapyptus blossom

It became increasingly industrialised as we arrived in Port Hedland late in the afternoon. I can’t tell you how many volts and amps are running through the cables. I don’t know watt they are.